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aivoAALTO – a key project of new expertise

The aivoAalto research project of Aalto University is an example of successfully combining of the expertise of the three schools. The project uses modern neuroimaging methods to examine social interaction, decision-making and the effect of cinema on the human mind. The project is based on the solid foundation of expertise of the School of Science and Technology in the research of neuroimaging and systems neuroscience, to which it combines the neurocinematics research of School of Art and Design and the research on financial decision-making (neuroeconomics) of the School of Economics.

aivoAALTO started as a result of a call opened in spring 2008 to researchers and research groups of Aalto University in order to collect proposals for research projects combining the expertise of the three universities. Finally, three out of nearly a hundred proposals were chosen for further development. The aivoAALTO project has become the key project showcasing the new expertise of Aalto University.

aivoAALTO combines the expertise of the three schools

The Aalto University School of Science and Technology has particular expertise in the research of the human brain, in modern neuroimaging and in the intimately connected methodological development, which is done in cooperation with three associated Centres of Excellence in Research (those in systems neuroscience and neuroimaging, computational complex systems, and adaptive informatics). New methods are essential for the research of genuine interaction. The School of Science and Technology is involved in the project through the following units: the Brain Research Unit of the Low Temperature Laboratory (Academy Prof. Riitta Hari) BECS, (Prof. Mikko Sams) the Department of Media Technology (Prof. Tapio Takala), the Systems Analysis Laboratory, (Prof. Raimo P. Hämäläinen) and the Enterprise Simulation Laboratory SimLab (Prof. Riitta Smeds) and the Adaptive Informatics Research Centre (Prof. Samuel Kaski).

The Aalto University School of Economics has special expertise in choice behavior and financial decision-making. Neuroeconomic experiments study the neural basis of decision-making by using, for instance, games familiar from game theory as easily controllable models of decision-making. Brain activation in game situations sheds light on the relationship between reason and emotions and deepens our understanding of the decision-making process. The School of Economics is represented by the Department of Accounting and Finance (DSSc Marja-Liisa Halko and Prof. Markku Kaustia), Department of Economics (PhD Topi Miettinen) and the Center for Knowledge and Innovation Research, CKIR (Adjunct Prof. Niklas Ravaja) in the project.

The interface of Aalto University School of Art and Design and the brain researchers involved is cinema, a natural controllable environment. Films both stimulate and simulate the human mind. Cinema, particularly the new research area, ‘neurocinematics’, allows us to deepen our knowledge of the similarities and differences in the personal experience of one’s world. To accomplish this, researchers compare film-induced changes in the brain activity of spectators. DA Pia Tikka and Prof. Jukka Vieno work as professionals of cinema in the project.

The project offers multidisciplinary education for the bachelor’s and master’s students of Aalto University.

The project leader Riitta Hari is an internationally acknowledged neuroscientist and the Director of a Centre of Excellence appointed by the Academy of Finland.