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Terms of Reference Sound Vison & Presence Research Brainstorm meetings held Brussels 21 and 29 March 2000 _____________________________________________________ Cognition and the mainsprings of future communication among people, media and machines: How better basic scientific knowledge of the cognitive and affective roots of human vision and sound perception results in radically different design (and use) of media systems than the digital electronic communication technologies we know today. Background Intelligence is not artificial and “born” creatures still outsmart “made” artefacts, including A-life forms or so-called intelligent autonomous agents. Efforts to design “thinking machines” or a “cog”nitive computer or to reproduce the brain in the form of connection-dense electronic device have not advanced far. Speech processing and natural language understanding are still separate with little progress made to bridge the gap. And yet, as more of our work and leisure hours are spent interacting with pervasive information technologies, it surprises to note how little is actually known about human vision, how perception of sounds and objects works, why some patterns and symbols have special recognition. Neuroscientists do not often talk to the programmers of personal computer spreadsheets about the puzzles of how sensory inputs are organised experienced or remembered. Future multimedia communication systems could have a better design and smarter use if basic human processes were put back into the picture. Though limited, basic knowledge of how we see colours, use depth or stereo-separation to predict motion, and how altering sound creates visual illusions is rarely applied to the design of new media. Failures of the past, such as the “Picturephone”, cathode ray tube technology for “Videotex” and satellite delivery analogue “HDTV” and DAB are examples of overengineered communication technologies which maximise throughput or pixels with little basic understanding of how human perception works. An Alternative Rationale for new media design Cognition and Affective processes are at the root of human intelligence, and are the mainsprings of language understanding, creativity and self-expression. Cognitive research has dominated both Neuroscience and Psychology. It has informed the fields of artificial intelligence, robotics, A-life investigations. Basic knowledge of human vision and sound perception has not been influential to the design of advanced software systems, broadband communication applications, multimedia service development. 1 769818102 FET Proactive Initiatives The Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) arm of the IST programme supports long-term, innovative and high risk research. The FET programme is in part implemented through proactive initiatives whose objective is to focus resources on visionary and challenging long-term goals that have strategic importance. FET is exploring the area of Cognition and Presence Research for a new FET Proactive Initiative for the IST Workplan 2001. If the vision and focus has merit, this initiative could support a set of ten to twenty different projects running from the year 2002 to 2004, with an indicative total community budget of 15 to 20 M €, depending on the response to a Call For Proposals with possible submission deadline in Spring 2001. The aim is to support collaborative work of an exploratory nature, foster an extended community of researchers, encourage interdisciplinary approaches to a specific set of research challenges. The list of specific research challenges will be drawn up from the written contributions of experts invited to give advice to the Commission. The final results of the initiative will add value to two leading-edge sectors of European enterprise: audiovisuals and advanced communications. _____________________________________________________________________ 2 769818102