Tools and Methodologies Exposition


An inaugural Tools and Methodologies Exposition ran concurrently with the Digital Media and Developing Minds Congress. This new program reflects the Institute's desire to encourage a paradigm shift in the research community. Studies based on parental surveys, media diaries, and other indirect methods have helped frame important questions. So, too, has research conducted on small groups of children under controlled laboratory conditions.

However, the Institute believes that answering those questions will take something more, such as real-time monitoring, advanced imaging techniques, continuous, large-scale, and long-term measurement of children's media exposure and its positive and negative effects on young bodies and minds. The technology needed to do such research - from low-cost sensors to advanced methods of data management and analysis - is emerging now. The Second National Congress and Exposition on Digital Media and Developing Minds showcased these advances. Read more about the Exhibitors and their tools and methods below.

EXHIBITORS

EXHIBITOR:  BIOPAC Systems, Inc.

Kevin Wasco

Kevin Wasco

BIOPAC Systems, Inc.

BIOPAC Systems has been in business for 28 years and is cited in over 30,300 peer-reviewed journal articles & scholarly references. BIOPAC lets you measure physiology anywhere with innovative, compatible solutions that can be used by anyone for meaningful discoveries. We make high-quality scientific tools for physiology measurement and interpretation with superior compatibility and world-class support. Leading corporations use BIOPAC to gain insight and better understand their customers for the creation of superior products and services. 98% of the top 100 universities use BIOPAC products.”

Exhibiting: Wireless biometric recording equipment, functional near infrared spectroscopy (FNIRS) solutions, and other technologies.

 

Demonstrating: what is needed to start a lab that incorporates recording and analyzing physiological signals

EXHIBITOR: Center on Media and Child Health

David S. Bickham, PhD

David S. Bickham, PhD

Center on Media and Child Health

The Center on Media and Child Health (CMCH) at Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) is an academic research center whose mission is to educate and empower children and those who care for them to create and consume media in ways that optimize children’s health and development. Founded in 2003, CMCH focuses on media as a powerful environmental health influence, like the air we breathe and the water we drink. We seek to understand the positive and negative health impacts media can have and find ways of making media the most positive possible influence in children’s lives.”

Exhibiting: Ecological Momentary Assessment

 

Demonstrating: practical approaches for implementing EMA procedures, including the types of decisions that need to be made and the tools available to maximize the validity of this method

EXHIBITOR: Comprehensive Assessment of Family Media Exposure Consortium

Rachel Barr, PhD

Rachel Barr, PhD

Comprehensive Assessment of Family Media Exposure Consortium

Comprehensive Assessment of Family Exposure (CAFE), a novel tool which measures household media use through a web-based survey, time use diary, and the chronicle passive sensing app. CAFE captures the content and context of early media exposure and addresses the limitations of prior media measurement approaches. All three measures are collected online, which allows scalability. The survey covers 10 topics relevant to the child’s immediate media context, including household composition and demographics, parental mediation of media use, parent attitudes toward media use, and access to and regularity of use of different devices frequently used in the modern household. The online 24-hour time diary extensively details media use as a primary and secondary activity at given points in a child’s day. 

The passive sensing tool continuously records mobile device usage on tablets and smartphones in the home. The purpose of this presentation is to introduce how we have used our new tool in different settings. Based on preliminary analysis of CAFE data collected from ~250 participants, we conclude that the time use diary and passive sensing app contribute additional information because parent global estimates alone are not sufficiently accurate.   

                             

Exhibiting: The three-part CAFE tool, consisting of a survey, a time use tool, and the new chronicle app.

EXHIBITOR: Compumedics Neuroscan

Robert Simon

Robert Simon

Compumedics Neuroscan

Compumedics Neuroscan provides state of the art systems for the acquisition and analysis of EEG, ERP and EP data. The systems are designed to be integrated platforms, to allow uncompromising solutions for seamless recording and analysis of EEG data across a variety of domains. Neuroscan has developed multiple hardware and software systems that combined, build the ideal platform for a multiple areas of EEG research.

