The published abstract for this project is available at https://jov.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2771208
Over the summer of 2019 I participated in some curious cognitive science research, which sought to study how many dimensions the abstract geometry of “face space” possesses within the human mind. A year later, I was set to present the research at three conferences to which I had the honor of being accepted. However, COVID had other plans…
(As an aside, it’s obvious that the 2020 pandemic will cement itself as one of the most significant and devastating periods in modern social, political, and medical history. It’s strange and fascinating to feel so palpably that we’re alive as history being made.)
Though it would have been so thrilling to visit and present at conferences for the very first time, interacting with the academic community online was still a very rewarding experience. I’ll see to it that I find my way into some physical conferences in the future!
Above is my video presentation, created in lieu of physically standing beside the poster. This was a joy to produce and surpassed all my previous video projects in time and effort. Developing the various visualizations and diagrams involved the use of Python, Java, PowerPoint, Premiere, Photoshop, Illustrator, Excel, Desmos, and probably some other tools I’m forgetting. Needless to say, it was demanding and I’m quite proud of the result.
In retrospect, I recognize a few flaws in our experimental design. Most notably, the ρ vs. dimensions curve used to backcalculate dimensionality was found by sampling points from Euclidean space and measuring their Euclidean distances. To choose this curve is to assume that face space’s geometry is Euclidean. And honestly, I haven’t the slightest idea how one would ascertain the geometric nature of a mentally conjured multidimensional space. Trying to find the number of dimensions is already wacky enough!