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Daniela Yanez Ramirez is a Psychology major on the general track. She is working on being accepted into a Clinical psychology Ph.D program in the hopes of conducting research to study the neurological effects of long-term stress. As a member of the MIT2 research laboratory, she is assisting in the Online vs In-person vigilance study.

The MIT2 Laboratory performs diverse Human Factors Psychology research under the guidance of Dr. Peter Hancock.   We focus on the implications of human cognition, behavior, and physiology on man-made systems.  The basic problem of how humans and their technology interact is examined in driving simulators, battlefield simulations, through robotic surrogates and virtual environments.

MIT2 brings together a highly interdisciplinary team, including Psychologists, Physiologists, Computer Scientists, Engineers, and Modeling & Simulation Professionals. Theoretical and methodological advances, together with empirical investigation, have allowed our researchers to make celebrated and groundbreaking achievements.  Every day, Human Factors research brings us closer to understanding stress, vigilance, cognitive decision making, time perception, and many other underpinnings of the fascinating and complicated relationships between humans and their tools.

University of Central Florida
Majoring in Psychology
Minoring in English Literature
Joined Lab: Fall 2013
Expects to Graduate: Spring 2014

Emily discovered the MIT² lab by inquiring with the psychology advising office about any open labs. After graduation she plans on earning her Ph.D in Human Factors and pursuing a career in NASA or in video game related research.

Applied Experimental and Human Factors Psychology PhD Student
University of Central Florida
Department of Psychology
B.S., Psychology, George Mason University

Amira Mohamed-Ameen is a Ph.D. student in the Applied Experimental and Human Factors psychology program at the University of Central Florida. In 2010, she obtained her B.S. in the field of Psychology with a minor in Art and Visual Technology from George Mason University. Under the direction of Dr. Peter Hancock, she is currently working on examining the relationship between brain metabolism and cognitive resources, specifically, when the mind wanders. She hopes to also link this research to the world of driving. If that were not enough, Amira also hopes to attain a Masters of Science in Industrial Engineering en route to her doctorate degree. Her primary research interests include neuroergonomics, mind wandering, entertainment, theme parks, human-robot teams, trust in automation, adaptive automation, user interface design, human error, and distributed cognition. Outside of academia, Amira is a successful pianist, actress, painter, as well as an accomplished stand-up comedian. Beyond all else, she can make a mean mango mousse and do a killer impression of ‘Finding Nemo’s’ Dori.

Dr. Hancock with Dr. Kramer

We were glad to have Dr. Kramer, Director of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science & Technology and the Swanlund Chair and Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Illinois, visit us and give us a talk titled “A Tale of Two Training Strategies:  Boosting Cognitive & Brain Health.” His research includes topics in cognitive psychology, cognitive neuroscience, aging, and human factors.

We reached out to Dr. Peter A. Hancock, Provost’s Distinguished Research Professor at The University of Central Florida and member of the Augmented Cognition International Society, to get his take on the AugCog concepts as presented in Flash.  His responses provided a detailed look into an exciting area of neuroscience.  Read here

Traditionally, Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) has involved a human operator explicitly controlling an unmanned asset using a Human Computer Interface (HCI). This paradigm does not allow humans and robots to interact as a team within a real-world dynamic environment (e.g., combat). In order to achieve this level of interaction, more advanced but intuitive interfaces must be developed that humans can easily learn to communicate to robotic team members. At the same time, robots must be able to respond in ways that can be easily interpreted with high response time and little cognitive load on Soldiers within the team.

One of the principal barriers to fielding HR teams capable of true collaboration for operationally relevant tasking, such as force protection of fixed sites, securing new sites, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), is a lack of viable communication between human and robot elements. Inadequate communication capabilities prevent bi-directional communication leading to a loss of shared team awareness. In noisy, acoustically and visually challenging situations, multi-modal communications and their mutual contextual understanding are critical to effective command, control, intelligence, and collaboration.

REFEREED PUBLICATIONS

• Hancock, P.A., Billings, D.R., & Schaefer, K.E. (2011). Can you trust your robot?. Ergonomics in Design, 19(3), 24-29. PDF

Abstract: It is proposed that trust is a critical element in the interactive relations between humans and the automated and robotic technology they create. This article presents (a) why trust is an important issue for this type of interaction, (b) a brief history of the development of human-robot trust issues, and (c) guidelines for input by human factors/ergonomics professionals to the design of human-robot systems with emphasis on trust issues. Our work considers trust an ongoing and dynamic dimension as robots evolve from simple tools to active, sentient teammates.

• Hancock, P.A., Billings, D.R., Schaefer, K. E., Chen, J.Y.C., de Visser, E.J., & Parasuraman, R. (2011). A meta-analysis of factors affecting trust in human-robot interaction. Human Factors, 53(5), 517-527. PDF

Application: The findings provide quantitative estimates of human, robot, and environmental factors influencing HRI trust. Specifically, the current summary provides effect size estimates that are useful in establishing design and training guidelines with reference to robot-related factors of HRI trust. Furthermore, results indicate that improper trust calibration may be mitigated by the manipulation of robot design. However, many future research needs are identified.

REFEREED CONFERENCE PUBLICATIONS

Billings, D.R., Oleson, K.E., Chen, J.Y.C., & Hancock, P.A. (2011, August). Mitigating inappropriate trust in human-robot interactions: A review of trust calibration strategies in the literature. Poster accepted for presentation at the APA 119th Annual Convention, Washington, D.C.

Hancock, P. A., Billings, D. R., Oleson, K., & Chen, J. (2011, July). Factors impacting development of trust in human-robot teams. Poster presented at the Autonomous Systems Technical Assessment Board (TAB). Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD.

Hancock, P. A., Billings, D. R., Oleson, K. E. (2011, July). Influential factors in the development of human-robot team trust & future research needs. Poster presented at the 5th International Summer School on Aviation Psychology: Training and future challenges in aviation. Graz, Austria.

Oleson, K.E., Hancock, P.A., Billings, D. R., & Schesser, C. D. (2011, May). Trust in unmanned aerial systems: A synthetic distributed trust model derived from a human-robot trust meta-analysis. Poster accepted for presentation at the 16th International Symposium on Aviation Psychology, Dayton, OH.

Kocsis, V., Alesia, M., Billings, D.R., Oleson, K.E., & Hancock, P.A. (2011, April). Occupational Stereotypes in Human-Robot Interaction. Lecture conducted at the Human Factors and Applied Psychology Conference, Daytona, FL.

Oleson, K.E., Billings, D.R., Kocsis, V., Chen, J.Y.C., & Hancock, P.A. (2011). Antecedents of trust in human-robot collaborations. Conference Proceedings of the IEEE International Multi-Disciplinary Conference on Cognitive Methods in Situation Awareness and Decision Support (CogSIMA).

Sanders, T., Oleson, K.E., Billings, D.R., Chen, J.Y.C. & Hancock, P.A. (2011). A Model of Human-Robot Trust: Theoretical Framework and Meta-Analysis. Proceedings of the 55th Annual Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Conference. Las Vegas, NV.

Oleson, K., Billings, D.R., Kocsis, V., Chen, J.Y.C., & Hancock, P.A. (2010). Approaches to a meta-analysis of human-robot trust. Proceedings of the 8th Annual Meeting of the Society for Human Performance in Extreme Environments, (p. 35, Abstract Only).

TECHNICAL REPORTS
Hancock, P.A., Billings, D.R., Oleson, K.E., Chen, J.Y.C., Parasuraman, R., & de Visser, E. (submitted, 2011). A Meta-analysis of Factors Influencing the Development of Human-Robot Trust. (ARL Technical Report).