Credit: Laura MacLean
ten children who participated in a study on emotional reactivity. Gatzke-Kopp measured variability in the children’s heart rates as the children watched a series of four film clips, each depicting a different emotional theme: scary, sad, happy, and angry. “The artists read the plot we had made of the data as a musical score. But they rotated the graph 90 degrees and read it vertically, which allowed them to ‘play’ the range of physiological arousal across kids for each observation point,” said Gatzke-Kopp. “So rather than just playing the average level of arousal, which could be viewed as emotional intensity, across the four emotions, they played the degree of variability in emotional reactivity across children.” According to Gatzke-Kopp, at the beginning of the piece the sounds were further apart because fewer kids had extremely high levels of arousal. The density of the rhythm increased toward the middle and slowed down again toward the end where, in the data, there were fewer kids with the lowest levels of arousal. “It was really interesting that the artists rotated the axes and expressed the variability,” said Gatzke-Kopp. “In many ways that is exactly what we are investigating—individual differences. Are the children who reacted more strongly different from those who reacted less strongly? The sonic representation really highlights the range of variation between kids and the idea that the range of physiology is different depending on the emotion being experienced.”
Visualizing Data In addition to exploring musical interpretations of data, the event also showcased new ways to represent data visually. In one example, the group translated measurements of cortisol (a stress hormone) obtained every 20 minutes from 34 people who were exposed to a brief stressor in a driving simulator into a new medium—a wood sculpture with 34 parts.
“Each individual’s cortisol stress response follows a slightly different curve,” said Ram. “Having each of these curves cut into 3-dimensional wooden forms allows us to explore ideas related to timing. We can compare individual curves with one another by aligning all the different pieces of wood at either the front edge of the curves or at their peaks. We see something different simply because we’re able to hold the form in our hands, play with it, and move it around.” In another example, Laura MacLean, a recent master of fine arts graduate from Penn State’s School of Visual Arts and artist-in residence at StudioLab, helped create 140 Hands, a large-format photo print embedded in acrylic that integrates photographs taken as part of a study in which 140 participants documented their daily interpersonal interactions, emotions, and health for nine weeks. “The hand may seem like a very commonplace thing. We often forget what a marker it is for our humanity,” said MacLean. “There is inherent meaning in the hand. It is how we touch our world; it is how we connect with others; it is a signifier of our humanity. The print, now hanging on the fourth floor of the Biobehavioral Health Building, is a good reminder of how our studies of human behavior reconcile the uniqueness of the individual with an abstract collective norm.” “A highlight of the workshops and event was witnessing and participating in an exploratory space where everyone brings something different to the table,” said Candice Ng, StudioLab artist/researcher. “We took on the challenge to build new types of collaborative relationships and explore new ways of thinking.” Participation in the creative process inspired everyone, performers and audience alike, to appreciate the value of each other’s work, to learn new things about how they research, and to embark on new explorations. Learn more about StudioLab’s explorations, hear excerpts of the concert, and see and collect the artwork for your own walls at studiolab.psu.edu/playingthearchive.
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