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William James' article, "What is an Emotion?"
American philosopher and psychologist William James proposed that a stimulus causes our bodies to experience physiological arousal. Thus, using cognition, we interpret it and assign it emotional meaning. This was a an important moment because until this point, it was believed that emotion causes us to act a certain way and elicit a physiological response. James' theory flipped the psychology on its head.
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Mirroring Study
In the early 1990's, a study on macaque monkeys revealed that in the premotor cortex, the same neurons fire when a monkey performs an action and when the monkey sees another monkey performing the same action. This study highlights how mirroring is a function of socialization. As human beings we use mirroring to relate technology and culture.
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Rosalind Picard
Picard is the leading expert in the field, coining the term "affective computing." Branching out from the comfort of her previous research, she bravely leads the charge in affective computing technology. She is a true legend.
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The Emoji
Although this is a silly one, it represents the trend of online communication. The way we interpret emotion through our texting differs because of the medium. As this webpage highlights, the word "emoji" comes from two Japanese words meaning "picture" and "letter." It is just a coincidence that it sounds like the word "emotion." Emojis equate meaning and generate discussion and debate (the gun emoji for example).
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MindReader
Rana el Kaliouby developed a technology called MindReader: a pair of glasses with a front facing camera to detect emotions in another person and send information back to the glasses wearer. Used by children with autism, it aids those who would otherwise struggle to detect emotions in others. MindReader is a brilliant example of the way this type of prosthesis can help those who most need it, raising the quality of life.
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Emotive Assistant
Like MindReader, a technology, like an ear piece or glasses, could allow us to recognize our own physiological response and help us be more self aware of what we are feeling before we respond to someone. Instead of analyzing the emotion in another person, it allows us to better read our own emotions so we feel like we have more control over how we interact with others.
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Dream Pillow
In 100 years, I predict some sort of technology that can capture and record our dreams. As the TedTalk that we watched mentioned, we could have some device that will track our subconscious when we are dreaming. I think an electronic pillow could record this through waves of some sort. Since we as humans don't know much about dreams still, I see this as a field that takes off with continued technological innovation.
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