The Guest Column appears again in this issue with former CSL researcher Alan Francis’ contribution on page 5.

Our director continues to spread his expertise having traveled extensively as a guest colloquium speaker as well as presenter (along with other CSL staff) at various meetings around the world (see Presentations, page 4). As ever CSL research is well represented both at meetings and in the printed word (see New Publications, page 4).

The CSL web page has been assigned a new address yet again by the CUA webmaster as the university updates its own web page; see us at: http://arts-sciences.cua.edu/psy/csl/

I haven’t sent out my "Paper Jam" e-mails for a while, even though the logjam of papers on my electronic desk is still there. The queue reached a peak earlier this year but has subsided somewhat as the millennium approaches. I’m OK, Y2K, I suppose. Anyway, I thought I would take advantage of the brief respite to pen some thoughts on the time sharing of writing multiple journal articles with other work activities.

Here is a breakdown of my research collaborations: Researchers in other institutions, 9; Colleagues at the CSL, 1; Postdoctoral fellows, 2; and Graduate students, 8; Total, 20. At any one time about 75% of these 20 people are actively working with me on the writing of papers. Assuming a conservative rate of about 1 paper per person, that makes for about 15 papers at any one time. (Although graduate student Tony Masalonis, however, is currently going for the record with 3 all at once, and not one of them is his dissertation! Tony, I’m told that journal article writing stimulates the release of certain neurotransmitters in the brain—let’s hope they are the same ones that will come in handy during your dissertation defense!)

So how does one time share writing 15 papers? And time share all this writing with other activities? The answer is simple: serial processing! OK, I got the attention of those of you expecting an answer pointing to some form of parallel processing. But I really do mean serial processing, although not the strict kind found in cognitive psychology textbooks, but a sort of staggered serial processing. Here’s how it works. I open, one by one, 15 files with names corresponding to the 15 papers. This is very, very important. Many people never get to this stage. They just think, "Oh, my God, how am I ever going to write 15 papers?!!" But having a file associated with the paper is a crucial first step, even if the file contains nothing to begin with! I then jot down notes in one of the files. If I’m feeling particularly wordy, I may produce several whole sentences that may make half sense. But inevitably, writer’s block sets in.

Impasse? Not necessarily. At this point the options are to stare at the computer monitor for several minutes, or to go watch Frasier on TV, or to listen to my daughter Shanta’s jokes, or even to prepare my lectures for the next day’s class (yes, we professors actually do this from time to time). If none of these alternatives is palatable, the trick is to close the file of the current paper and open another one. Again, a very simple but essential action. Jot a few notes in that file. Close it. And so on. Then from time to time, I go back to a particular file. Depending on deadlines, etc., I may go back more frequently. But I never work on a given paper for more than about an hour at a time, except in the final stages where it is close to the finished product.

OK, opening and closing files. That’s pretty easy, right? But how do you actually get any sensible thoughts down in a fluent way? Again, there is a simple method I use: think about the issue and have a conversation with yourself. Then write whatever comes to your mind using exactly the same words, whether or not they are grammatical, logical, or even sensible. Don’t try to correct spelling mistakes or typing errors at this stage. Getting it down on (electronic) paper is the important point. If you fail to do so, trying to wait for the mot juste or that perfect, clever phrase can lead to disaster. You will likely fail to remember the train of thought at a later date. On the other hand, when you open the file later and see the misspelled, ungrammatical, awkward phrases, you will instantly recognize the idea you were trying to articulate. It will be much simpler at this later date to fix the grammar so that you express the idea more clearly, even eloquently.

To give you an example, here is the first draft of a paragraph in the Discussion section of a paper that I wrote back in 1995 (Parasuraman, Mouloua, & Molloy, 1996, Human Factors). I will immodestly note that Mustapha, Rob and I won the award for the Best Paper for 1996 for this article from the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, so we were doing something right, although that was not apparent from the first draft:

The results strongly support adapative task allocation over static…..but benefits only shown for monitoring. (Is that a drawback?). Woiuld it work for other functions? Reference previous study by Brian also showing positiive effects, but in different application. But this study was done first….. Another caveat---not a panacea. Plus no good if done in a clumsy manner (Wiener, clumsy automation). Of course, also automation is sometimes mandatory.

