Neuroscience and Psychology and other fields.

[Sjonsson]

Yalloh' Mapcorians,

The latest year I have drawn my attention to parallels between what I've read in articles about neuroscience and psychology in comparison to what I already know about game development and more specifically level design.  I have now decided  that I want to learn more about both neuroscience and psychology and I know there's a lot of books on it, but there's a problem: which one to choose?

Whenever I get my hands on a book of scientific nature they are pretty much every time a bit too factual and dry or they pretty much require you to know the basics of the subjects. I want something that's both informative and basic but also informal, something that's not only educational but entertaining to read. Does anyone of you know books on these subjects?

Super grateful for any tips!

Hope your winter isn't as dark, rainy and snow-lacking as it is in the southern parts of Sweden.

Cheers!
 

Edited December 5, 2015 by Sjonsson

[laminutederire]

Yalloh' Mapcorians,

The latest year I have drawn my attention to parallels between what I've read in articles about neuroscience and psychology in comparison to what I already know about game development and more specifically level design.  I have now decided  that I want to learn more about both neuroscience and psychology and I know there's a lot of books on it, but there's a problem: which one to choose?

Whenever I get my hands on a book of scientific nature they are pretty much every time a bit too factual and dry or they pretty much require you to know the basics of the subjects. I want something that's both informative and basic but also informal, something that's not only educational but entertaining to read. Does anyone of you know books on these subjects?

Super grateful for any tips!

Hope your winter isn't as dark, rainy and snow-lacking as it is in the southern parts of Sweden.

Cheers!
 

bonjour!

do you have a specific thing you want to learn about? As I said in the what's going on with your life topic, I'm currently working on autism, so I may be able to help you with a bit of precision on sub topics you want to learn about

[Sjonsson]

bonjour!

do you have a specific thing you want to learn about? As I said in the what's going on with your life topic, I'm currently working on autism, so I may be able to help you with a bit of precision on sub topics you want to learn about

Bonjour!

No that's the thing, I just want to explore Neuroscience and Psychology related to give me perspectives I cannot get without reading/researching. Since I don't know what I don't know I can't really specify. But if anything it would be about how our brains react to different stimuli. Such things like how brains react to different patterns and colours (every animal is scared of fangs and certain colors are linked to poison etc) also how the effort -> reward system works in the brain.

Edited December 5, 2015 by Sjonsson

[laminutederire]

Bonjour!
No that's the thing, I just want to explore Neuroscience and Psychology related to give me perspectives I cannot get without reading/researching. Since I don't know what I don't know I can't really specify. But if anything it would be about how our brains react to different stimuli. Such things like how brains react to different patterns and colours (every animal is scared of fangs and certain colors are linked to poison etc) also how the effort -> reward system works in the brain.

I know that there is an activation of non sensitive neurons which are the one which help give the bigger picture of what we are seeing. Don't know if it is the same for all animals. I think their activation follow the same process as the one for the activation of mirror neurons

[Sentura]

There's a lot of stuff to draw on, it depends on what exactly you're looking for. I would suggest looking for scientific articles or borrow books at a university library. I did my Masters covering emotions and psychology associated with visual tokens/assets (neuroaesthetics) to create atmospheres - I could potentially give you references there. There's also a whole bunch on lighting. For specific design stuff I think you need to clarify the context you want to use this stuff in.

[blackdog]

Sounds like @Sentura's thesis would be an interesting read!

[laminutederire]

I bought my mother a book on the biology of emotions, so I'll tell you guys if it is interesting or not, even though you might want to borrow it since it costs a lot of money for a book

@Sentura did you take any interest about how the brain processes sensorial stimuli?

[Sentura]

I bought my mother a book on the biology of emotions, so I'll tell you guys if it is interesting or not, even though you might want to borrow it since it costs a lot of money for a book

@Sentura did you take any interest about how the brain processes sensorial stimuli?

Yes! In my work I looked at emotions as energy states (i.e. intense vs weak emotions) and how visual perception affected these. The way the brain processes visual stimuli is especially interesting because we have tools like Bayesian Logic of perception, 8 Laws of Ramachandran and Gestalt Laws that allows the research to have practical applications too. Between those and having knowledge about the path of least resistance, one can create an open environment where the players still follow a fairly linear path, for instance.

Edited December 14, 2015 by Sentura

[blackdog]

I found this by chance

http://gamecareerguide.com/features/1469/what_would_a_psychology_student_be_.php

it's not directly in topic, but I thought might be interesting

[Seldoon182]

Bonjour!
No that's the thing, I just want to explore Neuroscience and Psychology related to give me perspectives I cannot get without reading/researching. Since I don't know what I don't know I can't really specify. But if anything it would be about how our brains react to different stimuli. Such things like how brains react to different patterns and colours (every animal is scared of fangs and certain colors are linked to poison etc) also how the effort -> reward system works in the brain.

