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Research
Multisensory Intelligence

Creating human-AI symbiosis across scales and sensory mediums to enhance productivity, creativity, and wellbeing
Project Research

AttentivU

​There are currently  UROP openings for this project. AttentivU is a neural AI platform for wireless non-invasive sensing of pers…
Research
Tangible Media

Invent new tangible and embodied interactions that inspire and engage people
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Fluid Interfaces

Designing Systems for Cognitive Support
Project Research

AI Systems that Use Questioning to Improve Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is an essential human skill. Despite the importance of critical thinking, research reveals that our reasoning ability suf…
Research
Media Lab Research Theme: Connected Mind + Body

Connected Mind + Body | Revolutionizing the future of mental and physical wellbeing
Article Research

‘Brain-computer interface’ allows user to move objects with mind

Professor Pattie Maes and research scientist Nataliya Kosmyna demonstrate a wearable brain-computer interface called AttentivU.
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Responsive Environments

Augmenting and mediating human experience, interaction, and perception with sensor networks
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Media Lab Research Theme: Future Worlds

Future Worlds | Design and action for the future we want to live in
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Affective Computing

Advancing human wellbeing by developing new ways to communicate, understand, and respond to emotion
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Personal Robots

Building intelligent personified technologies that collaborate with people to help them learn, thrive, and flourish.
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Opera of the Future

Extending expression, learning, and health through innovations in musical composition, performance, and participation
Research
Nano-Cybernetic Biotrek

Inventing disruptive technologies for nanoelectronic devices and creating new paradigms for life-machine symbiosis
Project Research

👋 CoCo — A New Real-Time Co-Creative Platform for Young People

CoCo is a new live co-creative learning platform designed to empower educators to support young people in both physical and remote set…
Research
Human Dynamics

Exploring how social networks can influence our lives in business, health, governance, and technology adoption and diffusion
Article Research

How sensory gamma rhythm stimulation clears amyloid in Alzheimer’s mice

The study, co-authored by Ed Boyden, finds stimulating key brain rhythms with light + sound could drive clearance of an Alzheimer’s protein.
Article Research

Imaging method reveals new cells and structures in human brain tissue

The new imaging method is based on expansion microscopy, which was developed in Professor Ed Boyden’s lab in 2015.
Research
Media Lab Research Theme: Decentralized Society

Decentralized Society | Architecting the new internet for the good of the people
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Media Lab Research Theme: Life with AI

Life with AI | Designing the future of smart systems to improve the human experience
Project Research

Thinking Cap

Find out more about the new version of the system, "The Thinking Cap 2.0" here.Peoples' mindsets, meaning their beliefs about their own int…
Post Research

MIT AI for Filmmaking Hackathon 2023 Brings Dreams to Life

Ruihan Zhang, a student in the Molecular Machines group, was lead organizer of this event in collaboration with MIT Film Makers Association
Project Research

Theme | Attention, Memory & Learning (OLD)

Several of our projects aim to support learning and creativity. While some systems focus on a specific skill to be strengthened, e.g.,…
Post Research

New England Journal of Medicine Series: Wearable Digital Health Technologies

Researchers in the Affective Computing group have been invited to edit a series of articles in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Article Research

Inside your dreamscape

Dream-hacking techniques can help us create, heal and have fun. They could also become tools of commercial manipulation.
Article Research

That moment when you’re nodding off is a sweet spot for creativity

A new study finds people are more creative after waking from the earliest stage of sleep, especially when guided to dream about a topic.
Article Research

Here's how to use dreams for creative inspiration

Researchers from the Media Lab’s Fluid Interfaces group and Harvard Medical School find that brief naps appear to enhance creativity.
Article Research

Quick catnaps may spark creativity

The NIH reports on research from the Fluid Interfaces group and Harvard Medical School investigating the effect of naps on creativity.
Article Research

Neuroscientists warn advertisers are trying to 'weaponize sleep' by plugging into your dreams

“The potential for misuse of these technologies is as ominous as it is obvious.”
Article Research

"Dream glove" boosts creativity during sleep

In a new study, researchers from the Media Lab’s Fluid Interfaces group & Harvard Medical School find that brief naps can enhance creativity
Article Research

Want to be more creative? Try dream-hacking while you sleep

The Washington Post reports on research from the Media Lab’s Fluid Interfaces group & Harvard Medical School that naps could aid creativity.
Article Research

Behind the veil of hypnagogic sleep

Media Lab postdoc Adam Haar Horowitz discusses using “dream engineering” techniques to give people more control over their dreams.
Project Research

Targeted Dream Incubation

Targeted dream incubation (TDI) is a methodology for guiding (or “incubating”) dreams towards specific themes. Please read the FAQ below to…
Project Research

Dormio: Interfacing with Dreams

InspirationSleep is a forgotten country of the mind. A vast majority of our technologies are built for our waking state, even though a thir…
Archived
Project Research

Sonic enrichment at the zoo

This project is a collaboration between the MIT Media Lab and the San Diego Zoo to design and build interactive sonic enrichment systems fo…
Archived
Research
Media Lab Research Theme: Cultivating Creativity

Cultivating Creativity | Catalyzing a global movement enabling everyone to unlock and unleash their individual and collective creativity
Article Research

Researchers studying electrical signals in human brains are getting a little closer to reading our minds

On The World by PRX and WGBH, researcher Nataliya Kosmyna talks about advances in and potential applications for brain-computer interfaces.
Article Research

Horse sense about AI

In Psychology Today, author William Poundstone considers research from the Fluid Interfaces group in light of the Clever Hans effect.
Project Research

Nanoscale mapping of bio-molecular building blocks of brain

For more details and recent updates visit:  https://web.mit.edu/deblina-sarkar/For understanding the brain structure, it is neces…
Research
Molecular Machines

