The Catholic University of AmericaNumber 26
CSL Notes Spring/Summer/Fall 1998
Newsletter of the Cognitive Science Laboratory, Washington, D.C. 20064 World Wide Web: http://www.acad.cua.edu/as/psy/csl/
From the Editor..........
Carol Cairns
This long overdue issue comes packed with news from both inside and outside the CSL. We have
several new members and say fond farewell to members who have left (see CSL News). The list of new
publications is impressive and the CSL was well represented at various conferences by members'
attendance and their presentations--see the various conference reports throughout the issue. Though it
has been a while since we've reported on our activities, we've been very active and have undergone
several changes. The CSL web page has been revamped and has a new address; please make note of it
and let us hear from you; all comments and suggestions are
welcome! We also proudly present the
HFES Fellows Profile of our Director as it appears in the latest issue of the Human Factors and
Ergonomics Society Bulletin. And to update you on the John Denver plane crash on which Jackie
reported in the last issue, see the NTSB findings below.
Speaking of the NTSB, the Guest Columnist this issue is CSL alum Evan Byrne.
With sadness we report the death of Raja's brother Bala Parasuraman last August from
complications following a kidney transplant. We all send Raja our condolences.
Work has [long] been completed on the cockpit simulator and it is a beauty! The photos (below)
don't do it justice! Both the simulator itself and instrument panel lose something in the transition from
color to black & white; for a better view see our web page. Diego acts as a pilot subject "flying" while
Scott, as researcher, mans the PC station that drives the simulation software. Air traffic controllers have
been coming to the lab for months to take part in the ATC studies as Ulla, et al. continue the research on
air traffic control. Jackie and our British ATC consultant, Dr. Anthony Smoker, are preparing a
questionnaire as an insert in a future issue of
The Controller magazine.
The CSL continues to welcome visitors. Among the several distinguished guests who visited the
CSL over the last several months were Dr. Toshiyuki Inagaki, Professor at the Institute of Information
Sciences and Electronics, University of Tsukuba, Japan. Dr. Inagaki discussed his research on adaptive
automation with the human factors group, and also attended the Third Automation Technology and
Human Performance Conference in Norfolk, VA, with them. Later in the year Dr. Alex Martin from the
National Institute of Mental Health gave a colloquium to a packed audience in the lab on his brain
imaging studies of explicit and implicit memory (priming) and later visited the lab facilities. Finally, Dr.
Neville Moray, Professor of Applied Cognitive Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, England,
visited the lab and gave a well-attended colloqium on his recent research on trust and complacency in
human-automation interaction.
Pam and company continue NIA research as subjects come to the
CSL to take part in various
attention tasks. She and Jackie are working on getting our eye tracker ready for future experiments. Jia
Luo (see CSL News Welcome) has been conducting ERP research, both in collaboration with Raja and
Pam (visual search) and with Yang and Raja (motion priming) Look for several ERP papers in the next
year!
Congratulations to several CSL members (see CSL News) as accolades, honors,
and funding have
been awarded!
In May, the CSL hosted an Open House to several members of the CUA administration (see report
below). The CSL certainly put its best foot forward and we felt our guests left with a better
understanding of the size, diversity, and depth of the CSL's training and research. This was the "pilot
version" of a larger Open House we would like to host in the future.
Again, we invite all readers to contribute to our newsletter. And, of course everyone is welcome to
attend our Wednesday noon meetings when lab members and/or guest speakers regularly present
colloquia. Alumni, please keep us informed of your current activities both professional and personal
(see CSL News Alumni); we still consider you part of the CSL family.
For me personally, it has been a busy year! My younger daughter (a former student of Raja's)
was married in August and my older daughter was married the previous September. So no sooner had we
finished celebrating one wedding and it was time to starting planning the second--two weddings in less
than 12 months! As the holiday season approaches, we wish everyone a joyful season in whatever
manner you celebrate, and may the last year of the 1900s find you prosperous and well! ‡
These photos capture our flight simulator from a couple of different angles.
Following his presentation to the lab, Dr. Neville Moray paused to have his picture taken with Raja and
Dr. Marc Sebrechts, Chair, Department of Psychology.
The Director Speaks on..........
Raja Parasuraman
What Really Counts
1998 has been an extraordinary year for the Cognitive Science Lab, in all senses of the word. Many
of the successes are reflected in this issue of
CSL Notes, which is almost like an annual report, given that
the last issue came out almost a year ago. Three books, several papers published, awards and
professional recognition..... Energetic, intelligent, and happy new faces in the lab..... Lots of grant
funding, the highest the CSL has ever enjoyed ($800,000 a year), including another grant awarded to a
graduate student. National and international publicity.......all the trappings of professional success. And
so on...... As director of the lab, I am proud of these achievements and of the people in the lab who have
made it all possible.
The year has also been out of the ordinary because of many personal difficulties, including major
health problems in my immediate family. These have caused much pain to those I love, and to me in
knowing that I can do little to erase their suffering. This year also saw the death of my brother. I would
gladly trade all the year's successes and more to have him back.
These tribulations have brought into sharp focus for me questions of the goals, values, and real
purpose of life, and of the transient, ephemeral nature of success. What has helped has been the support
and love of family and friends, and the care expressed by casual acquaintances and even strangers.
That's
what really counts. ‡
Guest Column..........
Evan Byrne, PhD, Human Performance Investigator, NTSB
On June 26 1996, after spending about three years as a post-doc at the Cognitive Science Laboratory,
I started work as a human performance investigator in the Office of Aviation Safety at the National
Transportation Safety Board in Washington DC. My transition in function could not have been more
rapid as 11 days later I found myself seated in the cockpit of an airliner making my way down to Florida
to catch up with the NTSB's "Go-team." The previous day, another Delta jet had experienced an
uncontained engine failure on takeoff in Pensacola; and I was being sent down there for observation and
familiarization of NTSB investigation procedures. I got to the command center in the middle of the first
progress meeting on Sunday evening and was assigned to work on the operations group. Monday
morning I found myself managing a group made up of FAA, company, and union representatives,
charged with conducting a witness interview of the tower controller. Monday night I traveled to Atlanta
after the daily progress meeting to get in position to participate in a flightcrew interview on Tuesday.
