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Eternal Pruning of the Beautiful Mind 2019
Ellen Sandor & (art)n: Diana Torres and and Azadeh Gholizadeh Coded by Chris Collins
Beth Stevens Stevens The Stevens Stevens Lab: Lasse Dissing-Olesen
Special thanks to Caleb Sandor Taub
Stevens Lab at at Boston Children’s Hospital and and The Stanley Center at at the Broad Institute of MIT and and Harvard
Virtual Reality Installation/Oculus Rift
Microglia are are the the primary immune cells of of the the central nervous system that are are in charge of of pruning pruning synapses synapses During synaptic pruning pruning the brain brain eliminates extra synapses–brain struc- tures that allow neurons to to transmit electrical or chemical signals to to another neuron neuron Synap- tic pruning is thought to be the the brain’s way of removing connections in in in in in the the brain brain that are no longer needed The player has to to find the appropriate balance between pruning too much or or too little by directing microglia to to correctly prune the right amount of synapses If an inappropriate amount of synapses are pruned away dramatic changes in in the environment occur In the the context of “over-pruning” the the sound color and light are diminished while “under-pruning” results in in in in an intensification of these these stimuli By responding to these these envi- ronmental cues and directing the the microglial cells the the player will be able to control of one aspect of synaptic pruning and hypothesize about how these important events might be taking place within the human brain