Exhibiting: Curry MultiModal Neuroimaging Suite, Grael 4K EEG Amplifier, Quik-Caps.

 

Demonstrating: visualization of the neural mechanisms that underlie the processing of auditory and visual stimulation.

EXHIBITOR: GE Healthcare

Brittany Pullen

Brittany Pullen

GE Healthcare

GE Healthcare is the $19 billion healthcare business of GE (NYSE: GE). As a leading provider of medical imaging, monitoring, biomanufacturing, and cell and gene therapy technologies, GE Healthcare enables precision health in diagnostics, therapeutics and monitoring through intelligent devices, data analytics, applications and services. With over 100 years of experience in the healthcare industry and more than 50,000 employees globally, the company helps improve outcomes more efficiently for patients, healthcare providers, researchers and life sciences companies around the world.

Exhibiting: Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

EXHIBITOR: MindWare Technologies Ltd.

Jay Schmidt

Jay Schmidt

MindWare Technologies Ltd.

MindWare Technologies Ltd., formed in 2001, is the premier provider of hardware and software solutions for psychophysiology, cardiovascular, and Life Science research. MindWare has a wealth of application domain knowledge in psychophysiology and related disciplines with a broad array of engineering expertise. This unique combination of expertise has enabled us to develop a line of innovative measurement equipment, systems, and the industry gold standard analysis applications focused in our domain.

Our commitment to scientific success extends across the globe. Between direct sales and a network of resellers spanning six continents, MindWare products and solutions are available worldwide.

MindWare provides a complete range of services such as laboratory design, custom equipment development, installation, training, and unparalleled customer support. Our systems are designed to easily integrate with 3rd party equipment and software, allowing us to provide comprehensive solutions for our customers’ needs from a holistic approach. It is MindWare’s unique combination of in-depth domain experience, innovative products and engineering precision that distinguishes us from our competition. This offers advantages in providing focused solutions based on individual need.

 

Exhibiting: MindWare Mobile – Ambulatory Physiology, Mindware 8-Slot – Wired Physiology, MindWare Analysis Applications.

 

Demonstrating: The collection and analysis of multiple physiological measures (heart rate variability, impedance cardiography, and skin conductance).

EXHIBITOR: movisens GmbH

Darren McLennan

Darren McLennan

movisens GmbH

movisens develops solutions for researchers that need to capture data from participants engaged in everyday life activities. We combine expertise in the mobile monitoring of physiological signals and psychological data acquisition to provide research grade tools for ambulatory assessment.

Using innovative hardware and software, the movisens product line includes sensors that capture long term measurements of high resolution ECG, electrodermal activity, and physical activity data. Our data analysis software allows researchers to easily calculate secondary parameters from the raw sensor data with just a few clicks.

Intuitive and flexible, movisenXS sets the standard for Experience Sampling and intervention software. Whilst it’s possible to implement a complete suite of questionnaires with detailed sampling schemas, it also offers many passive data acquisition abilities, such as logging the activity of the participants on their device.

Though each system operates independently, the combination of sensors and experience sampling provides further insights in to the subjective psychological state of the participant from the experience sampling, coupled with the objective physiological state captured by the sensors.

To gain even deeper insights into participant behaviour, the sensors feature the ability to interact with the experience sampling platform, using changes in physiological states to trigger questionnaires or interventions.

 

Exhibiting:  A range of high fidelity physiological sensors, all featuring 3D accelerometer, 3D Gyroscope, Barometric air pressure sensor, and Proximal temperature sensor, and enhancements that enable the capture of ECG data, or EDA/GSR data, or Light detection. Data Analysis software allowing the extraction of secondary parameters from the physiological data captured by the sensors. An experience sampling app, capable of passive logging of device usage patterns, and also capable of experience sampling or interventions.’’