Tuesday afternoon I returned to Pensacola to report on the interviews for the daily progress meeting.
Wednesday morning I was back in Atlanta to start work with a group charged with understanding the
maintenance and inspection history of the engine part that failed. I returned home a few days later
having experienced first hand the nonstop characteristics of the initial on-scene phase of an aircraft
accident investigation. It was a great learning experience facilitated by the NTSB professionals on the
team and their counterparts at the FAA, the airline, and the union.
The Human Performance Division is one of several in the NTSB's Office of Aviation Safety. Others
are responsible for regional general aviation accidents, engineering, operations, survival factors, and
report writing. Personnel from these divisions make up the NTSB's "Go-team" for major aviation
accidents. The Go-team concept allows for specialists in flight operations, weather, air traffic control,
aircraft structures, aircraft systems, powerplants, survival factors, and human performance to be ready
to travel to an accident with as little as two hours. After getting the call you begin to focus on the task at
hand as you quickly say good-byes while making those last minute cancellations in your schedule. In the
course of an investigation, each investigator on the team has assigned responsibilities in their discipline.
Our Chairman, James E. Hall, has described our role in accident investigation as "Human performance
specialists review the background and performance of people associated with the accident, focusing on
each individual's professional knowledge, experience, training, decisions, actions, work patterns, and
physical abilities. Company policies and procedures, management relationships, equipment design, and
the general work environment are also reviewed. (
TR News 197 July-August 1998)."
Once on the accident site, human performance investigators typically start working with the flight
operations investigators and will move to other groups, like maintenance, depending on the accident
circumstances and findings. We're typically responsible for evaluating whether fatigue or other
impairment may have contributed to the accident and therefore one of our primary tasking in nearly
every launch is to establish a "72-hour history" for the personnel involved. We do this by looking at
work schedules, interviewing the person, and others who may have seen, worked with, or lived with
them. To acquire information in other areas we typically interview other pilots, evaluators, instructors.
We also review guidance and information available to the person involved and the training environment -
at times auditing the course or simulator session to understand what information is presented during
training and how. At times we use simulators and jumpseats to examine the operating requirements, cues
and information displays, and ergonomics of the cockpit to better understand and evaluate the interface
between the airplane and the person. Most of the work is conducted in a team setting with specialists
and investigators from the various parties to the investigation (airline, union, FAA, etc.).
Back at the office we continue to acquire factual information and often use resources like the
Aviation Safety and Reporting System to learn whether relevant safety or human factors issues
identified during the accident investigation are reported with any frequency in that database. We also
make use of data from the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder and consultations with experts
in those areas to get a picture of what occurred in the accident sequence. As we prepare the analysis,
and ultimately for the final report and presentation to the Board, the analytical process is very similar to
the research cycle. That is, factual data are evaluated and compared to historical precedent, available
literature, and folded back into an analytical argument. It that sense the job is strangely familiar as you
move back and forth between data collection and hypothesis testing.
The at times frequent and unanticipated travel make the job unique; this is neither good nor bad but
something that must be accepted. In my short tenure I've already spent New Year's Eve in Wilmington,
Ohio, and Easter Sunday somewhere over the Pacific en route to Singapore. And while these trips are
memorable, the numerous birthdays, holidays, and special events missed over the years by NTSB
investigators serve as a constant reminder of the seemingly random nature of accidents and the need to
control as many variables that can affect safety as possible. Perhaps jaded by the nature of human
memory--it seems that often times the call to travel to an accident scene occurs at the worst possible
time, such as 16 hours after closing on a new house or 4 days after you returned from the last launch.
Missed holidays, birthdays, and family events are to be expected. However inconvenient the timing of
the launch, all members of the team recognize that the inconvenience pales in comparison to the
significant pain and suffering that accompanies loss of life and property in many of the accidents we are
investigating.
The Cognitive Science Laboratory is well represented at NTSB. Down the hall in the Office of
Research and Engineering is Rob Molloy. Hopefully in another edition of CSL Notes, Rob can describe
his role in the Safety Studies Division at the Board. Although different, and with its own challenges, it is
no less important to the overall mission of the Safety Board - which is to make recommendations that
will improve safety in all modes of transportation. For additional information about the NTSB see
http://www.ntsb.gov.
In My Opinion, UpdateŠŠŠ.
Jacqueline Duley
AVflash Vol. 4, Issue 26, Monday, June 29, 1998, (http://www.avweb.com/avflash/flash426.txt)
reported the following: "NTSB ZEROES IN ON LIKELY CULPRIT IN JOHN DENVER CRASH...
Eight months after the crash, NTSB investigators are getting close to coming out with official word in the
death of singer John Denver who died in his Long EZ when it plunged into Monterey Bay, Calif.,
October 12, 1997. The NTSB has determined that there was no bird strike and that the engine was
running. The culprit appears likely to be a combination of low fuel and an inaccessible fuel handle. The
oddly placed fuel selector handle behind Denver's left shoulder meant that, to change tanks, the pilot
would have to take off the shoulder harness and twist around, a potentially deadly maneuver at an
altitude of 150 feet.
"NO SIGN OF FUEL PURCHASEŠ Of course, it doesn't matter where the handle is if there's no
fuel, and the NTSB could find no record of a fuel purchase. Denver had bought the plane two weeks
prior to the crash and had flown a couple of times before flying touch and goes on the day of the
accident."