Here is the award-winning version, about 3-4 drafts later:

In general, the present results provide what we believe is strong evidence for the superiority of adaptive task allocation over static automation, at least for one aspect of performance, monitoring. Positive effects of adaptive task allocation on the efficiency of supervisory control of automated tasks has also been reported (Hilburn et al., 1995). This is not to say that adaptive task allocation is a panacea for all of the problems associated with automation (Parasuraman, 1993); nor that there may not be costs associated with this form of allocation as well if an adaptive system is implemented in a clumsy manner that hides its intentions from the human operator (Billings and Woods, 1994). Furthermore, adaptive task allocation may be inappropriate in systems where automated control is mandatory because of human performance limitations, as in particular space operations and in some process-control environments.

Notice the typos and poor grammar in the first version. But the basic ideas are all re-captured in the final version, because I put them down, warts and all, in the first version. Note also that some ideas get trimmed or diluted (e.g., the one about the benefits being shown only for monitoring being a drawback).

So that’s it. Name and open several files. Get your thoughts down in as "raw" a form as possible. Close the file. Move on to the next one. Close. Then do something else. If you are Tony, go watch The Simpsons. If you are Frasier, go to the opera. Or rest. Or read a trashy novel. Go back several days or weeks later to the file. The contents will make great sense to you, despite all the typos and awkward phraseology. Cleaning up is then an easy matter. I strongly recommend this approach to increased productivity. You will write better papers and more of them at the same time. Of course I cannot guarantee that your papers will be published!

…to Director Raja Parasuraman. Raja was elected to a three-year term as a member of the Committee on Human Factors of the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences. This prestigious group meets twice a year to discuss emerging research needs in human factors. NRC committee reports have been highly influential in the past in setting the research agenda for the future. Raja reports that an emerging trend that will likely lead to new research is medical human factors. Stay tuned for updates on the future of human factors.

… to Ulla Metzger who was awarded a one-year grant by Flughafenstiftung Frankfurt, a German aviation research foundation. Ulla now joins that illustrious group of former and present CSL folks who have declared their independence by getting their own funding (she is #14).

… and to Tony Masalonis who joined the ranks of CSL PhD’s on November 30 with successful defense of his dissertation, Effects of situation-specific reliability on trust and usage of automated decision aids. Pictured with Tony is the Committee that decided his fate. From left to right: Dr. Marvin Cohen, Cognitive Technologies, Inc., Arlington, VA; Raja; Tony; Dr. Marc Sebrechts, CUA Department of Psychology; and Dr. Stephen Kerst, CUA Department of Education. Not shown is Dr. John White, CUA Department of Politics.

The big news in the CSL is the new grant funded by NASA Goddard Space Center. Funding for "Human biology-based adaptive systems in support of space exploration" began in September and is a three-year award. We are all very excited about this new grant. Several tasks will be performed to test the design of automated fault-management for long-term human exploration of space and performance testing. This grant will also provide an opportunity for integrating cognitive neuroscience ideas into aviation human factors. The goal is to exploit human biology by using physiological measures of operator cognitive states--EEG, ERPs, and eye movements--to trigger adaptive automation.

The NASA Langley grant, "Cockpit adaptive automation and pilot performance" concluded this past summer but has been extended to allow for the final phase of data analysis.

Work continues as we approach the end of the NASA Ames grant "Dynamic automation tools for air traffic management" which will end early next year. Several new studies have been completed on this project by Ulla Metzger and Jackie Duley.

Of course, you’ve already read about Ulla’s funding which represents a peer evaluation of her work and recognition of the potential of her proposal.

Subject testing continues on the NIH aging grants, in particular our long-standing work on Alzheimer’s disease and our newer project on attention in non-demented older adults at genetic risk for developing dementia. Several proposals have also been submitted to various agencies. Hopefully, we will have good news to report on these in the next issue.

