Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH (JÜLICH)
Forschungszentrum (Research Centre) Jülich, member of the Helmholtz Association, is one of the largestresearch centers in Europe.
Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH (JÜLICH)
Forschungszentrum (Research Centre) Jülich, member of the Helmholtz Association, is one of the largestresearch centers in Europe. The research activities in Jülich are directed towards comprehensive solutions forthe grand challenges facing society in the future in the three fields of health, energy and environment, and information technology, thus laying the foundation for future key technologies and covering the entire value-adding process of research from basic research up to actual innovations including clinical applications.
One of the key interests is related to brain research and biological information processing. This research areacomprises the development of innovative multimodal measuring methods (especially imaging) and the application of data processing technologies and supercomputers, and information processing technologies including scientific big data analytics (SBDA), modelling, and simulation.
Role of Jülich in project
JÜLICH will lead the consortium of VIRTUALTIMES and will play a leading role in the neuroscientific validation of time experience in the different populations of persons being studied including their variations due to the different psychopathological conditions. The focus will lie on the thorough study of behavioral correlates and the neural mechanisms of time experience including its variations both at a high spatial (fMRI) and high temporal (MEG) resolution.
This will provide a key component of the scientific background for the time-sensitive technology of VIRTUALTIMES to be developed by the whole consortium. Via the affiliation of Kai Vogeley with the University Hospital Cologne, JÜLICH will further contribute to the recruitment of psychiatric patients and the data acquisition related to time experience.
Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health (IGPP)
The Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health (IGPP) in Freiburg focuses on interdisciplinary research on phenomena of the frontier areas of Psychology which are still insufficiently understood.
Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health (IGPP)
The Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health (IGPP) in Freiburg focuses on interdisciplinary research on phenomena of the frontier areas of Psychology which are still insufficiently understood. Mind-matter relations, altered states of consciousness, and extraordinary modes of subjective experience are core issues of this research. Psychophysiological and neurophysiological research concerning all these issues have been conducted at the IGPP for decades; a differential expertise and methodology in different disciplines have grown and support the multidisciplinary work. Work at the IGPP is currently sponsored by the German Science Foundation (DFG) and the Bial foundation, Portugal.
Role of IGPP in the project
IGPP will play a strategic role in the project as it brings in the expertise in all psychological aspects of human subjective time.
Julius-Maximilians Universität Würzburg (UW)
The Julius-Maximilians University of Würzburg is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in the German-speaking region of Europe with roots back to the year 1402. Many eminent scholars and scientists
Julius-Maximilians Universität Würzburg (UW)
The Julius-Maximilians University of Würzburg is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in the German-speaking region of Europe with roots back to the year 1402. Many eminent scholars and scientists,
14 Nobel Laureates among them, have researched and taught in Würzburg. The University is expanding significantly. Over the last years, several new fields of research and study programs have been established.
The chair for Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), headed by Prof. Dr. Marc Erich Latoschik, is part of this development and a key player in a new and successful collaboration between Computer Science.
Psychology, and Media Technology, which started in 2011. The HCI group explores novel forms of HCI that focus on the user and the interaction experience, taking into account the requirements defined by the physical, cognitive, and perceptive skills of users. Central goals are multimodal and perceptual interfaces in the area of real-time interactive systems, i.e., in VR, AR, and MR, and computer games. As specific expertise, the group is internationally renowned for the work on integrating AI methods into real-time simulations, embodies interfaces, avatars and social VR, as well as for the software technological approaches targeting software quality issues (e.g., low maintainability, latency, or reliability) of highly interactive multimodal systems. The group’s labs are fully equipped with state-of-the-art hard- and software, including various body tracking systems, two Cave Automatic Virtual Environments (CAVEs), several Head-Mounted.
Displays (HMDs), and multiple tailored touch displays. The group has in-depth experience with up-to-date software approaches in this area, from commercial systems like Unity 3D or the Unreal Engine series, to research prototypes like Simulator X and the plethora of related middleware tools, libraries, frameworks, and packages.
Role of partner in project
UW will be responsible for the provision of the base technological platform for the various prototypes as well as of the integration of the modules into the prototypes. It will lead the development of the timeliness protocols and interfaces and will provide key functionality of the avatar technologies. It will support the development of the sync-engine, especially with respect to the timeliness protocols.
INSERM U1114 Cognitive Neuropsychology and Pathophysiology of Schizophrenia
The research team in Strasbourg is labeled by INSERM since 1994. INSERM is the French National Institute for Medical Research, and supports research laboratories across the country on the basis of the excellence of their research.