The National Transportation Safety Board has now completed its investigation. It appears that poor
human factors contributed to the cause of this fatal crash as shown by this portion of the report:
"According to other pilots who were familiar with the airplane and/or had flown it, to change the fuel
selector a pilot had to: 1) Remove his hand from the right side control stick if he was hand flying the
aircraft; 2) Release the shoulder harness; 3) Turn his upper body 90 degrees to the left to reach the
handle; and 4) Turn the handle to another position. Two pilots shared their experiences of having
inadvertently run a fuel tank dry with nearly catastrophic consequences because of the selector and sight
gauge locations." The full report can be found at http://www.ntsb.gov/aviation/LAX/lnarr_98A008.cfm. ‡
CSL News
KudosŠŠ
At the Third Automation Technology and Human Performance Conference, CSL Director
Raja
Parasuraman received a plaque from The Tidewater Human Factors & Ergonomics Society for his
significant contributions to the field of human performance and automation control in the areas of
research, practice and education.
CSL funding expands!
Scott Galster's proposal to the NASA Langley Graduate Student
Researchers Program (see last issue of
CSL Notes) was accepted and he has been awarded a GSRP
fellowship. Major congratulations and thanks, Scott!
One of the CSL's newest members,
Joyelle Dominique received the College Chemistry
Achievement Award from the Chemical Society of Washington. And
Jennifer Engle has been inducted
into Psi Chi, the National Honor Society in Psychology.
Raja's book,
The Attentive Brain, has been very well received! Yet another example of favorable
reviews is the one that appears in the October 29th issue of
Nature magazine.
Alumni UpdatesŠŠ
An addition to the David Hardy Family arrived on April 14. Sophia Grace weighed in at 8 lbs, 10 oz
and 20 cm long. David visited the CSL earlier this month and brought pictures of Sophia and big sister
Emma; they are blond beauties--real California girls!
Trish May Ververs received her PhD from the University of Illinois on June 12; her dissertation
title: Conformal Flight Path Symbology For Head-Up Displays: Defining the Distribution of Attention
in Three-Dimensional Space. Trish is now Senior Research Scientist in the User-Centered Design Group
at the Honeywell Technology Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Congratulations, Trish!
Welcome!
Yuejia Luo comes as a post-doctoral research fellow in the event-related potentials (ERP) research.
He earned his PhD at the Institute of Psychology, The Chinese Academy of Sciences in April 1997.
Title of his dissertation: Selective Attention Research on Event-Related Potentials Using a Cross-Modal
and Delayed Response Paradigm. In addition, he got his MD degree in 1984 in China and has published
more than 20 papers since 1990 (most are in Chinese) on ERP, clinical psychology and rehabilitation
medicine. He was assistant lecturer at medical school, attending physician at hospital, and visiting
scholar in France. Before coming to the CSL, he was associate professor at the Institute of Psychology,
The Chinese Academy of Sciences. Jia says he likes CSL very much, hopes to learn from as well as
contribute to the CSL.
Tony has turned the Lab Systems Manager title over to S. Hoon Cho, a doctoral electrical
engineering student at CUA. Originally from Pusan, South Korea, Hoon came to the States in 1991.
Graduating from CUA with a BS in biochemistry 1995, he jumped to electrical engineering for a masters
degree, which was conferred last year. As a system and network administrator for the engineering
school, Hoon comes experienced with UNIX and PCs, although we're initiating him to our Macs! He
has served as president of the Korean Student Association as an undergraduate in 1993 and as a graduate
student in 1997. The big news in Hoon's family is the birth of their daughter Joyce on November 14!
Joyelle Dominique, one of the CSL Office Assistants, is a biochemistry senior with minors in math
and religion. Very involved in Campus Ministry, Joyelle directs the choir for the 9:00 Liturgy at St.
Vincent's Chapel. She is also vice-president of the Martin Maloney Chemical Society on campus and
tutors and plays piano in her spare time! Kirsten McNelis also works as an Office Assistant. A
sophomore psychology student minoring in Spanish, Kirsten is from Middletown, New Jersey, and is a
member of Phi Eta Sigma, CUA's Freshmen National Honor Society.
Two new Graduate Research Assistants have joined the CSL. Cathy Lawsin, who joined us only in
September, has already made a presentation to the lab at one of its noon meetings! A recent graduate
from Indiana University, she is pursuing an MA in General Psychology after which she hopes to enter a
PhD program in clinical psychology working with those who suffer from chronic physical illnesses.
Moving from Bloomington, Indiana, to Washington, D.C. was a bit of a change, but Cathy is becoming
acclimated to the "big city" and a new university. Cathy says she feels "fortunate to be given the
opportunity" to conduct research in the CSL. Coming from Sichuan Province, P.R. China, Xiong Jiang,
got a bachelor's degree in computer science in 1993 and a master's degree in biophysics in 1996 from
University of Science and Technology of China. Interested in cognitive psychology since 1992, he is a
PhD student of experimental psychology and will be doing research in attention and neuroimaging, an
area Xiong finds the most exciting in cognitive psychology at this time. Xiong proudly proclaims his
home province as having the "most delicious food in China, even in the world" and invites all those who
enjoy food to visit Sichuan.
FarewellŠŠ
to several CSL members. Chris Wilson and Neil Godleski left in pursuit of other university
interests and Jennie Engle has moved downstairs to the Human Performance Lab having been
appointed Research Assistant on Jim Howard's grant, Aging and the Learning of Sequential Patterns.
Stephanie Johnson is now at the National Rehabilitation Hospital. We wish them all well!
Hello and Goodbye.......
During the summer, Ericka Rovira joined the CSL as an undergraduate research assistant. Ericka is
an engineering psychology student at Tufts University. Based on her great performance this summer,
she is more than welcome to return to work in the CSL in the future!
Presentations..........
There have been many presentations given by various CSL members since the last issue (see below).
Also check out all the meeting reports throughout this issue and see where the CSL research has been
reported!
Current ResearchŠŠ
As the NASA Langley grant came to a close the end of July, another was awarded. Titled Cockpit
Adaptive Automation And Pilot Performance, the new grant started August 1. Work on all other
grants continues and the research is widely reported (see Presentations and New Publications).