The last year has brought several new faces to the CSL and two new countries (Italy and Pakistan) have been added to our map. So warm welcomes are extended…

…to Francesco Di Nocera who comes as a research fellow in the NASA project "Human biology-based adaptive systems in support of space exploration." Next year he will earn his PhD in Psychology at the University of Rome, La Sapienza, Italy. Title of his dissertation: Role of the spatial frames of reference in the genesis of action slips. In Italy he works at the Cognitive Ergonomics Lab where he is involved in several research projects on spatial attention, usability, and traffic psychology. He has both a cognitive neuroscience and a methodological background. Author of several papers on methodological issues and statistical techniques as well as on the investigation of cognitive processes such as memory and attention, he is also co-author of a book on the bootstrap procedure (in Italian). He is a research consultant and teacher of Psychometrics for the Italian Ministry of Defense. Francesco says that he is happy to be part of the CSL and is enthused about working with "space stuff" saying that he feels "like a kid in a toystore!"

…to Rameez Abbas who joined the lab this summer as an intern and returned this fall to work with Jackie and Ulla. Rameez is currently a student at the University of Maryland, College Park, and is still undecided as to her major. We’ve not been at all subtle in trying to influence her toward either human factors or cognitive neuroscience!

…to Bernadette Zaleski and Nesa Khajehali, both CUA undergraduate students who will be working with Pam’s group on the aging studies.

We were also happy to have a former member re-join the staff. Chris Wilson returned to his position as an UG assistant. Chris will graduate this year and is applying to graduate sport psychology programs.

…Alan Francis is conducting research at the MRI lab in the Outpatient Research Program of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center examining MRI slices of the brains of schizophrenic patients.

…to Feng Wang who has joined the staff of a computer technologies company located in Northern Virginia.

John Perez and Joyelle Dominique graduated from CUA last May. John is now employed as the Coordinator in the Center for International Assignment Management for Employee Relocation Council, a non-profit organization. He continues to coach Gonzaga High School’s rugby team leading them to victory in The Turkey Trot, an annual high school rugby tournament. Joyelle is a research assistant at the Institute of Human Virology, Baltimore. She has been assigned to an HIV research study and intends to take advantage of the tuition-remission opportunity offered at area universities to continue with her graduate studies.

Diego Castaño has taken a leave-of-absence and has relocated in both Atlanta and Seattle. Quite a commute, Diego!

Galster, S. Duley, J., Masalonis, A., & Parasuraman, R. (1999). 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.

Parasuraman, R., &. Hancock, P. A. (1999). 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. (1999). 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.

Greenwood, P.M., & Parasuraman, R. (1999). Scale of attentional focus in visual search. Perception and Psychophysics. 61, 837-859.

Jiang, Y., Greenwood, P., & Parasuraman, R. (1999). Age-related reduction in 3-D motion priming. Psychology and Aging.

Luo, Y., Hu, S., Weng, X., & Wei, J. (1999). Effects of semantic discrimination of Chinese words on N400 component of event-related potentials. Perceptual and Motor Skills 89, 185-193.

Luo, Y.J., & Wei, J.H. (1999). Event-related potential on the cross-modal identification of Chinese language. Science in China (Series C), 42, 113-121.

Luo, Y.J., & Wei, J.H. (1999). Cross-modal selective attention to visual and auditory stimuli modulates endogenous ERP components. Brain Research., 842, 30-38.

Luo, Y.J., Wei, J.H & Brendan W. (1999). Effects of musical meditation training on auditory mismatch negativity and P300 in normal children. Chinese Medical Sciences Journal, 14 (2), 75-79.

Masalonis, A. J., Duley, J.A., & Parasuraman, R. (1999). Effects of manual and autopilot control on mental workload and vigilance during general aviation simulated flight. Transportation Human Factors, 1, 187-200.

Parasuraman, R. (1999). The attentive brain in aging and dementia. Brain and Cognition, 39, 12-14.

