Every potential virtuoso needs a mentor. It just so happens that this one is a computer.
Called BACh 鈥� for Brain Automated Chorales 鈥� the system helps beginners learn to play Bach chorales on piano by measuring how hard their brains are working. It only offers a new line of music to learn when the brain isn鈥檛 working too hard, avoiding information overload.
Developed by and of Tufts University in Massachusetts, BACh estimates the brain鈥檚 workload using functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS), a technique that measures oxygen levels in the brain 鈥� in this case in the prefrontal cortex. A brain that鈥檚 working hard pulls in more oxygen. Sensors strapped to the player鈥檚 forehead talk to a computer, which delivers the new music.
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To test whether BACh works, Yuksel and Jacob got 16 inexperienced piano players to learn two chorales, one with the system鈥檚 assistance, and one on their own. BACh first gave the musicians only the soprano line. When their cognitive load fell below a certain threshold, it added the bass part, then later the alto and tenor parts.
In 15 minutes of learning each piece, pianists played more accurately and faster with BACh than without. People who identified themselves as beginners benefited more than those who rated their skills as intermediate. Yuksel and Jacob will present BACh at a conference in San Jose, California, in May.
Sensing trend
The approach could help with learning any subject, Yuksel says 鈥� maths, engineering, programming, foreign languages or reading.
鈥淚 find it exciting,鈥� says an educational psychologist at the University of Twente in the Netherlands. 鈥淚t鈥檚 individually based, and that鈥檚 one of the big things we are searching for: to make learning more adapted to the individual.鈥�
Yuksel plans to add emotion sensing to the program. High cognitive load combined with positive emotions might indicate productive learning, while negative emotions could signal frustration. 鈥淲hen they鈥檙e overloaded,鈥� Yuksel says, 鈥渢o maybe remove some information might be even more effective for learning鈥�.
You wouldn鈥檛 want to carry around Yuksel鈥檚 fNIRS machine all day to help you learn 鈥� it鈥檚 the size of a microwave oven 鈥� but more portable fNIRS technology is being developed. 鈥淭he idea of wearing brain sensors is still not widely accepted,鈥� says Erin Solovey of Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 鈥淗owever, people are starting to wear more sensors, so brain sensors are just going to follow along in that trend.鈥�
Journal reference: ACM CHI 2016, DOI:
