Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Visual Snow is a neurological condition that is experienced as an ‘augmented’ reality of auras, glowing lines, depression, anxiety and depersonalisation. Whilst Visual Snow produces a collection of different symptoms, it is clinically recognised. A commonly experienced visual symptom is described as the 'persistent effect of television “snow”', and was first described in the literature in 1995. Distorted Constellations is an immersive, sensory, labyrinthine environment and playful experience of an augmented reality interpretation of artist, Nwando Ebizie's unique perception of the world. This exhibit draws on Visual Snow experienced as experienced by the artist and informed by interdisciplinary research, including cognitive science. The exhibition, public events and recent inbuilt psychological study, embrace the subjective nature of perception and highlight a role for augmented reality art experiences as cognitive science experiments in public settings. This contributed symposia will stimulate debate and questions arising across the intersections of art, neurology, cognitive science and public participation to leverage understanding of reality and the self through interdisciplinary considerations of cognitive difference. The role of reflexive collaborative inquiry and active public participation in emergent research is considered as a way to offer socially responsible scientific tools to the cognitive science community.