Alexander, G. E., Greenwood, P. M., Parasuraman, R., Horwitz, B., Mentis, M. J., Furey, M. L., Pietrini, P., Desmond, R. E., Szczepanik, J., Levine, B., Schapiro, M. B., & Rapoport, S. I. (1999, February). Alteration of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) with target relevant distractors during visual selective attention. Paper presented at the 27^th Annual Meeting of the International Neuropsychological Society, Boston, MA.

Parasuraman, R. (1999, March). Signal detection and Bayesian models for design of human-automation interaction. Invited Colloquium, Institute for Information Sciences and Electronics, Center for TARA, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan.

Parasuraman, R. (1999, March). Adaptive automation enhances system performance and regulates pilot and air traffic controller workload. Invited Colloquium, Institute for Information Sciences and Electronics, Center for TARA, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan.

Greenwood, P. M., Parasuraman, R., & Sunderland, T. (1999, April). Deficient shifting and scaling of visuospatial attention in elderly occurs only in the presence of APOE4. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, Washington DC.

Luo, Y., Jiang, Y., & Parasuraman, R. (1999, April). Event-related brain potentials reflect neural mechanisms of visual motion priming. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, Washington DC.

Castano, D., & Parasuraman, R. (1999, April). Manipulation of pilot intention information in air traffic control: A prelude to not-so-free flight. Paper presented at the 10th International Symposium on Aviation Psychology, Columbus, OH.

Metzger, U., & Parasuraman, R. (1999, April). Effects of a conflict probe and task load on mental workload and performance in a simulated ATC task. Paper presented at the 9th International Symposium on Aviation Psychology, Columbus, OH.

Parasuraman, R.(1999, May). Designing automation for effective use by human operators. Invited Colloquium, U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Ft. Sill, Lawton, OK.

Parasuraman, R., & Masalonis, A. J. (1999, June). Designing automated alerting systems: Analyses based on standard and fuzzy signal detection theory. Paper presented at the Workshop on Managing Critical Event Systems: Attention Management—Interruptions and Alerts. Arlingon, VA: Office of Naval Research.

Metzger, U., Duley, J. A., & Parasuraman, R. (1999, September). Effect of training on monitoring of an automated system. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Houston, TX.

Metzger, U., & Parasuraman, R. (1999, September). Free Flight and the air traffic controller: Active control versus passive monitoring. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Houston, TX.

Duley, J. A., Galster, S. M., Smoker, A.., & Parasuraman, R. (1999, October). En route ATC information requirements for participation in future collaborative decision making. Paper presented at the World Aviation Congress, San Francisco, CA.

Greenwood, P. M., Alexander, G. E., & Parasuraman, R. (1999, October). Progression in early Alzheimer’s disease increases costs but not benefits of cue validity in visuospatial attention. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, Miami, FL.

Jiang, Y., Parasuraman, R., & Haxby, J. V. (1999, October). Human cortical representation for motion-defined flat and curved surfaces in depth. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, Miami, FL.

Luo, Y., Greenwood, P. M., & Parasuraman, R. (1999, October). Electrophysiological correlates of the scaling of the focus of visuospatial attention. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, Miami, FL.

Masalonis, A. J., & Parasuraman, R. (1999, September). Trust as a construct for evaluation of automation aids: Past and future theory and research. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Houston, TX.

Schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s Disease - A view from Chaos Theory

Traditional science has investigated Alzheimer’s disease and Schizophrenia from various angles using tested paradigms. An unorthodox way of looking at the dynamics of the brain in health and disease is to model systems within the brain. In this regard, an exceptional tool is the science of Chaos. Chaos theory is defined as the study of complex non-linear dynamics. It is the study of forever changing complex systems based on mathematical concepts of recursion, whether in the process of a recursive process or a set of differential equations modelling a physical system. Complex diseases such as Schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease could be modelled to show the dynamic changes that occur within them and thus provide a different perspective on their nature and of the brain as a whole. Research has shown that these diseases are caused by aberrations to the system in its early stages. Imagine a small stone being thrown into a lake. Although its direct effect on the lake is small – the ripples it causes propagate for a longer period. The stone is the aberration or strange attractor, the ripples are the effects that propagate over time that can cause a system to veer off course towards disorder.

