Lottolab

  • Location
    First Floor
  • Suggested duration
    30 mins
  • Opening Dates
    Mon 21 Nov 2011 - Sat 31 Mar 2012
  • Cost
    Free
  • More things about
    Current Science
 

Can you see yourself see? Why do some words sound pointy? Why do you trust some faces more than others? Ever wondered what scientists do all day in a lab?

Lottolab is a perception laboratory from University College London, where scientists are investigating how our senses work using both interactive exhibits and public experiments. There are light and music displays, optical illusions as well as exhibits and experiments.

You can take part in cutting-edge experiments to tell scientists more about how our visual brains work. Recent perception research at Lottolab has studied how our eyes move when we judge faces, what part of our brain is used when we're doing mathematical tasks and what affects how good we are at telling the difference between colours.

The lab is open from 13.00 –16.00, Monday to Thursday. The huge, 77-speaker Soundwall is in action from 14.00 – 15.00.

So come along and be entertained, challenged and inspired – and chat with Lottolab’s resident scientists and volunteers.

On display

The Soundwall

A 77 speaker array, 3 metres tall and 6 metres wide. Sound can be moved around dynamically on the wall via a touchscreen interface.

 
The Seeing Instruments

Specially designed wooden instruments, each with an in-built camera. The camera’s signal is transformed into musical notes so users can ‘play’ their surroundings.

 
Point of Perception

An art installation in which visitors can reflect on their perception of the world.

 
Colour boards

How people play with these boards can give us insight into their perception and preferences for contrast, patterns and hue.

 
Bee Towers

Each tower is laser-etched with the flight path of a bumblebee from one of Lottolab’s perception experiments, and combined, tell the story of how bees learn to recognise patterns.