Additionally, Scott has contributed to the CSL funding with his GSRP fellowship Evaluation Of
Countermeasures For Performance Decrements Due To Automation-Induced Complaceny In
Ifr Rated General Aviation Pilots (See Kudos above).
New Publications..........
Don't miss the list of new publications below! ‡
CSL Open HouseŠŠŠ.
Carol Cairns
It was an opportunity to "strut our stuff"! The CSL hosted an Open House on May 20 for several
distinguished members of The Catholic University of America administration. Invited were John
Convey, Provost; James Mayo, Associate Provost for Sponsored Research; Antanas Suziedelis, Dean,
School of Arts & Sciences; Hanna Marks, Associate Dean, School of Arts & Sciences; Marc Sebrechts,
Chair, Department of Psychology; and Laura Sweet, Assistant Controller for Contracts & Grants.
Guests arrived around 11:30 and were welcomed by Raja as he presented a history of the Cognitive
Science Lab and an overview of the research currently being conducted. Jackie and John presented a
"student's eye view" from both a graduate and undergraduate student perspective.
Then guests were taken on a tour of the facilities in the chapel-wing area and the G-floor labs. We
had just received our eye tracker, and the cockpit simulator and several ATC-simulation stations were up
and running! Dean Suziedelis, a licensed pilot, took a spin on the cockpit simulator. Pam and Jia
demonstrated EEG experiments with John Perez as test subject.
With the tour complete, guests and lab members were treated to a buffet lunch during a mini poster
session. Pam presented: "Changes in the Ability to Dynamically Adjust the Attentional Focus from
Youth to Old Age to Alzheimer's Disease"; Scott: "Effects of Aircraft Self-Separation on Controller
Conflict Detection Performance and Workload in Mature Free Flight"; Tony: "Air Traffic Controller
Trust in a Conflict Probe During Free Flight"; and Raja stood in for Yang presenting "Functional
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) of Face Working Memory using Rapid and Random Stimulus
Presentation." A stimulating Q&A followed with much discussion. Raja's books, The Attentive Brain
and The Future of Air Traffic Control, were off the press and copies of each were passed around for
guests to peruse. Each guest left with a copy of the CSL Annual Report of 1997 especially prepared for
this event. We impressed ourselves with the 29-page report! All in all it was a successful event that we
hope to replicate on a larger scale in the future! ‡
Dean Antanas Suziedelis intently
listening to Poster Session.
Scott started the Poster Session with his work. A relieved Tony
poses (below) with his poster after the guests had left.
Lab Director Raja looks on as Tony (unseen) presents
his poster.
The Editor PresentsŠŠŠ.
Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Fellows Profile: Raja Parasuraman
Most members of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society have academic credentials in either
psychology or engineering. One possible definition of human factors is the application of psychological
knowledge to the engineering of systems and work environments. I therefore count myself to be
fortunate in having received training in both these fields. Although I no longer consider myself an
engineer, the combination of psychology and engineering has stood me in good stead over the years, not
only in my research in human factors, but in other areas as well.
My initial decision to study electrical engineering was hardly the result of careful thought or
planning. I entered this field in 1969 because that is what good middle-class boys did then (and now) in
India‹train to become engineers or doctors or Government civil servants‹and because my brothers
before me were also engineers.
I left India in 1966 at the age of 16 on an international scholarship from a British foundation to finish
my schooling in England. My acceptance three years later into the Imperial College of Science and
Technology at the University of London was perhaps the first significant event that shaped my future
career. The curriculum at Imperial was highly inter-disciplinary. I remember being peeved at first at
having to take courses such as
Communication and Culture (Colin Cherry) and
The Tao of Physics
(Fritzhof Capra): I thought, what had these to do with electrical engineering? Now, years later, my long
held conviction of the need for inter-disciplinary approaches to scientific and practical problems
undoubtedly stems from these early influences. The faculty at Imperial included several other luminaries
in addition to Cherry and Capra. I am not ashamed to drop the names of other professors with whom I
took courses: Dennis Gabor, the Nobel Laureate physicist well known for the effect named after him,
and Eric Laithwaite, who first demonstrated electromagnetic levitation to us in the lab and several years
later watched the Japanese reap the fruits of his creation with the development of high-speed maglev
trains.
Given this eclectic mix, it is little wonder that I did not stay in electrical engineering. There were
some other factors. First, the only job offers I received in my final year in college were from defense
contractors. As a card-carrying member of the 60's generation, I did not want to spend my time building
electronic controls for missiles and bombs. Computer science had not progressed much beyond number
crunching and was therefore unappealing. It seemed to me that the apparently fuzzy field of psychology
was the closest I could get to Making Love and Not War. I began reading articles in psycho-physiology
as a result of my final-year project, which involved designing and building a multiplexed, analog-digital
system for the analysis of human electrophysiological signals, including the EEG and the EKG. I found
myself becoming intrigued by articles reporting that these signals had psychological significance, e.g.,
that certain EEG frequencies could index a person's state of attentiveness.
I decided to see if I could do graduate work to learn more. Unfortunately, I came up against the
British educational system, which strait-jacketed students into science and arts streams from an early
age. There was simply no way that I could get a Ph.D. in psychology without having an undergraduate
degree in psychology. Luckily, the University of Aston in Birmingham had just begun a new graduate
program in Applied Psychology. They were seeking students with backgrounds not just in psychology
but in engineering and other fields as well. That did it. I applied and was accepted into the program at
Aston.
At Aston I had the good fortune to have as my mentor Roy Davies, under whose masterful guidance
I completed my dissertation research. Roy had a major influence on my research, and I deeply
appreciate his encouragement of my work both before and after the Ph.D. Another important influence
was Tom Singleton, who has received the Society's Distinguished Foreign Colleague Award for his
significant contributions to ergonomics. Roy Davies and I began a fruitful research program on
mechanisms of vigilance and attention. He was particularly supportive of my development of an
information-processing taxonomy of vigilance, and of my efforts to pursue this theoretical insight in
empirical work. Our collaboration began with my thesis work in 1973 but extended for some years after
that, punctuated by the publication in 1982 of
The Psychology of Vigilance and in 1984 of
Varieties of
Attention. More recently, I have had the privilege of continuing work in this area with Joel Warm of the
University of Cincinnati, who is undoubtedly the leading researcher in the field of vigilance today.