Strange attractor effect in Schizophrenia: At the molecular level, this effect may alter the information coding in the DNA by the smallest of margins that could cause major changes in the development and structure of the brain. Although the DNA holds an amazing amount of data, it could not hold all the data necessary where every cell of the human body goes. It however uses a certain type of fractal algorithms (see Gleick) to control the production and migration of nerve cells. If cells migrate to the wrong places, it results in malformations. An example for this is research done by Brian Kirkpatrick, MD. (UMD) who has found interstitial cells, that should have been discarded during postnatal development, in the brains of patients.

At a systems level, the faulty migration of cells has their effect. Magnetic resonance imaging studies from our lab show white matter reductions in the prefrontal and temporal regions and I am currently examining if this pattern is observable in the inferior parietal lobule. At the surface level, the gyri and sulci in normal brains are patterned in a predictable manner with most brains showing variations on the same theme, so it is relatively easy to locate regions of interest. But in the brains of schizophrenics, the misassembly of basic neural structures produces enlarged ventricles and gyri and sulci that are scattered randomly. Therefore, volumetric measurements and analyses become complicated. However, it appears to my colleagues and myself that there is a certain "method in madness", that despite the abnormal formations, careful observations reveal a certain structural pattern in the schizophrenic brain. This gives rise to a new idea that the DNA does not encode exactly where the sulci and gyri should be but possesses a formula that controls their distribution. Although the relationship of structure and function remains in the realm of heated debate, abnormal activation patterns have been documented in circumscribed regions of the brain. Functional imaging studies have shown hypofrontality and hyperparietality in patients with positive symptoms and (interestingly) hypoparietality in patients with deficit syndrome (see Frith).

What begins at the molecular level, mushrooms into abnormal activity of neurotransmitters dopamine, glutamate, serotonin and noradrenaline. Excess dopamine activity within the mesolimbic-cortical systems causes positive symptoms such as hallucinations. Glutamate and glutamate receptor genes are involved in neurodevelopment. Increased serotonin metabolites are observed in the CSF. The noradrenaline hypothesis was proposed because alpha-adrenergic blockers are effective antipsychotics e.g., propranolol. Subsequently, increased noradrenaline levels were consistently found in CSF and plasma. The transmethylation hypothesis proposes that abnormal metabolism (methylation) of monoamines produces endogenous hallucinogens.

The smallest changes to the DNA information code are shown to have a colossal effect on the biology, cognition, and behavior of individuals. This sensitive dependence on initial conditions, also known as the butterfly effect (see Gleick) is perhaps the reason for the full blown disease states of Schizophrenia and AD. However, what actually triggers Schizophrenia, is the interaction of a badly formed and functioning brain (nature) and an environment of high stress (nurture) such as an abusive household.

Further, cortical inhibitory neurotransmitters, neuropeptides, dopamine and probably noradrenaline are either selectively or not critically affected. It is, however, highly likely that shrinkage or loss of corticocortical pyramidal neurones is a key change. This change appears to be circumscribed and clinically relevant and to involve glutamate which is also implicated in Schizophrenia in the developmental phase. The glutamatergic dysfunction has been linked to perturbations of energy metabolism, a proposed pathogenic mechanism, which itself maybe triggered by an environmental factor such as an infectious agent or exposure to aluminium. The relationship between glutamate and the other protagonists causing AD, could be a direct one or it could occur independently of the others.

This type of butterfly effect has a different set of consequences in AD. Various levels of function are affected and it is hard to tease apart the causes and consequences.

