Research database

In recent years, many new technologies have been developed to enhance the perceptual and intellectual abilities of the user. Some examples are: improving the user's memory and attention, creating a new sensory modality to perceive the magnetic north, and sharpening the user's aesthetic and moral perceptions.

Integrating all these approaches; a long-term goal of this research is to develop a generally applicable framework for sense enhancement by cognitive technologies. As the first step to realize this vision, the Cognitive Science Department at the Jagiellonian University and the Media Lab at Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences aim to develop a sense enhancement prototype to create a new sensory modality to perceive safety and to evaluate its cognitive impact on the users. This research will be conducted under the bilateral exchange-of-scientists program of the NAWA and the DAAD. Through this project, the young scientists Artur Gunia, Milena Jäger, and Julius Schöning will gain international experience in collaborating on interdisciplinary research. Over the two years, we plan to have four visits from the Krakow team to Osnabrück and four visits from the Osnabrück team to Krakow. We plan to publish the results of our research in at least two international journals or conferences.

In this bilateral exchange-of-scientists program, the sensory modality of safety for a bike-riding scenario is implemented. Our goal is to create awareness for the bike rider incorporating objects and people in the vicinity. This awareness, produced by perceptual enhancement technologies, would create a new sense for the rider – the safety sense.