Exploring emotional health: Scientists develop computer ... · We love treating snoring, sleep...
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Page 6 Wednesday, July 31, 2019 The Chronicle-News Trinidad, Colorado Dr. Amy Wilson Sleep Well Colorado, LLC Night after sleepless night you lie there listen- ing to the incessant snor- ing. If you are the offending member you might think, “What’s the big deal?” Think of it as “second hand snoring,” Just like “second hand smoke,” your partner is suffering from sleep deprivation. You may not think it’s important as it doesn’t seem to bother you so... Well the facts are that sleep deprivation is very se- rious and can lead to many health risks including high blood pressure, high cho- lesterol, diabetes, thyroid disease and the list goes on. Daytime sleepiness contrib- utes to car accidents and even death. Now really, do you want to be responsible for that?? Get serious about you AND your partner’s health. Sleep Well Southern Col- orado has a passion for help- ing people get better quality sleep. We focus on helping you navigate that process in a quick, clean , elegant way that helps you utilize you in- surance. For those patients who are unable to use their insurance or have nor cov- erage, other means can be discussed. Week after week patients come to Sleep Well South- ern Colorado looking for a solution to their sleep is- sues. Many are intolerant to their CPAP which is a ma- chine that is strapped to the face and pushes air into the nose and/or mouth to keep the airway open. For many this is a great solution. For others, it is intolerable. For those patients we have a so- lution. This is also a great solution for all patients that score as having either mild or moderate sleep apnea as well as those that may only be snoring. What happens when you take your health seriously and the health of your part- ner? Many times patients can start having conversa- tions with their physicians about lowering or even eliminating their medica- tions for high blood pres- sure, high cholesterol, dia- betes and thyroid. They are not waking up to visit the bathroom and there is the possibility of, shall we say… better performance. Overall it is a win win situation for everyone. We love treating snoring, sleep apnea and sleep dis- ordered breathing issues. We are the leading experts in this field as it relates to making a custom fit appli- ance that comfortably fits in the mouth and addresses your problem. We have the experience and know how to help you find a solution that is right for you and to also navigate your medi- cal insurance. Financing is available as well. What are you waiting for? Your snoring is not go- ing to get better if you do nothing and the health risks that are going to come your way are serious. So yeah... it is a big deal. So what’s the big deal with snoring? CU Boulder News Could a computer, at a glance, tell the difference between a joyful image and a depressing one? Could it distinguish, in a few milliseconds, a romantic comedy from a horror film? Yes, and so can your brain, according to research published this week by Univer- sity of Colorado Boulder neuroscientists. “Machine learning technology is getting really good at recognizing the content of images – of deciphering what kind of ob- ject it is,” said senior author Tor Wager, who worked on the study while a profes- sor of psychology and neuroscience at CU Boulder. “We wanted to ask: Could it do the same with emotions? The answer is yes.” Part machine-learning innovation, part human brain-imaging study, the paper, published Wednesday in the journal Sci- ence Advances, marks an important step forward in the application of “neural net- works” – computer systems modeled after the human brain – to the study of emotion. It also sheds a new, different light on how and where images are represented in the human brain, suggesting that what we see – even briefly – could have a greater, more swift impact on our emotions than we might assume. For the study, Kragel started with an existing neural network, called AlexNet, which enables computers to recognize objects. Using prior research that identi- fied stereotypical emotional responses to images, he retooled the network to predict how a person would feel when they see a certain image. He then “showed” the new network, dubbed EmoNet, 25,000 images ranging from erotic photos to nature scenes and asked it to categorize them into 20 catego- ries such as craving, sexual desire, horror, awe and surprise. EmoNet could accurately and consis- tently categorize 11 of the emotion types. But it was better at recognizing some than others. For instance, it identified photos that evoke craving or sexual desire with more than 95 percent accuracy. But it had a harder time