We thank all speakers, participants, organizers and sponsors for their valuable contribution to the success of the Summer School 2023!


Background:

The 10th international Summer School in Biomedical Engineering continues a series of summer schools that addresses state of the art techniques for measurement, data processing, source reconstruction, brain stimulation, multimodal data integration, and generative modeling.

Traditionally, the human brain of a single person is studied, while input and output are provided in an artificial manner in the laboratory. While this approach ensures a maximum of controllability, the ecological validity is often compromised. In ecological settings, human brains often interact. This extends experimental feedback loops from human-machine interaction to human-human interaction.

To understand how people interact, it is necessary to concurrently map brain activation from two or more participants. This approach is often referred to as “hyperscanning”. Fundamental aspects of social cognition in real-life social interactions, including different roles of interactors, shared intention emerging through interaction and history of interaction, can be addressed only with hyperscanning.

Typically, in hyperscanning paradigms each participant is scanned with a separate neuroimaging device while interacting personally or via an audio link, video feed, or shared digital platform. While all neuroimaging modalities are in principle suitable for hyperscanning, personal human-human interaction require portable devices such as EEG, NIRS, or OPM-MEG.

Aims:

The aim of the 10th International Summer School in Biomedical Engineering is to provide in depth education in the field of noninvasive simultaneous dynamic brain imaging of multiple persons (hyperscanning), provided by leading international experts. This will include methodological approaches and challenges, measurement devices and characteristics, types of underlying theoretic modeling, specifics of data analysis, ability to derive conclusions about neuroscientific meaning. The participants will achieve a thorough understanding of the underlying mechanisms and develop a critical view on current applications and possible future developments.

A second important aim of the International Summer School consist in providing contact with both leading experts in the field and other students with similar interests. This way, the meeting will facilitate the exchange of ideas on latest developments and help to build professional networks.

The program contains thematic lectures on acquisition and analysis of data in the field of EEG, MEG, NIRS, and fMRI in hyperscanning settings.

Target group: (up to 40 participants)

  •     PhD students
  •     Advances Master students
  •     Researchers interested in fields of social interactions, cooperative/competitive behavior or technological challenges of hyperscanning