Masque – Wearable that manipulates a user’s perception of their own respiration | Hacker News Reader

Masque – Wearable that manipulates a user’s perception of their own respiration

media.mit.edu

78 pointsmattbierner19 comments

> We observed a statistically significant difference (p =.048) in terms of changes in anxiety between the groups who heard two different rates of breathing.

Studies with p-values that close to .05 never replicate. Likely p-hacking.

> With high precision and fast speed temperature sensor, Masque detects the user's breathing activities and plays back a mediated breathing sound synchronously through a bone conduction headphone. The medicated breaching sound is real-time synthesized, thus its breathing rate can be modified by the user at any moment.

I just find this typo amusing

I noticed that as well... Kept wondering which one was actually correct. In the bullshit-ise that the page is written in, they seem equally likely to me.

My BS detector started going off as I was reading the linked article. Talking about the body "[sensing] itself internally and local[izing] its actions" providing "the basis for a material sense of self-existence" isn't even pseudo-scientific.

It's an interesting idea but I'm concerned that this is an art project looking for a scientific explanation.

Denying subjective experiences doesn't mean they don't exist, especially not to the observer

Wow can’t tell anything about subject of the piece, but as at as design goes it is an almost 100% rip off of Miriam Simin’s “Agalinis Dreams”. Incredible that MIT would let this kind of thing happen.

Here is an image of the work I mention - happened to see it in NYC in person a while back, it was working with the sense of smell too, so, looks like subject matter is also uncomfortably close http://www.arts.uci.edu/event/embodied-encounters

It is entirely possible that they have spoken to the artist. Let's not jump to conclusions about it being a "rip off".

I would expect it to be mentioned on the project page if that were the case.

It's also possible that there are only so many ways to design a nice looking mask that puts something in front of your nose. So it could be coincidence.

Combine this technique with something like this: https://www.medgadget.com/2014/06/mits-wifi-system-detects-p...

and we can start modifying people's responses to any ads or other media that has audio. Just pipe in fake respiratory signals under the source audio and boom, that car ad really got your heart racing.

> Can Masque manipulate people? > No, not entirely. Masque causes cognitive bias in people's behaviors.

So, no manipulation, just an effective sugestion that changes behavior. {/sarcasm}

So, yes.

They do say "not entirely", implying that it can be used for some manipulation. Specifically, manipulation in the form of "cognitive bias in people's behaviors".

I imagine I couldn't manipulate someone into buying a product they have zero interest in by changing their breathing, but I could subtly influence/bias how they feel when first observing a product.

Is it manipulation? No, not entirely.

That being said, I would still be cautious about any sort of abuse.

How would you consider that anything less than manipulation?

So this was created by MIT students? Geez...

> When the body senses itself internally and localizes its actions, it provides the basis for a material sense of self-existence. At the same time, the mind registers the sense of an agency with free will, the sense of being, the cause of voluntary action.

After reading these first two sentences I thought this was supposed to be a parody or somesuch thing.

> The design of Masque draws inspiration from Italian carnival masks. For critics of Commedia dell’Arte, there was a direct connection between covering one’s face and hiding one’s heart. [...] The visual design implies the inherent tension between self-control and self-disguise in the device.

Yep, art project gone haywire. This apparently is part of some strange armchair psychology/human biology Master's thesis: https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/114069

The design of the mask does look intriguing though!

The interesting part is that what is hacked is the external feedback loop between breathing and perception. The loop through the acoustic channel, likely completely different from whatever way(s) you have to internally perceive your breathing. But apparently the brain does not trust only the internal sources, and correlates them with an independent channel of sorts.

One of the techniques used to develop skill at meditation is to bring perception of your breathing to your conscious mind. So early on when learning to meditate you might be asked to focus on and "note" each breath as something that is happening in your body. It's a way to practice paying attention to the unconscious processes of your body and eventually your mind.

I can see how something like this might be an aid to learning how to do that. For what it's worth, you can actually hear yourself breathe in a quiet enough room, and you can certainly sense your own breathing as a "drawing in" even if you can't hear it.

I think meditation is a useful tool for slowing down your thinking and reducing the influence of your irrational self on your rational self when you're trying to think about situations which make you anxious.

sci-fi story scenario:

they install it in babies and never really tell them about what it is and does.

edit: obviously a sleeker version directly integrated into the body.

There was a Black Mirror episode that is tangentially related, called Arkangel iirc, which censored any scary and not safe for kids content in their vision, installed at an age where the child was probably too young to remember the procedure or a life before having that system installed.

Also a short story called Different Kinds of Darkness which the whole world is blocked for kids out except certain areas.

http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/different-kinds-of...

audio version: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/stitcher/levar-burton-reads...

I have kept thinking about this.... way over 12k years ago, the anonaki (made up name but ...heheh) did exactly this to early hominids. but it wasn't a breathing device, it was an hability to imagine whatever they (anonaki) proyected, then just about 12k years ago for some unknown reason they vanished. now unshackled... well I ain't no writter so that's it.

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