with more nuanced emo- tions like confusion, awe and surprise. Even a simple color elicited a predic- tion of an emotion: When EmoNet saw a black screen, it registered anxiety. Red conjured craving. Puppies evoked amuse- ment. If there were two of them, it picked romance. EmoNet was also able to reliably rate the intensity of images, identifying not only the emotion it might illicit but how strong it might be. When the researchers showed EmoNet brief movie clips and asked it to categorize them as romantic comedies, action films or horror movies, it got it right three-quar- ters of the time. To further test and refine EmoNet, the researchers then brought in 18 human subjects. As a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine measured their brain activity, they were shown 4-second flashes of 112 images. EmoNet saw the same pictures, essentially serving as the 19th subject. When activity in the neural network was compared to that in the subjects’ brains, the patterns matched up. “We found a correspondence between patterns of brain activity in the occipital lobe and units in EmoNet that code for specific emotions. This means that EmoN- et learned to represent emotions in a way that is biologically plausible, even though we did not explicitly train it to do so,” said Kragel. The brain imaging itself also yielded some surprising findings. Even a brief, basic image – an object or a face – could ig- nite emotion-related activity in the visual cortex of the brain. And different kinds of emotions lit up different regions. “This shows that emotions are not just add-ons that happen later in different ar- eas of the brain,” said Wager, now a pro- fessor at Dartmouth College. ”Our brains are recognizing them, categorizing them and responding to them very early on.” Ultimately, the resesarchers say, neu- ral networks like EmoNet could be used in technologies to help people digitally screen out negative images or find posi- tive ones. It could also be applied to im- prove computer-human interactions and help advance emotion research. The takeaway for now, says Kragel: “What you see and what your surround- ings are can make a big difference in your emotional life.” Exploring emotional health: Scientists develop computer system that knows just how you feel Pixabay Pixabay Scientists have found a correspondence between patterns of brain activity in the occipital lobe and units in EmoNet that code for specific emotions. This means that EmoNet learned to represent emotions in a way that is biologically plausible, even though it was not explicitly train it to do so.
Transcript of Exploring emotional health: Scientists develop computer ... · We love treating snoring, sleep...
Page 6 Wednesday, July 31, 2019 The Chronicle-News Trinidad, Colorado
Dr. Amy WilsonSleep Well Colorado, LLC
Night after sleepless night you lie there listen-ing to the incessant snor-ing. If you are the offending member you might think, “What’s the big deal?”
Think of it as “second hand snoring,” Just like “second hand smoke,” your partner is suffering from sleep deprivation. You may not think it’s important as it doesn’t seem to bother you so...
Well the facts are that sleep deprivation is very se-rious and can lead to many health risks including high blood pressure, high cho-lesterol, diabetes, thyroid disease and the list goes on. Daytime sleepiness contrib-utes to car accidents and even death. Now really, do you want to be responsible for that??
Get serious about you AND your partner’s health.
Sleep Well Southern Col-orado has a passion for help-ing people get better quality sleep. We focus on helping you navigate that process in a quick, clean , elegant way that helps you utilize you in-surance. For those patients who are unable to use their insurance or have nor cov-erage, other means can be discussed.
Week after week patients come to Sleep Well South-ern Colorado looking for a solution to their sleep is-sues. Many are intolerant to their CPAP which is a ma-chine that is strapped to the face and pushes air into the nose and/or mouth to keep the airway open. For many this is a great solution. For others, it is intolerable. For those patients we have a so-lution. This is also a great solution for all patients that score as having either mild
or moderate sleep apnea as well as those that may only be snoring.
What happens when you take your health seriously and the health of your part-ner? Many times patients can start having conversa-tions with their physicians about lowering or even eliminating their medica-tions for high blood pres-sure, high cholesterol, dia-betes and thyroid. They are not waking up to visit the bathroom and there is the possibility of, shall we say…better performance. Overall it is a win win situation for everyone.