So the best book on how work the brain has been written by Gerald Edelman imho. http://www.amazon.com/Bright-Air-Brilliant-Fire-Matter/dp/0465007643

[Sjonsson]

Sorry for the slow response everyone, work ate all my attention and I forgot about the fact that I posted this thread, but now I'm on holidays so I got loads of time. Wohoo!

I know that there is an activation of non sensitive neurons which are the one which help give the bigger picture of what we are seeing. Don't know if it is the same for all animals. I think their activation follow the same process as the one for the activation of mirror neurons

That sounds really cool, I'll make sure to keep an eye out for that. When you say bigger picture, do you mean like seeing an environment with different threat sources with different levels or what? I think this is related to a term called 'salience'.

There's a lot of stuff to draw on, it depends on what exactly you're looking for. I would suggest looking for scientific articles or borrow books at a university library. I did my Masters covering emotions and psychology associated with visual tokens/assets (neuroaesthetics) to create atmospheres - I could potentially give you references there. There's also a whole bunch on lighting. For specific design stuff I think you need to clarify the context you want to use this stuff in.

That's the thing I don't even know what I could be looking for so I actually did exactly what you said about borrowing books. Figured a friend of mine had studied neuroscience some two years ago and had a pile of books, I would give you the list if it wasn't for the fact that they're all tucked in a bag with a lot of different stuff. I'll write them down some other day, maybe you know if they're good or what not. 

Sounds like you did a helluva interesting masters, that's pretty much in the direction I want to read about. Did you do it in english?  If not maybe I would very much like the references. 

In short, the reason I want to read about this is partially that I want to understand what kind of objects invokes which emotional stimuli. Like when I sit down with my colleagues and discuss scenery and atmospheres, let's say we start suggesting what props art assets to use and what lighting, then I don't just want the 'gut feeling' to tell me do's and donts' I want arguments based on reality. 

This does have a lot do to with level design but I also want to understand more in depth about things such as why a skinnerbox works the way it does, if there are more similar concepts and really try to understand what makes immersion.

I bought my mother a book on the biology of emotions, so I'll tell you guys if it is interesting or not, even though you might want to borrow it since it costs a lot of money for a book

@Sentura did you take any interest about how the brain processes sensorial stimuli?

Please do tell once you've read it, I really hope I'll be able to make the time and read all this stuff!
 

Yes! In my work I looked at emotions as energy states (i.e. intense vs weak emotions) and how visual perception affected these. The way the brain processes visual stimuli is especially interesting because we have tools like Bayesian Logic of perception, 8 Laws of Ramachandran and Gestalt Laws that allows the research to have practical applications too. Between those and having knowledge about the path of least resistance, one can create an open environment where the players still follow a fairly linear path, for instance.

Funny, this idea of reading up on this actually started with (among other things) reading the story about Ramachandran and how he started out, really interesting stuff.  On the subject on open-feel linear environments, that's also something I'd love to know more about cause it really feels like the hardest thing to do, so many variables to keep in mind.
 

I found this by chance

http://gamecareerguide.com/features/1469/what_would_a_psychology_student_be_.php

it's not directly in topic, but I thought might be interesting

Thanks, I'll give it a look.

So the best book on how work the brain has been written by Gerald Edelman imho. http://www.amazon.com/Bright-Air-Brilliant-Fire-Matter/dp/0465007643

I'll definitely give that a look! Thaanks!


Also, happy new year to you guys! Hope you had the time to chillout some this winter.
 

 

[laminutederire]

@Sjonsson I meant meaning. Getting the bigger picture is getting the meaning of what we see. This is something lot of autistic people lack by the way. This what helps you knowing that when you shake your boss' hand and your father's in law hand,well yiu shake their hand and it's the same action, even if the reality of both are very different

I'll read that when she'll let me she already started reading it!

Happy new year and everything to you too

[Sjonsson]

@Sjonsson I meant meaning. Getting the bigger picture is getting the meaning of what we see. This is something lot of autistic people lack by the way. This what helps you knowing that when you shake your boss' hand and your father's in law hand,well yiu shake their hand and it's the same action, even if the reality of both are very different

I'll read that when she'll let me she already started reading it!

Happy new year and everything to you too

Oh of course that's what you mean, read it when I was almost sleeping haha. Yes, things that we see as completely obvious are way often entirely different. Worst part of it is probably that we're not aware when it happens.

[laminutederire]

Oh of course that's what you mean, read it when I was almost sleeping haha. Yes, things that we see as completely obvious are way often entirely different. Worst part of it is probably that we're not aware when it happens.

i think this is refered to as low level and high level of perception in the literature

Oh by the way I think I have an article I read that could interest you. It was about the cerebral activity of jazz artists, and the impact improvisation have on that activity, and it was at the end stated that it is actually a good approximation of what a social interaction can be

[Sentura]

My masters is in english - if you're interested, I'll send you a link through PM.