Departmental Labs
- Robotics Control Lab
- Mother-Infant Lab
- User-System Eyetracking in Realtime Lab
- Basic and Applied Science in Ergonomics (BASE) Lab
Robotics Control Lab
The Robotics Control Laboratory at New Mexico State University is studying cognitive issues related to interfaces for control of multiple robots. Both virtual and physical robots are being used. Existing artifacts in the form of video games with customized scenarios have been used in single computer, dual computer, and LAN multi-player mode. A variety of tasks have been developed involving either cooperative tasks with several robots or independent time critical tasks. Data includes multiplexed video, think aloud verbal protocol, situational awareness, performance and workload measures.
In addition to the use of virtual robot environments, an 8' x 12' miniature environment for radio controlled camera equipped mini robots has also been built. Real world issues such as obstacle avoidance, perceptual distortion, spatial navigation, and multiple robot coordination are being studied in this simulated environment. Test subjects operate both the virtual and mini-robots in specific tasks designed to highlight task switching and monitoring of multiple robot activities.
Mother-Infant Lab
In our Mother-Infant Lab, we are exploring how infants' cognitive development is affected by cortisol responses to stress. A longitudinal design is being used, and in our new study data are being collected at these infant ages: 2 months, 3 months, 6 months, 8 months, and 10 months. Salivary cortisol samples are taken from the infant and the mother to determine whether or not they exhibit a similar adrenocortical response to a mildly stressful event (the direction of change is the same or not pre-experiment to post-experiment), and to assess whether infants' cortisol response to the laboratory situation decreases or increases.
We have found both of these factors to be related to the amount of learning infants exhibit in cognitive tasks involving discrimination, memory, inter-modal matching and grammar recognition We are also investigating how behavioral interactions between mother and infant are related to infant learning. Specific behaviors of the mother and infant are coded in 10-sec intervals across a 10-min interaction period. The study provides valuable information about the emotional, social, and intellectual health of infants in a diverse population.
For more information about the Mother-Infant Lab please contact Dr. Laura Thompson.
User-System Eyetracking in Realtime Lab
As humans interact with visually displayed information, researchers can try to understand the perceptual and cognitive mechanisms that underlie performance in multiple ways. We can observe and record what a user's hands do as they complete a task; we can ask the user to verbalize their conscious thoughts; and we can record where their eyes move as they interact with the visual information. As we take a variety of different overt measures of what the user does, we can construct a more accurate picture of the covert processes that are responsible for those actions.
Eyetracking is especially useful in studying
- the spatial distribution and movement of visual attention
- visual search for needed information, and
- points in a realtime processing sequence of visual information at which users stop to engage in cognitive activities.
The Laboratory for User-System Eyetracking in Realtime (USER) is currently engaged in research on how people read various kinds of visual displays of information, including mathematical equations, tabular displays of data, and graphs.
For more information about the USER lab, please contact Dr. Stephen C. Rice
Basic and Applied Science in Ergonomics (BASE) Lab
The Basic and Applied Science in Ergonomics (BASE) Lab focuses on a variety of topics relating to trust, automation, self-priming, cross-cultural issues, and attribution. More specifically, we are running multiple studies examining how violations of perfect and imperfect duties affect trust in others, and how they influence trait attributions toward others. Another line of research we are currently running involves trust in automated devices. Recently, we have been studying factors that influence operator trust and dependence on automated warning systems. We are interested in how errors in automation affect various human behaviors. Additionally, we are studying how private and collective self-priming affects behavior in visual cognition.
As a complement to the BASE lab, we also run a lab focusing on factors influencing the operation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. The UAV lab is used for medium- and high-fidelity experiments testing mission control of single or multiple UAVs augmented by various forms of automation. Our research has examined the effects of multiple diagnostic aids and how operator trust in the aids is affected by different types of automation failures.
For more information about the BASE lab, please contact Dr. Stephen C. Rice
