Research infrastructure

Human Information Processing Laboratory

Tampere University

Faculty of Social Sciences

Welfare Sciences

Psychology

City Centre Campus

Pinni B, Kanslerinrinne 1, 33100 Tampere

Tampere

Research search

Facilities are accessible

https://research.tuni.fi/hiplab/

Human Information Processing Laboratory

The research infrastructure at Human Information Processing Laboratory is intended for studying human social cognition and emotions with the methods of psychology, psychophysiology, and cognitive neuroscience. The laboratory infrastructure hosts equipment for registering brain activity (EEG), autonomic nervous system activity (heart rate variability, and skin conductance responses), facial muscle activity, eye movements (corneal reflection eye tracking), behavioral measures, and human behavior and interaction (observational measures) in controlled and naturalistic settings. The generation and control of the presentation of experimental stimuli are supported with designated software and hardware resources.

The facilities consist of two psychophysiological laboratory rooms, one behavioral laboratory, and one room equipped with instruments for observational studies including pan-tilt-zoom cameras. Additionally, online data collection with web-based experiments and online surveys is supported with software licensed for HIP laboratory.

The infrastructure is used by researchers of human social cognitive and developmental processes, and by students at bachelor's, master’s, and postgraduate levels.

Research equipment

The laboratory facilities are equipped with up-to-date equipment and software acquired from certified manufacturers. The software for data analyses consists of both commercially available and customized tools. On this page we describe our central research equipment available for laboratory users.

Psychophysiological and brain research equipment

Brain Products Electroencephalography system

The Brain Products system consists of an amplifier (actiCHamp Plus 64-Channel System), electrode sensors, and control software (Brain Vision Recorder) for electroencephalography and peripheral psychophysiology recording. The amplifier allows for data acquisition at 50 Hz, with bandwidth DC – 7500 Hz for acquisition with 64+8 channels. The Brain Products system has been part of laboratory infrastructure since 2022.

The Brain Products system is compatible with the following electroencephalography (EEG) sensors, available at the laboratory:

64-channel actiCAP snap electrode caps with gel-based active electrodes, available at sizes suitable for adults and children
64-channel R-Net sensor nets with sponge-based passive electrode system for quick set up, available at sizes suitable for adults
Brain Products GSR Sensor Kit for measurement of galvanic skin conductance (i.e., electrodermal activity)
Sensors: a selection of reusable and disposable electrodes for skin surface, used for facial electromyography, and electrocardiographic measurements of heart rate variability, available as bipolar and monopolar electrodes

The analysis of Brain Products data is supported by Brain Vision Analyzer as well as other software available for EEG analyses. Some customized analysis created by present and former laboratory members include:

EEGTOOL for EEG analysis: https://github.com/infant-cognition-tampere/eegtool
ECGTOOL for heart rate analysis: https://github.com/infant-cognition-tampere/ecgtool

EEG cap used in Human Information Processing laboratory — EEG cap used in Human Information Processing Laboratory

Tobii corneal reflection eye trackers

Tobii Pro 3 Glasses

The Human Information Processing Laboratory hosts a pair of Tobii Pro 3 Glasses suitable for mobile eye tracking. The glasses allow registering eye gaze coordinates and eye movements as well as pupil diameter while the participants wearing the glasses are free to move, for example, during natural social interaction. Tobii Pro 3 Glasses acquire eye tracking data at 50/100 Hz, and with an accuracy of 0.6°. The head unit (glasses) are equipped with a gyroscope, an accelerometer, and magnetometer, and resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixel and @25 fps video and 16-bit mono audio with an integrated microphone. Tobii Pro 3 Glasses have been part of the lab infrastructure since 2023.

Eye tracking glasses — Wearable eye tracking glasses (Tobii Pro 3) used during a naturalistic set-up

Tobii Pro X3

The lab also hosts a Tobii Pro X3 which is a screen-based eye tracker capturing gaze data at 120 Hz. Tobii Pro X3 tracker can be placed on tabletop (e.g., below a computer screen) and allows for unobtrusive measurement of eye movements and pupil data. Tobii Pro X3 tracker has been part of lab infrastructure since 2019.

Tobii Pro Lab analysis software

This software enables processing and extracting metrics from data acquired with Tobii eye trackers. Tobii Pro Lab is licensed for use for one user at HIP laboratory for perpetual use.

BIOPAC two-person psychophysiological system

The BIOPAC system consists of an electrophysiological amplifier and recording unit as well as a of peripheral electrode sensors, intended for measuring human electrodermal activity, heart rate (electrocardiography, photoplethysmography), and electromyography. The Biopac peripheral sensors operate wirelessly. The system is suitable for recording these signals simultaneously from two persons allowing studies of two-person synchronization of affective and attentional responses during naturalistic experiments (e.g., social interaction, co-operative behaviors).