After receiving the Ph.D. degree in 1976, I taught for two years in the UK while seeking research
opportunities in the US. I received a postdoctoral fellowship to attend the University of California, Los
Angeles, where I continued my research on attention and vigilance and also taught courses in human
factors. In 1982 I joined The Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington DC as an Associate
Professor of Psychology, and was promoted to full Professor in 1986. I have been at CUA ever since.
My career in human factors began with my basic research on vigilance and attention but later
expanded to much more practical problems in aging, automation, aviation, and driving. I have been
fortunate to have received grant support for this work from such agencies as NIH and NASA as well as
from private foundations. A dominant theme in my research in all these areas has been the issue of how
general theoretical principles of human interaction with systems can be applied to the solution of
practical problems. This interest also led to my organizing a conference on automation technology in
1994 and the publication in 1996 of
Automation Technology and Human Performance. The pace of
automation in modern society shows no sign of slowing down; hence I envisage that I will be continuing
to explore these issues well into the 21st century.
My ability to examine these and other research issues has been helped considerably through my
association with many highly talented graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, both past and present
(and who are too numerous to mention). Since 1984, when I established the Cognitive Science
Laboratory at Catholic University, over 40 students and fellows have received training in my lab. I have
also learned much from them; and my own education continues. As an example, three years ago I was
invited to join a Panel of the National Research Council to examine human factors aspects of current and
future air traffic control (ATC) systems. I had only a rudimentary knowledge of ATC when I began
work on this Panel. But after three years of Panel meetings (expertly chaired by Chris Wickens of the
University of Illinois), and following many visits to ATC centers, my interest has grown to the point
that I now carry out research on ATC. The recognition that more such opportunities for learning may
arise in the future is what keeps me excited about human factors and about the academic life.
By now my basic philosophy about human factors must be clear. We must study real systems and
real problems, but attacking the problems requires a strong theoretical understanding and a basic research
base that can continually refine and extend theory. We must strike a balance between two extremes: navel
gazing, or the pursuit of theoretical issues devoid of any connection to the natural ecology; and
opportunism, or the mindless pursuit of ad hoc "solutions" to practical problems, which do not advance
understanding and do little to enhance the science of human factors. Basic research in human factors
must attack issues that are drawn from observations of the real world. Good human factors design stems
from principled application of our knowledge of human capabilities and work environments. The result
of this twin-pronged approach: the advance of theory
and the solution of practical problems. We would
do well to remember the proven benefits of this approach‹perhaps best exemplified by the work just
after World War II of Donald Broadbent in the UK and of Paul Fitts in the US‹even as modern human
factors gets buffeted by the winds of current fashions as to the "correct" way to do research and solve
design problems.
Finally, I am optimistic about the future of human factors as a new century draws near. As my good
friend and colleague Peter Hancock of the University of Minnesota has eloquently stated, human factors
is well and perhaps uniquely qualified to address some of the most pressing problems that technological
societies will face. It will be a compelling challenge. ‡
Lab Systems Manager's ReportŠŠŠ.
Tony Masalonis
This is my last report as I turn over my responsibilities as Lab System Manager to Hoon Cho who
officially joined the lab this Fall. The CSL's happy family of computers and accessories continues to
grow. Over the past few months we have acquired three of Apple's speedy new G3 Macintoshes.
Also, several new PC's have been purchased to replace aging systems in the Flight Simulator and MAT
labs, and to expand access to the world of Windows for all lab members. In order that all these Macs and
PC's can live together in perfect harmony, our most important software acquisition to date this year has
been Miramar Systems' PC MacLAN, which allows Windows machines to act as members of the
AppleTalk network that keeps the bits flowing across our predominantly-Mac lab. Since the last
CSL
Notes issue, we have also acquired even more security software, including the latest anti-virus releases
by Norton (for Mac) and McAfee (for Windows), and we are also running the much-ballyhooed
Windows 98 on several PC's.
As for the hard stuff (hardware), we have improved remote access by having additional modem lines
installed and purchasing 56K modems supporting v.90. We have expanded our backup capabilities with
a tape drive, to be used primarily for backing up the ATC simulators. Another recent acquisition is a
new front door combination lock, featuring an improved handle that I'm sure everyone can agree is the
greatest step forward for physical Ergonomics in the CSL this year! ‡
A Word of Thanks..........
Carol Cairns
Tony Masalonis officially handed over the reins of the Lab System Manager position to Hoon Cho
(see Tony's last report, left). Just a few of the changes Tony has overseen since he started his watch in
March 1996 include: e-mail/web access for all CSL members from their "personal" lab computers; the
old Appletalk-based network has been converted to a complex multi-platform network to include Macs,
Windows, and Linux; the network has gone from Localtalk or Phonenet to twisted-pair Ethernet via the
campus fiber optic cable; and we have increased remote access capability from home or other remote
locations. Thanks from all of us, Tony! ‡
The Third Automation Technology and Human Performance ConferenceŠŠŠ.
Ulla Metzger
The biannual Third Automation Technology and Human Performance Conference was held in
Norfolk, Virginia, March 25-28, 1998, and organized by Marc Scerbo, Associate Professor, Old
Dominion University. This was the third in a series of conferences addressing the effects of automation
on human performance that Raja started in 1994. The CSL human factors group attended and several
members presented. All can be found in the conference abstracts or in: Scerbo, M. W. and Mouloua, M.
