by Zemĕ Ovzduší ¹*, Ondrej Černý ²*, Nani Uukuyokel ³*, Odysseus Sclabas ⁴*
1 Planning and Design Department, Imaginometric Society (IS), Milan, Italy;
2 Planning and Design Department, Imaginometric Society (IS), Milan, Italy; 3 Planning and Design Department, Imaginometric Society (IS), Milan, Italy;
4 Planning and Design Department, Imaginometric Society (IS), Milan, Italy.
* These authors contributed equally to this work.
¤ Current address: Imaginometric Society, Milan, Italy.
Abstract
The whole human kind uses imagination to evolve. A paradigmatic case is represented by the italian
scientist Galileo Galilei, who led the inclined plane experiment in 1604 and discovered the uniform
rectilinear motion, an essential physics principle.
Our study proposes a new way to measure the imagination of the subject who voluntarily partecipates to the experiment we lead. He or she will enter our Imaginometer and his/hers imagination data will be taken in three different phases. In the first one biometric data regarding heart beat, galvanic and muscular activity are taken. Subsequently, a bone conduction earpiece is applied to the subject’s temples, through which an audiotrack modified in real time by the initial data will be listened. Then the subject is led to a second environment, where he or she is exposed to physical impulses. In the third and last phase the subject receives a graphic response of his/her imagination.
Author Summary
In order to measure the imagination of the subject we studied the Imaginometer, a new instrument which presents itself as a close system. The characteristic of the space is the capacity of a reciprocal visibility between the experimental space and the external one. The Imaginometer is composed by three different stations and is based on the model of a pharmaceutic clean room.
Introduction
Imagination is the free and abstract reproduction or elaboration of experimental or fantastic data.
Thanks to it we have the faculty of grasping the value of a hypothesis or of an interpretation at a higher level than the merely perceptive one.
On the basis of these considerations, Imaginometric Society has started a course of studies and indepth analyses on the possibility of measuring the variation of imagination in the human mind in relation to specific stimuli from the outside. An early analysis of our research has brought to the construction of an “Imaginometer” based on the model of a pharmaceutic clean room, as such a place proves ideal for our observations, in that it presents features peculiar to a close system.
Our experiment, which wholly takes place in the Imaginometer, is structured in three phases. The first sees the subject of analysis enter the measurement position, in which his biometric data regarding heart beat, galvanic and muscular activity are taken. Subsequently, a bone conduction earpiece is applied to the subject’s temples, through which he or she listens to an audiotrack modified in real time by the initial data. The subject will wear the earpiece for the whole duration of the experiment. After this phase, the subject is led to a second environment, where he or she is exposed to physical impulses from relations to five performers of the duration of two minutes. In the third and last phase the subject receives a graphic response of his/her imagination, measured during the experiment.
Results
Structure of the IMMAGINOMETER in embryo and subsequent development
At first, our main objective consisted in generating in users’ minds images without making explicit use of them, by means of a biological environment, with organisms characterized by standard behavior inside it. It was therefore necessary to recreate an environment which entailed relation between its inside and the outside. The first characteristic of the space we have analyzed was the capacity of its perimetrical surface; we believed it fundamental that there should be reciprocal visual possibility between the experimental space and the external one, the one of observation. With this relation in mind, we have therefore studied the opportunity to create the supporting structure as an endoskeleton or an esoskeleton, opting for the latter, in order to enable better movement capacity to users inside this space. In this stage we have ascertained the need for translucid or transparent material to be used in constructing the structure. Hence, we have reasoned on how to modify the static nature of the structure walls to recreate a biomorphic environment that could change depending on the stimuli coming from the moving organisms inside and outside. We have considered two possible solutions: the first entailed the use of non-rigid materials, such as lycra or latex, for space facing. The second, instead, considered a system of perimetric wall shifting, but the walls were still rigid. These hypotheses were temporarily dismissed the moment when the object of our studies focused on the principal action, which would have to aim at measuring the imagination of the subject under analysis.
At first we valued the use of a recorded voice as initial stimulus for generating actions, but we later gave up the idea, since such sound impulse had been considered ineffectual.
Owing to the development of our studies, the biologic environment under construction has taken up the characteristics of a device tracing imagination, thus becoming an Imaginometer featured like a pharmaceutic clean room, and subdivided into three phases, each with a specific function.
Differences and functionality of the three phases of the imaginometric detector
The measurement position in entrance is found in an area of 200×300 cm, defined by the sheer flooring. Within its perimeter are placed the seats of the detecting operator and of the subject under analysis. In this phase, the user’s initial imaginative data will be obtained for a period of 30 seconds by means of specific instruments. This information will be elaborated by the person entrusted by means of a computer and sent to the second position of the Imaginometer.
The second phase is characterized by an enclosed space of 400×500 cm, endowed with an entrance and an exit defined by soft, transparent PVC stripes. In this area the organisms within the enclosed system will relate to the user for a period of 120 seconds. The room is enclosed by polycarbonate modular panels, fixed to a usable floor 2cm thick. On the north side the transparent portion of panelling is found, 200×300 cm in dimension, which permits a visual contact with the exterior of the whole Imaginometer.
The false ceiling in polystyrene is endowed with 4 panels of recessed led lighting, 8 vents, and a zenithal camera capable of tracking the subject under analysis within the space. On the western side an emergency exit is found. Above the exit room a flickering beacon is positioned, with a timer that determines the end of phase 2.
The third and last position is structurally similar to the detecting one. Inside it two seats are still to be found, one for the subject, and one for the operator. The latter is expected to hand out to the subject the imagination track as traced during the experiment.
Between the first and third positions is envisaged a space delimited on three sides by modular translucid panelling. This is a free access area and it is characterized by a seat, a writing stand and a front window for the observation of the central space.
The Imaginometer can be used by people with movement disabilities thanks to access and exit ramps.
Conclusions
The planning of the Imaginometer ended after a year of field study. The development and realization of an environment apt to our measurement has gone through a succession of hypotheses of construction and several experiments, conducted with the aim to recreate a suitable biological environment, so that the relation between the user and the organisms inside the space could be optimal.
Acknowledgments
We thank Agnese Collino (Umberto Veronesi Foundation) for help with the preparation of the article and the final review.
Conceptualization: Zemĕ Ovzduší, Ondrej Černý, Nani Uukuyokel, Odysseus Sclabas.
Data curation: Zemĕ Ovzduší, Ondrej Černý, Nani Uukuyokel, Odysseus Sclabas.
Formal analysis: Odysseus Sclabas. Ondrej Černý, Nani Uukuyokel.
Investigation: Zemĕ Ovzduší, Ondrej Černý, Nani Uukuyokel.
Writing – original draft: Zemĕ Ovzduší, Ondrej Černý, Nani Uukuyokel.
Writing – review & editing: Ondrej Černý, Nani Uukuyokel, Odysseus Sclabas.
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Mauad SF, van Nieuwkerk MB, Dingemans ER, Smit MA, Endoskeleton and esoskeleton T Pathol. 1997.