We love treating snoring, sleep apnea and sleep dis-ordered breathing issues. We are the leading experts in this field as it relates to making a custom fit appli-ance that comfortably fits in the mouth and addresses your problem. We have the experience and know how
to help you find a solution that is right for you and to also navigate your medi-cal insurance. Financing is
available as well. What are you waiting
for? Your snoring is not go-ing to get better if you do
nothing and the health risks that are going to come your way are serious. So yeah... it is a big deal.
So what’s the big deal with snoring?
CU Boulder News
Could a computer, at a glance, tell the difference between a joyful image and a depressing one? Could it distinguish, in a few milliseconds, a romantic comedy from a horror film?
Yes, and so can your brain, according to research published this week by Univer-sity of Colorado Boulder neuroscientists.
“Machine learning technology is getting really good at recognizing the content of images – of deciphering what kind of ob-ject it is,” said senior author Tor Wager, who worked on the study while a profes-sor of psychology and neuroscience at CU Boulder. “We wanted to ask: Could it do the same with emotions? The answer is yes.”
Part machine-learning innovation, part human brain-imaging study, the paper, published Wednesday in the journal Sci-ence Advances, marks an important step forward in the application of “neural net-works” – computer systems modeled after the human brain – to the study of emotion.
It also sheds a new, different light on how and where images are represented in the human brain, suggesting that what we see – even briefly – could have a greater, more swift impact on our emotions than we might assume.
For the study, Kragel started with an existing neural network, called AlexNet, which enables computers to recognize objects. Using prior research that identi-fied stereotypical emotional responses to images, he retooled the network to predict how a person would feel when they see a certain image.
He then “showed” the new network, dubbed EmoNet, 25,000 images ranging from erotic photos to nature scenes and asked it to categorize them into 20 catego-ries such as craving, sexual desire, horror, awe and surprise.
EmoNet could accurately and consis-tently categorize 11 of the emotion types.
But it was better at recognizing some than others. For instance, it identified photos that evoke craving or sexual desire with more than 95 percent accuracy. But it had a harder time with more nuanced emo-tions like confusion, awe and surprise.
Even a simple color elicited a predic-tion of an emotion: When EmoNet saw a
black screen, it registered anxiety. Red conjured craving. Puppies evoked amuse-ment. If there were two of them, it picked romance. EmoNet was also able to reliably rate the intensity of images, identifying not only the emotion it might illicit but how strong it might be.
When the researchers showed EmoNet
brief movie clips and asked it to categorize them as romantic comedies, action films or horror movies, it got it right three-quar-ters of the time.
To further test and refine EmoNet, the researchers then brought in 18 human subjects.
As a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine measured their brain activity, they were shown 4-second flashes of 112 images. EmoNet saw the same pictures, essentially serving as the 19th subject.
When activity in the neural network was compared to that in the subjects’ brains, the patterns matched up.
“We found a correspondence between patterns of brain activity in the occipital lobe and units in EmoNet that code for specific emotions. This means that EmoN-et learned to represent emotions in a way that is biologically plausible, even though we did not explicitly train it to do so,” said Kragel.
The brain imaging itself also yielded some surprising findings. Even a brief, basic image – an object or a face – could ig-nite emotion-related activity in the visual cortex of the brain. And different kinds of emotions lit up different regions.
“This shows that emotions are not just add-ons that happen later in different ar-eas of the brain,” said Wager, now a pro-fessor at Dartmouth College. ”Our brains are recognizing them, categorizing them and responding to them very early on.”
Ultimately, the resesarchers say, neu-ral networks like EmoNet could be used in technologies to help people digitally screen out negative images or find posi-tive ones. It could also be applied to im-prove computer-human interactions and help advance emotion research.
The takeaway for now, says Kragel: “What you see and what your surround-
ings are can make a big difference in your emotional life.”
Exploring emotional health: Scientists develop computer system that knows just how you feel
Pixabay
PixabayScientists have found a correspondence between patterns of brain activity in the occipital lobe and units in EmoNet that code for specific emotions. This means that EmoNet learned to represent emotions in a way that is biologically plausible, even though it was not explicitly train it to do so.