(Eds.) (1998) Automation Technology and Human Performance. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Raja gave two talks as well as chairing the panel "Human-automation interaction: The professional
user's perspective." Jackie, Scott, and Brian also presented. Evan Byrne, former CSL member, spoke on
the accident investigator's view of human-automation interaction. Toshiyuki Inagaki, who visited the
CSL from the University of Tsukuba, Japan, presented his research on the role of automation in aborted
take-offs. The format of the conference, with no parallel sessions, allowed for lots of discussions and
exchange of research ideas which often is not possible in bigger meetings. The highlight of the meeting:
The Tidewater Human Factors & Ergonomics Society presented Raja with a plaque for his significant
contributions to the field of human performance and automation control in the areas of research, practice
and education. ‡
The 7th Cognitive Aging Conference..........
Camilla M. Chavez
The 7th Cognitive Aging Conference was held at the downtown Renaissance hotel in Atlanta,
Georgia, April 23- 26, 1998. Over 300 researchers attended. Topics covered were: Skill acquisition,
priming, working memory, sensory and non-cognitive correlates of cognition, attentional control, social
cognition, examining cognitive aging with neuroimaging, false memories, and intraindividual differences.
Yang Jiang gave a presentation on "Age-related reduction in 3-D visual motion priming"; Raja and I
provided A/V technical support! Pam and Raja had a poster titled, "Aging delays the development but
not increases the magnitude of effects of precue precision in visual search." One tradition at this
conference is "the roast" during the banquet. At this time, some of the more established members in the
field of cognitive aging are "roasted!" Pictures/video tapes of some well-known researchers (no names
will be mentioned!) in outrageous situations, like dancing the chicken dance! What a riot seeing Roast
Host Arthur Kramer with a goofy arrow prop stuck through his head! Atlanta was a peach! Downtown
offered some nice restaurants as well as convenient Kinko's locations (for those last minute changes!)
right off the Atlanta subway! This was the first Cognitive Aging Conference I attended. I enjoyed every
part of it and am looking forward to the next conference in the year 2000! ‡
The 4th International Conference of Functional Mapping of the Human BrainŠŠŠ.
Yang Jiang
Raja and I attended this year's meeting at Montreal, Canada, June 6-13. The conference gathered
more than a thousand neuroscientists, physicists and physicians interested in the application of brain
"mapping" techniques. Most of the studies presented focused on human functional neuroanatomy in
normal and pathological states using brain-scanning technologies (PET, fMRI, SPECT, EEG, MEG, and
optical imaging). The conference kicked off with the keynote address by Dr. Brenda Milner, the "Queen
Mother" of neuropsychology. Although in her 80s, she is still actively involved in research at the
Montreal Neurological Institute. Dr. Milner gave an intriguing presentation of her life-long work on
cognitive function in the frontal and temporal lobes of humans and new insights from brain imaging.
Our abstract "Event-related fMRI Reveals Two Human Cortical Mechanisms during a Working
Memory Task", co-authored with Drs. James Haxby, Alex Martin, and Leslie Ungerleider at
LBC,NIMH was rated in the top 10% research projects at the conference. My oral presentation on the
project went quite well (three practice talks paid off!). In comparing last year's meeting in Copenhagen,
many pointed out significant improvements in state-of-the-art technology, experimental designs and
analysis. Montreal's own charm as an exciting city definitely added to the success of the meeting. The
field of Brain Mapping is developing rapidly, and next year's conference in Germany is expecting to
attract even more researchers. ‡
The 42nd Annual Meeting Of The Human Factors And Ergonomics SocietyŠŠŠ.
Diego Castaño
The 42nd Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society took place October 5-9 in
cool, rainy, breezy Chicago. Everyone in the CSL's Human Factors group was able to attend the
meeting. In fact, everyone in the group made it into the author's list of the proceedings. Raja gave a
record three talks during the five days of the conference! Since he was not busy enough, he volunteered
to chair a panel on Free Flight. And just to make sure he would not slack off, his last talk was scheduled
during the last group of sessions on Friday. Phew, that's your dues at work, HF members! By the way,
Raja's talks on automation complacency and vigilance, modern brain imaging techniques and vigilance,
and human interactions with automated systems and his panel were very well attended and received.
Jackie presented the latest results from her information survey of air traffic controllers. Her audience
included everyone who is someone in human factors. Jackie, of course, showed perfect form and
composure. No sweat, she's a pro! Tony and Diego had posters. Tony's poster showed interesting
data from his study on trust on conflict probe experiment earlier this year and it attracted quite a bit of
attention. He fielded all questions with his usual seriousness and poise. Diego's poster on transfer of
training from virtual reality also attracted a lot of attention. The poster was manned by co-author,
Michael R.Tracey, doctoral candidate, CUA School of Engineering. Everyone seems to have enjoyed the
visit to the windy city and the conference. Another HF/CSL-related happening: CSL's long-time friend
and colleague, Dr. Peter Hancock was honored as president-elect of the Human Factors and Ergonomics
Society. Peter will be our Millennium President. Ave, Peter! ‡
The 38Th Annual Meeting Of Society for Psychophysiological ResearchŠŠŠ.
Yuejia Luo
I attended the 38th Annual meeting of the Society for Psychophysiological Research (SPR) in
Denver, Colorado, September 23-27. Among the subjects discussed in various symposia were:
psychophysiology in ergonomics; ANS and CNS indices of attention, workload and fatigue; ERP studies
of human working memory; effects of rumination and emotions regulation on autonomic arousal; error
processing and the brain; affective neuroscience; applying psychophysiology in the clinic;
neurophysiologic studies of schizophrenia. About 280 posted papers were presented at the meeting.
Denver is a beautiful city; such a blue sky, such a clear lake and such imposing mountains--all made a
deep impression on me. The next annual meeting will be held in Granada, Spain, October 6-10, 1999. ‡
New Publications..........
Books:
Parasuraman, R. (1998). The Attentive Brain. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Wickens, C. D., Mavor, A., Parasuraman, R., & Mcgee, J. (1998). The Future of Air Traffic Control:
Human Operators and Automation. Washington DC: National Academy Press.
