Description

Motion capture is now recognised as a powerful technology for understanding the science of human movement and its relation to human cognition. This workshop will bring together leading and emerging researchers using cutting edge technology in motion capture to foster cross-disciplinary collaboration. The workshop will also provide opportunity for participants to engage in demonstrations and tutorials using Vicon facilities housed in Macquarie University’s Music, Sound and Performance (MSP) Laboratory and Optotrak equipment in the Action and Cognition Laboratory housed in the Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science. Potential themes of the workshop include (but are not limited to):
1. Perception/action
*How perceptual systems interact with motor systems
2. Decision processes and action
*How analysing movements can inform our understanding of decision processes
3. Expert performance
*Movement used in skilled performance, e.g., Athletic/Musical/Driving/Surgery
4. Social aspects of movement
*Gestures in social interaction
*Facial expressions
*Emotional communication
5. Language and movement
*Visual speech research
6. Methods for data acquisition and analysis
*Functional Data Analysis (FDA)
*Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and guided PCA
*Tools for visualizing captured data
*Rigid and non-rigid motion
We are pleased to announce Professor Michael J. Spivey from the University of California (Merced), USA, and Professor Petri Toiviainen from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, as the Keynote Speakers at the Workshop.

Audience

We aim to bring together researchers, students, educators and clinicians from the disciplines and sub-disciplines of perception speech, neuroscience, neuropsychology, developmental psychology, music technology, music perception, music cognition, music production, theatre and gesture studies, movement, gait, visual cognition and statistics, to investigate movement as a way of informing our understanding of human cognition.

Event Format

The workshop will include 2 keynote presentations; long presentations (20 minutes); speed presentations (5 minutes); Student Posters; music-movement performances, lab tutorials and demonstrations on how to run a motion-capture experiment and sessions on different ways to analyze the data. Demonstrations will include the use of Vicon and Optotrak motion capture equipment and will take place in the Action and Cognition Laboratory and the Music, Sound and Performance (MSP) Laboratory, both at Macquarie University. The MSP lab aims to foster cross-disciplinary motion-analysis research and consists of an 8-Camera Vicon passive marker system for optical motion analysis. High-resolution MX-F20 cameras (4x) allow for the capture fine-grained motion (0.1 millimeters). Operating at over 250 frames/second, the Vicon system allows for movement analyses ranging from full three-dimensional gait analysis to fine-grained facial expression. The Action and Cognition Lab makes use of a variety of technologies (Optotrak, EEG, TMS) to investigate information processing as it unfolds in real time.

Important Dates

• Submission Deadline: Friday 21st August 2009
• Notification of Acceptance: Friday 28th August 2009
• Registration: Closes Friday 11th September 2009
• Event Date: Friday 25th to Saturday 26th September 2009

Submission Format

We invite 300-word abstracts of proposed presentations from prospective participants interested in making a long presentation (20 minutes), short presentation (5 minutes) or presenting a poster. Abstracts are to be submitted online via the workshop's web page by 14 August 2009. Submissions for this workshop are now closed.

Submission deadline: Friday 21st August 2009

Registration Information

Registration for the workshop is free for HCSNet members that have signed up to HCSNet 2 months in advance of the event. For non-HCSNet members registration is $50 per day. Registration for this workshop is now closed.

Registration: Closes Friday 11th September 2009

Getting There

The workshop will be held in Building C5C, Theatre 1. Building C5C is located in the central part of the campus. Please proceed to the registration desk upon arrival which will be located in the courtyard of Building C5C.

Travel Bursaries

HCSNet will fund a number of travel bursaries of up to $500 each to help cover the costs of travel and accommodation for Australian-based HCSNet members from outside the Sydney area. HCSNet has also approved a Student Support Grant to enable HCSNet student members from outside the Sydney region to participate. The provision of a submission as described above is a prerequisite for funding. If not all participants can be covered, funding grants will be allocated based on the relevance of your abstract to the workshop theme; also, students and early career researchers (in HCSNet terms, those who have received their PhDs in the last fifteen years) will have priority.

Organisers

Professor Bill Thompson, Macquarie University
Dr Matthew Finkbeiner, Macquarie University
Professor Chris Davis, University of Western Sydney
Associate Professor Ricky van der Zwan, Southern Cross University
Kym Buckley, HCSNet