INSERM U1114 ,Cognitive Neuropsychology and Pathophysiology of Schizophrenia‘
The research team in Strasbourg is labeled by INSERM since 1994. INSERM is the French National Institute for Medical Research, and supports research laboratories across the country on the basis of the excellence of their research. The laboratory name is ‘Cognitive Neuropsychology and Pathophysiology of Schizophrenia’, and has been renewed in January 2018 (INSERM U1114). The Unit is perfectly integrated within the Psychiatry Department of the University Hospital of Strasbourg, with a continuum of the researchers’ profiles within the Unit, from the neuropsychologists who apply cognitive remediation techniques on the clinical wards, to clinicians involved in fundamental research and researchers in psychology and cognitive patho-psychology.
The aim of the laboratory is to characterize cognitive disorders involved in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and to develop innovative therapeutics. The laboratory is recognized for its expertise in the exploration of cognitive disorders in schizophrenia. It has pioneered in describing timing and autobiographical memory disorders, in relation to self-disorders in schizophrenia. The objectives of the laboratory perfectly match those of the present project, especially regarding the importance of timing disorders, which is now a central topic in the laboratory.
Timing research is financed by the recurrent INSERM dotation, and by external grants from ANR (National Research funding Agency, which offers highly competitive grants), FRM (Private Foundation for Medical Research), Fondation de France (French foundation), FondaMental (Foundation dedicated for research in Psychiatry), Neurex (European funds financing Neuroscience projects in Basel, Freiburg and Strasbourg), and Hospital Research Grants (PHRC). The laboratory is equipped with an EEG-system, and has easy access to fMRI dedicated to research (i-cube, CNRS laboratory UMR 7357, the fMRI is 200 m from the INSERM laboratory and the two laboratories have a long history of collaboration).
Role of partner in project
The INSERM U1114 laboratory will provide its expertise on timing disorders in schizophrenia, its innovative methods of behavioral exploration and access to patients for both experimental, EEG and fMRI studies.
University of Helsinki (UH)
The University of Helsinki (UH) is one of the best multidisciplinary research universities in Europe. The high-quality research carried out by the university creates new knowledge for educating diverse specialists in various fields and for utilization in social decision making and the business sector.
University of Helsinki (UH)
The University of Helsinki (UH), founded in 1640, is the oldest and largest institution of academic education in Finland. In international university rankings, the UH typically ranks among the top 100. The UH seeks solutions for global challenges and creates new ways of thinking for the best of humanity. From the UH, two departments are participating in VIRTUALTIMES: the Department of Psychology and Logopedics and the Department of Computer Science. At the UH, research operations in the discipline of psychology are focused on developmental psychology, health psychology and cognitive brain research. In addition, discipline-specific research is conducted also in perceptual psychology, cognitive psychology, the psychology of values and clinical neuropsychology. The Emotional Interaction and eHealth research group led by Professor Niklas Ravaja participates in the project. The research includes, for example, emotional and cognitive processes during mediated social interaction and the neuroscience of social ICT. The Department of Computer Science participates through the Ubiquitous Interaction group led by Professor Giulio Jacucci. The research includes design, development and evaluation of ubiquitous interaction techniques: surface computing, multitouch displays, adaptive interfaces, implicit and physiological computing, multimodal interaction including haptics.
Role of partner in the project:
UH will be the lead partner in developing electrophysiological indexes of time perception and integrating them into the VR experience to enable neuro-adaptive functions of the MetaChron system. UH will contribute to the studies and techniques focusing on the agency- and emotion-related aspects of time perception and their neural underpinnings as well as on developing the neuro-adaptive features of the outcome application
PSICO SMART Apps, S.L. (PSIOUS)
PSICO is the developer of a mobile based technology that uses hyper-realistic virtual environments to treat anxiety disorders by means of gradual exposure therapy.
Psious Smart Apps, S. L. (PSICO)
PSICO is the developer of a mobile based technology that uses hyper-realistic virtual environments to treat anxiety disorders by means of gradual exposure therapy. The platform has a suite of mobile applications with virtual environments to provide treatment for multiple mental health disorders, e.g. anxiety.
PSICO is building on the efficacious use of virtual exposure technologies by combining several systems such as Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and binaural sound, and making them available on any mobile based platform. Our solution has two important parts, the VR app and the control panel in the web platform. Both are connected through the Internet. The VR app runs in a regular smartphone and requires a low e set of 3D goggles that the patient wears. The web platform allows the therapist to control what the patient sees in the smartphone and personalize the treatment according to her or his needs. PSICO is the world leader of using VR in the healthcare space being recognized by several organizations such as the Hitlab foundation as one of the 5 most innovative companies in healthcare and by The Tech Tour as one of the Top 20 Digital Health Companies in Europe.
The participation of PSICO in the project is essential as PSICO knows the state of the art in VR development, being one of the fastest developers in the world, with an incredible level of realism using a regular smartphone. Participation in VIRTUALTIMES gives PSICO access to state-of-the-art and evidence based treatments for depression as well as ASD.
Role of partner in project
PSICO will be the lead partner in developing the VR environments with hyper-realistic format and human- like avatars and integrating them with the time scaling techniques. PSICO is an expert bringing medical and therapeutic meaning into the VR technology, crucial for the project.