Singh, I. L., & Parasuraman, R. (1998). Human Cognition: A Multidisciplinary Perspective. New Delhi:
Sage.
Others:
Deaton, R., & Parasuraman, R. (1998). Age differences in sensory and cognitive vigilance using tactical
symbolic displays. In I.L. Singh & R. Parasuraman (Eds.) Human Cognition: A Multidisciplinary
Perspective. (pp. 165-183). New Delhi: Sage.
Duley, J. A., & Parasuraman, R. (1998). Adaptive information management in future air traffic control.
In M. W. Scerbo & M. Mouloua (Eds.) Automation Technology and Human Performance: Current
Research and Trends. (pp. 86-90). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Galster, S. Duley, J., Masalonis, A., & Parasuraman, R. (1998). Effects of aircraft self separation on
conflict detection and workload in Free Flight. In M. W. Scerbo & M. Mouloua (Eds.) Automation
Technology and Human Performance: Current Research and Trends. (pp. 96-101). Mahwah, NJ:
Erlbaum.
Greenwood, P.M., & Parasuraman, R. (1998). Scale of attentional focus in visual search. Perception and
Psychophysics.
Panicker, S., & Parasuraman, R. (1998). The neurochemical basis of attention. In I.L. Singh & R.
Parasuraman (Eds.) Human Cognition: A Multidisciplinary Perspective. (pp. 79-98). New Delhi: Sage.
Parasuraman, R. (1998). The attentive brain in aging and Alzheimer's disease. In R. Hoffman, J. S.
Warm, and M. Sherrick (Eds.) Viewing Psychology as a Whole: The Integrative Science of William N.
Dember. (pp. 167-187). Washington DC: American Psychological Association.
Parasuraman, R. (1998). The attentive brain: Issues and prospects. In R. Parasuraman (Ed.) The
Attentive Brain. (pp. 3-15). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Parasuraman, R. & Greenwood, P. G. (1998). Attention and brain function in aging and Alzheimer's
disease. In I.L. Singh & R. Parasuraman (Eds.) Human Cognition: A Multidisciplinary Perspective.
(pp. 126-143). New Delhi: Sage.
Parasuraman, R. & Greenwood, P.M. (1998). Selective attention in aging and dementia. In R.
Parasuraman (Ed.) The Attentive Brain. (pp. 461-487). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Parasuraman, R. &. Hancock, P. A. (1998). Designing automated warning systems: A signal detection
and Bayesian analysis. In M. W. Scerbo & M. Mouloua (Eds.) Automation Technology and Human
Performance: Current Research and Trends. (pp. 63-67). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Parasuraman, R., Mouloua, M., & Hilburn, B. (1998). Adaptive aiding and adaptive task allocation
enhance human-machine interaction. In M. W. Scerbo & M. Mouloua (Eds.) Automation Technology
and Human Performance: Current Research and Trends. (pp. 119-123). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Parasuraman, R., Warm, J.S., & See, J. (1998). Brain systems of vigilance. In R. Parasuraman (Ed.) The
Attentive Brain. (pp. 221-256). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Singh, I. L., Molloy, R., Mouloua, M. Deaton, J., & Parasuraman, R. (1998). Cognitive ergonomics of
cockpit automation. In I.L. Singh & R. Parasuraman (Eds.) Human Cognition: A Multidisciplinary
Perspective. (pp. 242-253). New Delhi: Sage.
Singh, I. L. , Parasuraman, R, And Matthews, G. (1998). Diversity in cognitive theory. In I.L. Singh &
R. Parasuraman (Eds.) Human Cognition: A Multidisciplinary Perspective. (pp. 21-35). New Delhi:
Sage.
Presentations..........
There have been many presentations given by various CSL members since the last issue. Check out
all the meeting reports and see where the CSL research has been reported!
Parasuraman, R. (1998, March). The attentive brain in aging and dementia. Invited Lecture,
Conference on Cognition and the Aging Brain, Rotman Research Institute, Toronto, Canada.
Duley, J. A., & Parasuraman, R. (1998, March). Adaptive information management in future air
traffic control. Paper presented at the 3rd Automation Technology and Human Performance
Conference, Norfolk, VA.
Galster, S. Duley, J., Masalonis, A., & Parasuraman, R. (1998, March). Effects of aircraft self
separation on conflict detection and workload in Free Flight. Paper presented at the 3rd Automation
Technology and Human Performance Conference, Norfolk, VA.
Hilburn, B. (1998, March) The role of the controller in future ATC: Techniques for evaluation
human-machine system performance. . Paper presented at the 3rd Automation Technology and
Human Performance Conference, Norfolk, VA
Parasuraman, R. (1998, March). Human-automation interaction: The professional user's
perspective. Panel presented at the 3rd Automation Technology and Human Performance
Conference, Norfolk, VA.
Parasuraman, R., &. Hancock, P. A. (1998, March). Designing automated warning systems: A signal
detection and Bayesian analysis. Paper presented at the 3rd Automation Technology and Human
Performance Conference, Norfolk, VA.
Parasuraman, R., Mouloua, M., & Hilburn, B. (1998, March). Adaptive aiding and adaptive task
allocation enhance human-machine interaction. Paper presented at the 3rd Automation Technology
and Human Performance Conference, Norfolk, VA.
Jiang, Y., Parasuraman, R., Greenwood, P., & Chavez, C. (1998, April). Age-related reduction in 3-D
visual motion priming. Paper presented the Cognitive Aging Conference, Atlanta, GA.
Greenwood, P. M., & Parasuraman, R. (1998, April). Aging delays the development but not
increases the magnitude of precue precision in visual search. Paper presented the Cognitive Aging
Conference, Atlanta, GA.
Parasuraman, R., Duley, J.A., Galster, S., Masalonis, A., & Hilburn, B. (1998, May). Dynamic
automation tools to support air traffic controllers under Free Flight. Paper presented at the
Conference on Human Computer Interaction in Aeronautics, HCI-Aero 98, Montreal, Canada.