Engineering at the limits of complexity with molecular-scale parts
Project Research

Influencing human–AI interaction by priming beliefs about AI can increase perceived trustworthiness, empathy, and effectiveness

AbstractAs conversational agents powered by large language models become more human-like, users are starting to view them as companions rat…
Archived
Project Research

JoyBranch

The Joy Branch project explores different user interfaces to allow parrots to shape their sonic environment.  Animal agency—contr…
Archived
Article Research

Rébecca Kleinberger, From DJ Macaw to Video-Flocking: Leveraging audio technology for animal’s social and cognitive enrichment

Alum Rébecca Kleinberger discusses her work at the intersection of new technology, animal-computer interaction, and the sonic environment.
Article Research

The future of intelligence (artificial and otherwise)

Media Lab Professor Alex 'Sandy' Pentland, MIT CSAIL Director Daniela Rus, and Prof. Josh Tenenbaum discuss the future of intelligence.
Article Research

For multimedia artist Nicole L'Huillier, sound is a portal for change

Opera of the Future PhD candidate Nicole L'Huillier discusses her multimedia artwork with WBUR.
Article Research

The ethics and tech of dream seeding

In Discovery Magazine, Media Lab postdoc Adam Haar Horowitz and other researchers discuss the possible ethical issues of influencing dreams.
Article Research

Does dream inception work?

Using Dormio, a project from the Media Lab’s Fluid Interfaces research group, poet Will Dowd set out to pioneer a new reading experience.
Article Research

Virtual reality system lets you stop and smell the roses

Media Lab alum Judith Amores talks to Scientific American about a lightweight, wireless interface to deliver scents to VR users.
Article Research

Unlocking the Power of Goosebumps: The Surprising Emotional Effects of Aesthetic Chills

A new study suggests that experiencing aesthetic chills, or goosebumps, during stimuli like music and films can lead to increased emotions.
Archived
Research
Social Machines

Promoting deeper learning and understanding in human networks
Article Research

CoCo: A real-time co-creative learning platform for young people

Media Lab PhD students Manuj Dhariwal + Shruti Dhariwal introduce a new paradigm of creative collaboration in digital learning environments
Article Research

A chatbot that asks questions could help you spot when it makes no sense

Researchers from Fluid Interfaces presented this research at the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
Publication Research

The Thinking Cap 2.0: Preliminary Study on Fostering Growth Mindset of Children by means of Electroencephalography and Perceived Magic

Nataliya Kosmyna, Alexandra Gross and Pattie Maes. “The Thinking Cap 2.0”: Preliminary Study on Fostering Growth Mindset of Children by means of Electroencephalography and Perceived Magic using Artifacts from Fictional Sci-Fi Universes. In Proceedings of the 2020 Conference on Interaction Design and Children (IDC ’20). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 761–767.
Archived
Project Research

Paper Dreams

Paper Dreams explores how human creativity can be supported by artificial intelligence.Prior research on AI and creativity has primarily fo…
Archived
Article Research

New Study Highlights Opportunities for Artificial Emotional Intelligence

MIT uses affective computing in efforts to improve human mental health.
Article Research

Microscopy technique reveals hidden nanostructures in cells and tissues

Separating densely packed molecules before imaging allows them to become visible for the first time.
Archived
Research
Object-Based Media

Changing storytelling, communication, and everyday life through sensing, understanding, and new interface technologies
Article Research

MIT Integrated Learning Initiative project focuses on focus

AttentivU smart glasses designed to help wearers tune into a task and tune out the world.
Article Research

The Science Behind Creativity

Seli is an assistant professor at the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences and also an artist. He uses Dormio to tap into hypnagogia.
Article Research

Podcast: Night Shifts

Perchance to dream engineer: on new research into our sleeping minds
Article Research

Night Shifts

In the April issue, Michael W. Clune writes about the profound insights offered by the Dormio: "Can technology shape our dreams?"
Article Research

The consequences of hacking our dreams

Advertisers are beginning to explore ways to market products to people while they sleep. A group of scientists talked to NPR about the risks
Article Research

Are advertisers coming for your dreams?

"We can see the waves forming a tsunami that will come, but most people are just sleeping on a beach unaware"
Article Research

Advertisers are hijacking your dreams, scientists say

This is the actual stuff of nightmares.
Article Research

Companies are ready to experiment with advertising in your dreams, and experts are sounding the alarm

Sleep and dream researchers are urging for an advance tightening of advertising law to nip all this in the bud before it starts in earnest.
Article Research

Nightmare scenario: Alarm as advertisers seek to plug into our dreams

After Coors sought to steer unconscious minds to thoughts of beer, scientists have called for curbs on ‘targeted dream incubation.’
Project Research

The Thinking Cap 2.0: Fostering growth mindset of children by means of electroencephalography and perceived magic

In this work we suggest to harness the power of knowledge-seeking positive experiences, engagement, and curiosity that objects perceived as…
Article Research

Scientists engineer dreams to understand the sleeping brain

Researchers in the Fluid Interfaces group and elsewhere are hoping to learn more about how and why dreams are generated, and their effects.
Article Research

How do you control your dreams? MIT scientists think they've figured it out

Dormio is the result of several year's worth of research conducted by the Media Lab's Fluid Interfaces group.
Article Research

A wearable sleep-tracker designed by an MIT team could give people the power to shape their own dreams

Vega and his colleagues tested Dormio on group of 50 people this summer. Read about their results.
Article Research

Dream-shaping tech from MIT channels suggestions into your dreams

Guided dreaming could be used to boost creativity or to confront sources of stress and trauma.