The system has been part of lab infrastructure since 2023.

Wireless psychophysiology — Measuring physiological responses using wireless BIOPAC sensors

Noldus observational and integrational system

The Noldus system consists of three pan-tilt-zoom video cameras, as well as of a portable wireless and a wired tabletop microphone which are integrated and synchronized using local are network unit and dedicated Noldus software. The system allows observational analyses of human behavior (e.g., during social interaction) through multiple fields of view. Importantly, the system allows the direct integration and synchronization of audiovisual signal with BIOPAC psychophysiological recordings. First person eye tracking data may be synchronized offline with the Noldus/BIOPAC signal.

Electric Geodesics Electroencephalography System

The laboratory hosts an Electric Geodesics Inc. (EGI) electroencephalography system with NetAmps amplifier and high-density passive EGI HydroCel 128-electrode nets (Electrical Geodesics, Inc., USA) available for infant (head circumference ca. 40 – 50 cm), children, and adult sizes (small-medium). The nets are suitable for quick set-up which is often advantageous for studies of infant EEG and event-related potentials.

The NetAmps amplifier is also compatible with peripheral electrode recordings that may be used for psychophysiological experiments on for example heart rate variability. The NetAmps model year is 2011.

Electrode nets provide a method for quick and abrasion-free set-ups for EEG studies

Stimulus materials and stimulus presentation software

HIP laboratory has facilities for controlled audiovisual stimulation using validated stimulus sets. These stimulus sets contain videos, pictures, and audio stimuli of human faces, emotional expressions, and other socially meaningful cues or behaviors. Experimental control and precise timing of stimulus presentation is achieved by both commercially available software (e.g., E-Prime for laboratory tests, Gorilla for online experiments) as well as with open-source tools (PsychoPy).

For naturalistic studies in social information processing, HIP lab provides an observation room with unobstructive monitoring of the ongoing interaction between participants. A liquid-crystal shutter may also be used for controlling stimulus and scene viewing time when participants are facing live, naturalistic, stimuli such as another human being (as opposed to a computer screen). Finally, presentation of 3D-stimuli using is also possible using virtual reality glasses and applications available at the lab.

A Nao (Aldebaran) social robot is available for studies in human-robot interaction. Nao (Model 6) is capable of mimicking human movements, including gaze direction and following the user with gaze by head rotation, synthesized speech, with an array of behaviors that may be augmented with manufacturer’s control software and with high-level programming languages (e.g., Python).

Policies

The research laboratories and equipment are available for use for researchers of the Human Information Processing Laboratory and students with Psychology major completing laboratory practice and academic dissertations. Allocation of laboratory resources between projects is coordinated by the laboratory director and senior researchers.

For prospective research collaborations, see laboratory personnel for contact details.

Contacts

Research at Human Information Processing laboratory

Research goals

Human interaction is heavily dependent on the processing of social signals originating from other people. The major goal of our research in the Human Information Processing Laboratory is to understand the cognitive, neural, and developmental mechanisms involved in the perception socially relevant information, and the factors contributing to individual differences in social information processing.

Research focus

Our research is targeted on investigating processes involved in perception of social signals such as human faces, emotional expressions, and eye contact. On the one hand, we investigate how different social cues influence observers’ attention, emotion, and motivation and, on the other hand, how attention, emotions, and motivation modulate perception of social cues. These processes are studied in adults and in children at different stages of development.

Translational research in HIP laboratory investigates how neurobiological developmental disorders (autism spectrum disorder), psychiatric disorders, rearing environments, and the different characteristics of people, such as personality traits, affect social information processing.

Publications & research news

Publications

Research news

Contacts

Personnel

Click on the person’s name to access their publication profile in the Tampere University Research Portal

Jari Hietanen
PhD, Professor
Office: Pinni B 3140
tel. +358 40 190 1384
e-mail: jari.hietanen [at] tuni.fi

I received my PhD from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, in 1993. Since 1995, I have been working at the University of Tampere. My main interest is in social cognition and emotions. I am especially interested in cognitive and neural processes involved in perception of human faces. Much of my research has focused on questions related to how facial information (e.g., facial expressions and gaze direction) influences observers’ attention, emotion, and motivation and, on the other hand, how attention, emotions, and motivation modulate perception of faces. In recent years, I have been interested in investigating these issues by using experimental settings in which the participants are interacting with another (“live”) person present in the laboratory.