In this paper, I have tried to show that both AD and Schizophrenia could be the propagated effect of minuscule fluctuations at the most basic level. Empirical science has corroborated this - Schizophrenia, to a greater extent and AD, to a lesser extent, are genetic diseases. The science of Chaos enables us to express such unpredictable systems not in exact equations, but in representations of the behavior of the systems. The mathematical nature of these diseases persuades us to believe that the brain itself might be organised according to the laws of chaos!

James Gleick., Chaos – Making a new Science Viking Penguin (1988)

We’ve acquired more hardware and software as usual. Two PC’s and four Macs, two Pentium toasting G3’s and one iMac, were purchased with two more Macs expected to invade us any day now. One of the PC’s will be dedicated to telerobot development and simulations funded by NASA with our new member Francesco who joined us last month. To improve data analysis we have Statview, and Mac OS 9 finally arrived to provide more accessibility control on the Macs. Another acquisition was a new leased digital copier, eliminating the copier cards. Efforts to resolve and avoid Y2K chaos have been put together with all CSL members. The all-important flight simulator 486 PC’s as well as all our Macs are proven Y2K compliant.

The CSL now has a dedicated intranet file, simple web, and ISP server on the Linux machine, csl. The single point of back up scheme provides users backing up data over our network individually as simple as a click away and administrator improved maintainability. A CSL web calendar is in the first stage of development to provide the Lab with a simpler way of posting schedules. The new PPP service connects the CSL members to internet from their home for convenience. The apple remote access is still maintained by Tony but with the new Mac’s arrival, a dedicated remote access server will replace the late Neptune.

Jackie’s study investigated the effects of display superimposition on the monitoring of automation. The monitoring task was superimposed on the tracking task to test whether the poor detection of automation failures is due to the lack of sufficient fixations on the monitoring task. Data analysis is continuing and is focusing on the issues of complacency and visual attention. Raja and Jackie hope to defend their assertion to Dr. Neville Moray that there is "looking without seeing".

Handbook of Aviation Human Factors by Garland, D. J., Wise, J. A., & Hopkin, V. D. (Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 1999). This book gives a comprehensive overview of human factors applications to most aspects of aviation. I would like to recommend it. (Ulla)

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres. A love story between Captain Corelli, an Italian occupying officer and musician, and the daughter of a local doctor on a Greek island. The gripping and moving stories are often told in a comical way in the tragic background of World War II. I enjoyed this novel tremendously. The writing is wonderful and humorous with many vivid psychological descriptions of the characters. Additionally, it is a great way to learn something about history, culture, and human nature. Winner of the 1995 Commonwealth Writers Prize as Best Book. (Yang)

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, sports writer from the Chicago syndicated press. In college, he met Morrie Swartz, a vibrant professor who had dinner parties for students and discussed anything from social issues and religion to the dance on Harvard Square last Friday. Not only a teacher, Morrie became best friend and mentor. Having said their goodbyes at Mitch’s graduation, they lost touch with each other. One evening, Mitch saw his favorite professor on ABC’s Nightline; he was dying of ALS. Mitch hopped on a plane to see Morrie and what followed is their last thesis together--a final project exploring life through the perspective of a dying man who lived life to the fullest. (Camilla)

The Illustrated Longitude, by Dava Sobel and William Andrewes. Sobel’s popular book from 1995 (see CSL Notes 24, Fall 1997) has been updated with brilliant illustrations and photographs selected by William Andrewes. The story of John Harrison, a self-taught clockmaker of humble origins, who developed the first clocks that could accurately determine a ship’s longitude, remains the same. But this volume adds photographs and diagrams, which include Harrison’s marvelous clocks. A biography has become a beautiful "coffee table" book yet still thought provoking for today’s research scientists. Parallels can be drawn between researchers’ struggles and triumphs today and Harrison’s experiences with what Sobel describes as the first government-funded research award. (Tony)