Cohen, M. S., Parasuraman, R., & Freeman, J. T. (1998, June). Trust in decision aids: What is it and
how can it be improved? Paper presented at the 1998 Command and Control Research and
Technology Symposium. Monterey, CA.
Alexander, G. E., Greenwood, P. M., Parasuraman, R., Mentis, M. J., Furey, M. L., Desmond, R.
E., Szczepanik, J., Levine, B., Pietrini, P., Schapiro, M. B., & Rapoport, S. (1998, June). Functional
brain response in right prefrontal cortex with increased distraction during visual selective attention.
Paper presented at the 4th International Conference on Functional Mapping of the Human Brain,
Montreal, Canada.
Jiang, Y., Haxby, J. V., Martin, A., Maisog, J., Ungerleider, L., & Parasuraman, R. (1998, June).
Event-related fMRI reveals two human cortical mechanisms during a working memory task. Paper
presented at the 4th International Conference on Functional Mapping of the Human Brain, Montreal,
Canada.
Duley, J. A., Galster, S. M., & Parasuraman, R. (1998, October). Information manager for
determining data presentation preferences in future en route air traffic management. Paper presented
at the 42nd Annual Conference of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Chicago, IL.
Masalonis, A., Duley, J. A., Galster, S., Castaño, D., Metzger, U., & Parasuraman, R. (1998,
October). Air traffic controller trust in a conflict probe during Free Flight. Paper presented at the
42nd Annual Conference of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Chicago, IL.
Parasuraman, R. (1998, October). Managing the future national airspace system: Free Flight or
ground-based control with increased automation? Panel presented at the 42nd Annual Conference of
the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Chicago, IL.
Parasuraman, R. (1998, October). 50 years of vigilance research: From vigilance decrement to
automation complacency. Paper presented at the 42nd Annual Conference of the Human Factors and
Ergonomics Society, Chicago, IL.
Parasuraman, R. (1998, October). What can functional brain imaging techniques tell us about
vigilance? Paper presented at the 42nd Annual Conference of the Human Factors and Ergonomics
Society, Chicago, IL.
Alexander, G. E., Greenwood, P.M., Parasuraman, R., Mentis, M.J., Furey M.L., et al. (1998,
November). Effect of target relevant distractors on regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) during visual
selective attention. Presented at Society for Neuroscience Conference, Los Angeles, CA.
Chavez, C., Greenwood, P.M., & Parasuraman, R. (1998, November). Benefits of location cue
validity for luminance detection increase over the adult lifespan. Presented at Society for
Neuroscience Conference, Los Angeles, CA.
Greenwood, P.M., Alexander, G. E., & Parasuraman, R. (1998, November). Visual search in healthy
aging and alzheimer disease. Presented at Society for Neuroscience Conference, Los Angeles, CA.
Reading for Work..........
Phantoms in the Brain - Probing the mysteries of the human mind by V.S. Ramachandran and S.
Blakeslee (New York: William Morrow & Co, 1998). A fascinating account of the phenomenon of
phantom limb and other disorders of body perception. Ramachandran concludes that not just visual
perception but that perception of body image (e.g., one's own body) is an elaborately constructed
"hypothesis"! Lots of interesting illusions that you can try out at your next party. For work or
pleasure. (Raja)
..........or Pleasure
Wobegon Boy by Garrison Keillor. Interesting and unusual writing style. (Jackie)
Cat and Mouse, by James Patterson. A wonderful suspense story; truly a page-turner. The
psychologist/detective, Dr. Alex Cross, returns to battle a serial killer from his past while a different
serial killer becomes a new threat. (Jennie)
Bag of Bones by Stephen King and The Art of Cross Examination by Francis L. Wellman. (Scott)
The Geography of Nowhere, by James Howard Kunstler. Suburbia stinks! Kunstler opines that the
ubiquity of impersonal tract housing and strip malls, and the design of urban and suburban spaces to
accommodate the car, is impacting the sense of community that once made America great.
Occasionally extremist, even elitist once or twice, but always thought-provoking, and informative
about history, urban planning, and architecture. (Tony)
Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte ("Ellis Bell"). Finally got around to this classic novel about
love and angst among the Earnshaw and Linton families of 18th-century northern England. They are
a bunch of rich, whiny twits; but Bronte's dense, dramatic prose, and the story's brisk yet unhurried
pace, make the reader care about what happens to them anyway. (Tony)
The Reivers, by William Faulkner. A "coming of age" story about the 11-year-old scion of a well-off
white family in a small Mississippi town in 1905. Through a complex set of events this boy ends up
on a trip (without his parents consent or even knowledge) with a black handyman, who is actually
the "wrong side of the blanket" grandson of the founder of the family! His last novel, Faulkner died
soon after it was published. As almost a study in the strengths and weaknesses of the elderly mind-
full of riches and complexities which are never suppressed, it has given me some research ideas.
(Pam)
Cool Web Sites
Raja: www.edge.org To arrive at the edge of the world's knowledge, seek out complex and
sophisticated minds and put them on a web site together.....
Carol: www.airportmobility.net/ Home page of Airport Mobility Network; subscribe to the
electronic magazine, The Airport Professional, which addresses such issues as anti-terrorism and air
traffic control.
Scott: http://science.nas.nasa.gov/Groups/Nanotechnology/links.cfml
"Let's get small"--Steve Martin
Tony: http://www.enteract.com/~jessicar/lyrics/ Also known as "The Ants are my friends", this
page features "Mondegreens", which are song lyrics that people have misunderstood. There is no
question that you will be on the floor with laughter, especially if you know the original songs.
Scheduled Wednesday Talks
Nov. 11: Cathy Lawsin and Mary Roy--Journal club
Nov. 18: Tony Masalonis--"Trust in automation:
Research and models, past and future"
Nov. 25: No meeting--Thanksgiving
Dec. 2: Raja Parasuraman--TBA