Mikko Peltola
PhD, University Lecturer
Office: Pinni B 3141
tel. +358 50 318 6120
e-mail: mikko.peltola [at] tuni.fi

After receiving my PhD from the University of Tampere in 2011, I have worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Leiden University in 2012-2013 and at the University of Tampere since 2014. My main interest is emotion research with a particular focus on emotional development in early childhood. I have studied how infants process facial emotions during the first year and how individual differences in infants’ attention to faces and emotions predict their later social and emotional development. Another major focus of my research concerns the influence of parenthood on social information processing and particularly the changes in processing infant signals during the transition to parenthood. In my research, I incorporate behavioral, psychophysiological (EEG, EMG, ECG), hormonal, and observational (e.g., attachment and temperament assessment) methods.

Anneli Kylliäinen
PhD, Academy Research Fellow
Office: Pinni B 3143
tel. +358 50 318 6021
e-mail: anneli.kylliainen [at] tuni.fi

I finished my PhD at the University of Tampere in 2007 and after that I have worked as a postdoctoral researcher and a university lecturer at the University of Tampere. I am also a clinical neuropsychologist which supports my research interest on autism spectrum disorder (ASD) well. My current interest is social development in ASD, especially the role of eye contact difficulties in early detection and intervention. I am also participating in the CHILD-SLEEP project, which investigates the long-term significance of early sleep for cognitive, social and emotional development.

Terhi Helminen
PhD, Postdoctoral Researcher, University Lecturer
Office: Linna 4061
e-mail: terhi.helminen [at] tuni.fi

In my PhD, which I finished at the University of Tampere in 2017, I investigated psychophysiological responses to eye contact in typical adults and in children with and without autism. Since then, my main research interests have been in autism spectrum disorders, although I have broadened my research interests to other developmental disorders (reading disability and ADHD) as well. I am also a clinical psychologist working with children with neuropsychiatric disorders and learning disabilities, which supports my research work. Currently I have a University Lecturer position in the Psychology clinic PSYKE at the University of Tampere, but I am conducting my research in close collaboration with the HIP Lab.

Heini Saarimäki
PhD, Postdoctoral Researcher
Office: Pinni B3139
e-mail: heini.saarimaki [at] tuni.fi

I received my PhD from Aalto University in 2018 and joined Tampere University as a postdoctoral researcher in 2019. In 2019-2020, I am working as a visiting postdoctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology. My research interests are in the field of social and affective neuroscience, and my research has focused on the neural underpinnings of human emotions. I have studied the neural basis of different emotions and their relationship to subjective experiences of emotion, as well as the flow of emotions during natural interaction. In my research, I combine naturalistic stimuli (such as movies and narratives), brain imaging (mostly fMRI) and pattern classification methods with self-reports and other measures of subjective experiences.

Elisa Vuoriainen
PhD, Postdoctoral Researcher
Office: Pinni B 3129
tel. +358 50 475 8650
e-mail: elisa.ruohonen [at] tuni.fi

I received my PhD from the University of Jyväskylä in 2020. In my PhD I investigated the neural basis of depression and aging. I currently work as a postdoctoral researcher in the TransParent project, which investigates changes in processing of infant signals in transition to parenthood. My research interests are in the field of social cognition and affective information processing.

Santeri Yrttiaho
PhD, Postdoctoral Researcher
e-mail: santeri.yrttiaho [at] tuni.fi

I received my PhD from Aalto University in 2012 and subsequently joined Tampere University to study the development of social and cognitive abilities from infancy to childhood. My specific focus has been the processing of faces and emotional expressions as cues of early interaction, and the use of objective physiological responses to study these phenomena. As theoretical frameworks, I am interested in maturational and interactionist views of infant and child development, and in the contextual factors of development. My research methodologies include electroencephalography, event-related potentials, eye tracking measures, and studying their correlations to implicated context variables.

Fiia Takio
PhD, Postdoctoral Researcher
Office: Linna 4050
tel. +358 50 318 2327
e-mail: fiia.takio [at] tuni.fi

I received my PhD from the University of Turku in 2012. In my PhD I focused on multimodal perceptual bias modified by age and praxis. I am currently working as a postdoc researcher at Tampere University in different research projects. My current personal research interest relates to the development and support of self-regulation skills in children with neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism and ADHD. I am also a clinical neuropsychologist and my field of expertise focuses on the complex developmental and neuropsychiatric disorders in child and youth psychiatry.

Jenni Lauttia

M.A., PhD Student
Office: Linna 4047
tel. +358 50 318 6078
e-mail: jenni.lauttia [at] tuni.fi

I received my Master’s degree in psychology from the University of Tampere in 2016. Since then, I have been working both on my PhD dissertation as well as a clinical psychologist. My research focus is on young children with autism spectrum disorder and especially how they respond to other person’s direct gaze as measured with different psychophysiological measures.

