Eyewire

Eyewire
Developer(s)Sebastian Seung of Princeton University (formerly Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Director(s)Amy Sterling
Platform(s)Webbrowser (WebGL)
ReleaseDecember 10, 2012
Genre(s)Puzzle, Citizen Science

Eyewire is a citizen science game from Sebastian Seung's Lab at Princeton University. It is a human-based computation game that uses players to map retinal neurons. Eyewire launched on December 10, 2012. The game utilizes data generated by the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research.[1]

Eyewire gameplay is used for neuroscience research by enabling the reconstruction of morphological neuron data, which helps researchers model information-processing circuits.[2][3]

Gameplay

The player is given a cube with a partially reconstructed neuron branch stretching through it. The player completes the reconstruction by coloring a 2D image with a 3D image generated simultaneously. Reconstructions are compared across players as each cube is submitted, yielding a consensus reconstruction that is later checked by experienced players.

Goal

Eyewire is used to advance the use of artificial intelligence in neuronal reconstruction.[4] The project is also used in research determining how mammals see directional motion.[5][6]

Methods

The activity of each neuron in a 350 × 300 × 60 μm3 portion of a retina was determined by two-photon microscopy.[7] Using serial block-face scanning electron microscopy, the same volume was stained to bring out the contrast of the plasma membranes, sliced into layers by a microtome, and imaged using an electron microscope.

A neuron is selected by the researchers. The program chooses a cubic volume associated with that neuron for the player, along with an artificial intelligence's best guess for tracing the neuron through the two-dimensional images.[8]

Publications

  • Kim, Jinseop S; Greene, Matthew J; Zlateski, Aleksandar; Lee, Kisuk; Richardson, Mark; Turaga, Srinivas C; Purcaro, Michael; Balkam, Matthew; Robinson, Amy; Behabadi, Bardia F; Campos, Michael; Denk, Winfried; Seung, H Sebastian (2014). "Space–time wiring specificity supports direction selectivity in the retina". Nature. 509 (7500): 331–336. Bibcode:2014Natur.509..331.. doi:10.1038/nature13240. PMC 4074887. PMID 24805243.
  • Greene, Matthew J; Kim, Jinseop S; Seung, H Sebastian (2016). "Analogous Convergence of Sustained and Transient Inputs in Parallel on and off Pathways for Retinal Motion Computation". Cell Reports. 14 (8): 1892–900. doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2016.02.001. PMC 6404534. PMID 26904938.
  • Tinati, Ramine; Luczak-Roesch, Markus; Simperl, Elena; Hall, Wendy (2017). "An investigation of player motivations in Eyewire, a gamified citizen science project". Computers in Human Behavior. 73: 527–40. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2016.12.074.

Accomplishments

  • Eyewire neurons featured at 2014 TED Conference Virtual Reality Exhibit.[9][10]
  • Eyewire neurons featured at US Science and Engineering Expo in Washington, DC.[11]
  • Eyewire won the National Science Foundation's 2013 International Visualization Challenge in the Games and Apps Category.[12]
  • An Eyewire image by Alex Norton won MIT's 2014 Koch Image Gallery Competition.[13]
  • Eyewire named one of Discover Magazine's Top 100 Science Stories of 2013.[14]
  • Eyewire named top citizen science project of 2013 by SciStarter.[15]
  • Eyewire won Biovision's World Life Sciences Forum Catalyzer Prize on March 26, 2013.[16]
  • Eyewire named to top 10 citizen science projects of 2013 by PLoS.[17]

Eyewire has been featured by Wired,[18] Nature's blog SpotOn,[19] Forbes,[20] Scientific American,[21] and NPR.[22]

References

  1. ^ "About << Eyewire". Archived from the original on February 13, 2012. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
  2. ^ Kim, Jinseop S; Greene, Matthew J; Zlateski, Aleksandar; Lee, Kisuk; Richardson, Mark; Turaga, Srinivas C; Purcaro, Michael; Balkam, Matthew; Robinson, Amy; Behabadi, Bardia F; Campos, Michael; Denk, Winfried; Seung, H Sebastian (2014). "Space–time wiring specificity supports direction selectivity in the retina". Nature. 509 (7500): 331–336. Bibcode:2014Natur.509..331.. doi:10.1038/nature13240. PMC 4074887. PMID 24805243.
  3. ^ Tinati, Ramine; Luczak-Roesch, Markus; Simperl, Elena; Shadbolt, Nigel; Hall, Wendy (2015). "'/Command' and Conquer: Analysing Discussion in a Citizen Science Game" (PDF). Proceedings of the ACM Web Science Conference on ZZZ - Web Sci '15. p. 26. doi:10.1145/2786451.2786455. ISBN 978-1-4503-3672-7. S2CID 2874156.
  4. ^ "Neural networks: Theory and Applications". Seunglab.org. Archived from the original on 2018-01-30. Retrieved 2018-01-29.
  5. ^ "Retina << Eyewire". Archived from the original on March 24, 2012. Retrieved March 27, 2012.
  6. ^ "Eyewire". Retrieved March 27, 2012.
  7. ^ "Challenge << Eyewire". Archived from the original on April 14, 2012. Retrieved March 27, 2012.
  8. ^ Sebastian Seung (March 18, 2012). "Very small sections of neuron". Archived from the original on April 19, 2014. Retrieved March 27, 2012. A few more words of explanation for the curious...you color neurons on Eyewire by guiding an artificial intelligence (AI). The AI was trained to color the branches of neurons.
  9. ^ "At TED, Worldwide Telescope uses Oculus Rift to let attendees experience the universe - Next at Microsoft - Site Home - TechNet Blogs". Archived from the original on 2014-04-18. Retrieved 2014-04-17.
  10. ^ "Yes, that's Commander Chris Hadfield wearing the Oculus Rift. (And yes, the Internet just exploded.)". Blog.ted.com. 26 March 2014. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  11. ^ "USA Science & Engineering Festival - The Nation's Largest Science Festival". USASEF. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  12. ^ "Science: 2013 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge Winners Announced". Aaas.org. 5 February 2014. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  13. ^ "Koch2014winners: Cell Press". Archived from the original on 2016-05-06. Retrieved 2014-04-17.
  14. ^ "Science For the People, By the People". DiscoverMagazine.com. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  15. ^ "Top 13 Citizen Science Projects of 2013". SciStarter.com. 1 January 2014.
  16. ^ "BIOVISION Catalyzer". Archived from the original on 2014-04-19. Retrieved 2014-04-17.
  17. ^ "Top Citizen Science Projects of 2012 - CitizenSci". Blogs.plos.org. 31 December 2012.
  18. ^ Stinson, Liz (2 August 2013). "A Videogame That Recruits Players to Map the Brain". Wired. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  19. ^ SpotOn Editor (14 March 2013). "SpotOn NYC: Communication and the brain – A Game to Map the Brain". SpotOn (blog). Nature. Archived from the original on 18 March 2013. Retrieved 10 November 2019. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  20. ^ Frank, Aaron; with Vivek Wadhwa (19 August 2013). "70,000+ Have Played 'Eyewire' Game That Trains Computers to Map the Brain". Forbes. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  21. ^ "Update: EyeWire". Scientific American. 13 June 2014. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
  22. ^ Palca, Joe (5 March 2013). "Wanna Play? Computer Gamers Help Push Frontier of Brain Research". Joe's Big Idea. Morning Edition. NPR. Retrieved 10 November 2019.