Copyright © 2023
Designed by Vex Design Studio
On 30-31st May 2025 a collaborative activity built around the scientific-artistic game Synch.Live was hosted at ICM to enhance cooperation and networking skills of Young Investigators. In Synch.Live, participants move together while a real-time feedback mechanism quantifies the “collectiveness” of their group movement. The experience was designed to foster reflection on collaboration and connectedness and was coupled to a series of lectures that explore emergence both as a mathematical concept and through a societal lens. This innovative experiment made it possible to study in real time the mechanisms of social coordination, collective decision-making and leadership emergence, thanks to the analysis of players’ brain activity.
The organizing committee for this initiative was constituted by members of the ICM Young Investigators Association (les Ajités). Through participation in this pilot program, which was open to
Lukasiewicz – PORT, the organizers have gained valuable insights and experience in several key areas such as ethical and scientific considerations in data acquisition, organizational management of
cultural/science events, initial experience in EEG data acquisition. Moreover, participants reported an increased sense of social connection at the end of the experiment and acknowledged the importance of implementing a collective strategy to improve their performance. Future perspectives include replication of this pilot experiment at Łukasiewicz – PORT.
On Friday, 30 May 2025, the SAME-Match-Treat platform hosted a full afternoon seminar broadcast live to Łukasiewicz – PORT from our partner institution – Paris Brain Institute, bringing together researchers working on higher-order interactions and collective dynamics in the brain. The programme featured talks by Marilyn Gatica on higher-order functional interactions in healthy ageing and neuromodulation, Ruben Herzog on polyadic brain interactions beyond classical network approaches, Laouen Belloli presenting tools that make working with THOI intuitive, Borjan Milinkovich on emergent neural structures underlying conscious states, and Madalina Sas on quantifying collective behaviour. The sessions created a coherent arc: from theoretical and methodological advances, through computational perspectives, to empirical questions linking neural dynamics with collective phenomena. The afternoon session was very interesting and engaging. There was an open panel to close, where very quickly the core issues of this new field were raised and discussed. Participants were very active and curious as well during the coffee breaks.
14:00 Marilyn Gatica Higher-order functional interactions in healthy ageing and neuromodulation
14:30 Ruben Herzog Beyond monogamy: Brain polyamory or high order interactions in the brain
15:00 Break
16:00 Laouen Belloli Playing with THOI: When higer order interactions becomes easy
16:30 Borjan Milinkovich Defining the emergent structure of neural dynamics underlying conscious states.
17:00 Madalina Sas Together, but not the same: quantifying collective behaviour.
On Saturday, the focus shifted from theory to embodied experimentation during the Synch.Live pilot. Participants engaged in a cooperative game designed to reveal patterns of crowd coordination, real-time adaptation, and emergent group behaviour. The pilot generated rich interaction data, including successful portable EEG recordings, and provided an opportunity to test how people synchronise their actions under minimal rules and non-verbal constraints. Synch.Live’s core idea is to use “embodied play” to foster genuine human connection: in groups of 10–20 people, participants wear custom LED hats and, without speaking or touching each other, have to figure out how to synchronize their hat lights purely through movement and mutual awareness. The system is not just game-oriented, but also scientific: using real-time tracking data and algorithms developed by computational neuroscience researchers, Synch.Live studies how human groups self-organize, cooperate and build trust — making each play session also a social experiment.
gallery
With a relentless pursuit of knowledge, we unravel the complexities of the mind, unraveling the mysteries that hinder mental well-being. Join us as we pave the way for breakthroughs in neuroscience and offer hope for a brighter future
With unwavering determination, we delve into the depths of the human mind, pioneering breakthroughs that inspire a brighter future for mental well-being and transform lives.
Copyright © 2023
Designed by Vex Design Studio