Helena Kiilavuori
M.A., PhD Student
Office: Pinni B 3130
e-mail: helena.kiilavuori [at] tuni.fi

I received my Master’s degree in Psychology from the University of Tampere in February 2018. After graduation, I worked in clinical neuropsychology for a short period before starting my PhD studies in the Human Information Processing Laboratory in November 2018. My research focus is on psychophysiological responses during social interaction. Along with working on PhD studies, my aim is to proceed with my career in clinical neuropsychology as well.

Tiina Mäkelä
PhD, Postdoctoral Researcher
Office: Linna 4038
e-mail: tiina.makela [at] tuni.fi

I received my Master’s degree in Psychology from the University of Tampere in 2010. Currently, I am conducting my PhD studies in the CHILD-SLEEP-project. The topic of my research is the associations between infant night awakening and psychomotor development, attention and executive functioning, and socio-emotional behaviour.

Hanneli Sinisalo
M.A., PhD Student
Office: Pinni B 3139
tel. +358 50 437 7521
e-mail: hanneli.sinisalo [at] tuni.fi

I am working on my dissertation in the TransParent-project. I received my Master’s degree from the Tampere University in 2019. In my master’s thesis I studied hormonal differences in mothers and non-mothers in interaction with an infant simulator. I am especially interested in the hormonal and brain basis of parenthood and attachment, parent-infant interactions and the consequences these matters might have on the development of the infant.

TransParent-project

Elina Husu
M.A., PhD Student
Office: Pinni B 3139
tel. +358 50 318 2534
e-mail: elina.husu [at] tuni.fi

I received my Master’s degree in psychology from the Tampere University in 2018. After graduation, I have been working as clinical psychologist. Currently, I am working as a PhD student in the Gaze at Toddler –project in which the development of eye contact behaviour in young children with autism spectrum disorder is investigated. I am especially interested in the early parent-mediated interventions for toddlers with increased likelihood of ASD.

Sonja Veistola
M.A., PhD Student
Office: Pinni B 3139
tel. +358 50 572 4891
e-mail: sonja.veistola [at] tuni.fi

I studied Social and Economic Psychology at Leiden University and Clinical Neuropsychology at the University of Groningen, completing both Master’s degrees in 2020. I am now working on my dissertation as a part of the TransParent project. Within the project, I am focusing on the effect of parenthood on social information processing, particularly in fathers.

Kseniia Konopkina
M.Sc., PhD Student
Office: Pinni B 3142
e-mail: kseniia.konopkina [at] tuni.fi

I received my Master’s degree in cognitive sciences and technologies from the Higher School of Economics (HSE) in 2019. Since November 2020, I’ve been working in the Human Information Processing Laboratory as a visiting researcher. Later in August 2021, I became a PhD student at Tampere University. My research focuses on understanding neurocognitive mechanisms of emotional development using behavioral and neuroimaging methods. I am particularly interested in the relationship between subjective experiences of emotion and the neural basis of different emotions.

Manman Zhai
M.Ed., PhD student
Office: Pinni B 3140
e-mail: manman.zhai [at] tuni.fi

I received my Master’s degree in Educational and Developmental Psychology from South China Normal University in June 2021. Currently I am conducting my PhD in the Human Information Processing Laboratory. I am interested in social cognition, especially emotion processing. Now my research focus is on investigating the influence of emotional modulation on gaze processing.

Samuli Linnunsalo
M.A., PhD student
Office: Pinni B 3129
e-mail: samuli.linnunsalo [at] tuni.fi

I am working on my dissertation in the RoboAffect project, in which I started in August 2021. I am currently investigating the psychophysiological responses during human-robot interaction. Along with working on my dissertation, I am studying to obtain my Master’s degree in Psychology, which will hopefully happen in June 2022.

Micol Gemignani (she/her)
Visiting researcher
Office: Pinni B 3139
e-mail: micol.gemignani [at] tuni.fi

I received my Master’s degree in Neuroscience and neuropsychological rehabilitation (Psychology) from the University of Padova in 2019. After graduation, I worked as a research assistant at the University of Padova, before starting my PhD studies in the ODFlab at the University of Trento in November 2020. My research is focused on the role of experience of care on cognitive and neural bases of caregiving. In my research, I have included both different- and same-sex couples of parents. I have combined cognitive (e.g., reaction Times), psychophysiological (e.g., EEG, ECG), and observational (e.g., parent-child interaction scales) methods.

Personnel