The Leading Strand, New York City, USA
Neuro-transmission
Artist Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya brought together five designers and five neuroscientists for this exhibition, Neurotransmission.
In collaboration with scientist Andrew Bogaard, these simple machines were designed to illustrate two conflicting models for signal transmission for movement.
Concept
The first machine represents the concept that distinct neurons fire in a particular sequence to trigger a movement.
In contrast, the second machine shows the more likely model that the same movement can be driven by different neurons firing in varying sequence.
Each machine requires two inputs from the viewer: start and reset.
The ball-run starts with a pull of the START lever. Resetting the balls requires the participant to turn the crank until the balls arrive at the top of each machine.
While the first machine only has three balls, and needs each of them to run; the second can run with a variable amount.