Ulla deftly juggled nearly simultaneous poster and paper presentations on the first full day of the meeting. She presented "Free Flight and the air traffic controller: Active control versus passive monitoring" with Raja as co-author and a poster: "Effects of training on monitoring of an automated system" with Jackie, Ericka Rovira (Tufts University 1998 CSL summer intern) and Raja as co-authors. Having learned in undergraduate experimental psychology that long titles are always good, I presented the paper "Trust as a construct for evaluation of automated decision aids: past and future theory and research" the following day. Co-authored with Raja, this paper reviewed the literature on trust in automation, proposed a number of future studies, and provided a sneak preview of my dissertation results. A plug was also thrown in for the Trust listserv which I originated earlier this year (see Cool Web Sites, page 8).

http://trustaut.listbot.com This is the home page for the Trust in Automation e-mail listserv, founded earlier this year by Tony with input from several colleagues. Visitors to this site can subscribe to the list, manage their subscriptions, and view past discussions (even if not subscribed). The list provides a forum for researchers and practitioners in cognitive psychology, Human Factors, and other disciplines, to discuss the use of the social psychology concept of "trust", in studying and designing human interaction with automation. Discussions include sharing of research results and theoretical models in this intriguing area of study, which is growing in volume and relevance as automation becomes more "humanlike." To subscribe, visit the above URL or send blank e-mail to trustaut-subscribe@listbot.com. (Tony)

See the City of Lights! The Roman Forum! Don’t have time or money to hop on a plane right now? Just click on to www.earthcam.com, a Web site that gets continually updated images from digital cameras pointed at such places as the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Coliseum in Rome. (Carol)

For your amusement...web design company shows their stuff in a dazzling multimedia site perfect for the MTV generation http://www.balthaser.com/ *You need a sound card and shockwave for the full effect. (Tony)

We had many wonderful presentations over the past several months. After the first of the year, upcoming colloquia speakers will be posted on the CSL web site. Look for this addition to our home page with the beginning of the year 2000. Anyone wishing to attend is welcome.

Jan 20 Dr. Linda Chao, NIMH, "Semantic representations in the brain"

Feb. 3 Prof. George Spillich, Washington College, "Smoking and cognition: Does performance go up in smoke?"

Feb. 17 Dr. Raja Parasuraman, CSL, "Valentine’s Day Brings Red Red Roses: Semantic Priming Reduces Repetition Blindness"

March 17 Dr. Yue-Jia Luo, CSL, "Neural Mechanisms of motion priming reveled by ERP’s"

March 31 Dr. Max Vercruyssen, University of Hawaii, John A. Burns School of Medicine, "Gerontechnology"

April 7 Diego Castaño, CSL, "ATC and Free Flight"

April 14 Ulla Metzger, CSL, "Effects of a conflict detection aid and traffic density on controller mental workload and performance under moderate free flight"

April 21 Camilla Chavez, CSL, "Luminance detection"

April 28 Dr. Yang Jiang, CSL, "Neural mechanisms of surfaces defined by motion: An fMRI study"

May 19 Dr. Pam Greenwood, CSL, "Visual search"

May 26 Dr. Carryl Baldwin, University of South Dakota, "The impact of signal amplitude on cognitive task performance: Implications for auditory warning design"

July 14 Francesco Di Nocera, University of Rome, La Sapienza, "Error-Related Potentials of the Brain"

July 21 Dr. Gerry Matthews, University of Cincinnati, "Stress, Mood States, and Human Performance"

Aug 4 Dr. James K. Kuchar, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, "Managing Uncertainty in Decision Aiding and Alerting Systems"

Sept. 8 Dr. Amy Pritchett, Georgia Tech, "Alerting systems in the cockpit"

Sept 22 Tony Masalonis, CSL, "Trust as a Construct for the Evaluation of Automated Aids: Past and Future Theory and Research"

Oct 13 Dr. Yue-Jia Luo, CSL, "Electrophysiological correlates of the scaling of the focus of visuospatial attention"

Dr. Yang Jiang, CSL, "Cortical representation of surfaces from motion"

Nov 10 Dr. Dennis Rowe, Mitre Corporation, "Heart ratevariability: aid to determining user state in the design and analysis of user interfaces"

Nov 25 Dr. Bernd Lorenz, DLR, Germany, "Monitoring mental performance during space flight"