 

Demonstrating: physiological sensors and their practical applications and capabilities; details on the Experience Sampling app and its capabilities; and the integration of the two systems to create interventions.

EXHIBITOR: Noldus Information Technology

Chloë Christoforou, M.Sc.

Chloë Christoforou, M.Sc.

Noldus Information Technology

Noldus Information Technology develops innovative solutions for behavioral research. These can vary from user- friendly software packages and lab equipment to fully integrated observation labs including training and support. With almost 30 years of experience we translate your questions into practical and proven solutions.

 

Our turn-key AV labs come complete with The Observer XT for data integration and analysis of observational data, FaceReader for automatic facial expression analysis, Viso for video and audio recordings in multiple rooms at once, eye trackers, and physiological measurement systems. The state-of-the-art labs are fully integrated, allowing you to easily operate them and make high-quality recordings.

Exhibiting:    Observer XT, FaceReader, Viso, eye trackers, and physiological measurement systems.

 

Demonstrating: Audio/video observation lab tools for functions including annotating behaviors and integrating with physiology and eye tracking systems.

EXHIBITOR: Small Data Lab, Cornell Tech

Michael Sobolev, PHD

Michael Sobolev, PHD

Small Data Lab, Cornell Tech

Small data lab @ Cornell Tech designs infrastructure and apps to be modular and reusable so that they can be remixed and repurposed for new services and platform architectures, from research to commercial products. Through our collaborations with researchers spanning healthcare, behavioral economics, human computer interaction and policy, we collaborate to iteratively develop and evolve our services to address issues and problems in the real-world.

 

Cornell Tech is a graduate school like none other, designed to engage our rapidly evolving global society. Located in New York City.

Exhibiting:    The Digital Marshmallow Test (DMT) is a mobile app that hopes to advance the science in identifying, understanding and, eventually, helping individuals who sometimes have difficulty regulating their behavior or act impulsively in certain situations. Developed on top of ResearchKit (apple.com/researchkit), ResearchStack (researchstack.org) and Aware Framework (awareframework.com).

 

Good Vibrations is a generalizable mobile intervention that combines nudge theory and negative reinforcement to create a subtle, repeating phone vibration that nudges a user to reduce their digital overload. For example, if a user has a daily Facebook limit of 30 minutes but opens Facebook past this limit, the user’s phone will issue gentle vibrations every five seconds, but the vibration stops once the user navigates away from Facebook. This app successfully decreased daily digital consumption by over 20% in initial trials.

 

Demonstrating: the research frameworks ResearchKit, ResearchStack, and Aware and the Digital Marshmallow Test and Good Vibrations mobile apps

EXHIBITOR: Stanford Screenomics Lab

Thomas N. Robinson, MD, MPH

Thomas N. Robinson, MD, MPH

Stanford Screenomics Lab

The Stanford Screenomics Lab is building tools and a framework to study moment-by-moment changes in how people use digital media by recording screen shots from personal digital devices every few seconds. To date, we have collected over 25 million screenshots from adults and children in the US, China, and Myanmar. The data are being used to study the role of new media in a breadth of areas including, for example, characterizing the digital health environment, the influence of social media on politics and democracy, development of precision health diagnostics and interventions, the role of media in the lives of people living in poverty, and the development of intimate social relationships via media.

Exhibiting: examples of data captured with screenomics

 

Demonstrating: the new science of screenomics

EXHIBITOR: Tobii Pro

Erica Wayne

Erica Wayne

Tobii Pro

Tobii Pro helps business and science professionals gain valuable insights into human behavior. Our high-quality eye tracking solutions capture human behavior in a natural way, ultimately affording users access to valuable, objective data about real responses to stimuli.

Exhibiting: Tobii Pro Nano, Glasses 2, X3-120 and Spectrum

 

Demonstrating: how eye tracking reveals valuable insights in the field of child development