Proceedings of the Upper Peninsula Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference (UPISRC-2014)
Tuesday, April 22, 2014 Michigan Technological University Houghton, MI
https://sites.google.com/a/mtu.edu/upirs/
Table of Contents Table of Contents.....................................................................................i Preface....................................................................................................iii Conference Information........................................................................iv Conference Site........................................................................................v Schedule.................................................................................................vii Oral Presentations..................................................................................1 How Visual Cues Affect Tactile Temperature Perception......................................1 Design and Evaluation of the Multimodal Indoor Wayfinding System for the Visually Impaired People......................................................................................................2 Do Computerized and Paper-and-Pencil Mental Rotation Tasks Measure the Same Underlying Process?...............................................................................................3 Sonic In-vehicle Auditory Warnings for Grade Crossings Interactions at Immersive Virtual Environment...............................................................................................4 InGrid: Interactive Grid Table................................................................................5 Assessing the Effect of a Salesperson's Customer Service Duration on Up-selling and Cross-Selling..........................................................................................................6 Mental Stress and Cardiovascular Reactivity in Humans: A Time-dependent Response.................................................................................................................7 Driver Behaviors with Various Visual Warnings at the Railroad Grade Crossings8 Adaptability in Computer Use: Exploring Qualities Beyond Motivation..............9 Gesture Sonification in Virtual Environments......................................................10 Design of a Social Robot for Affect Recognition Learning of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders..............................................................................................11 Familiarity and Complexity in Learning in a Mental Rotation Task....................12 Modeling Human Behavior in Spatial Problem Solving......................................13 Kinesthetic Memory Adaptation in Flute Players................................................14
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Design and Evaluation of Lyricons (Lyrics + Earcons) For Semantic and Aesthetic Improvements of Auditory Cues..........................................................................15 Conceptual Models of Success and Failure Goals in Elite Athletes.....................16 A Model of Lexical Memory Access in the Crossword Domain..........................17 Night Landing Task Using a Haptic Device.........................................................18 Communication is More than Verbal: An Analysis of Stakeholder Communication During Software Development.............................................................................19
Poster Presentations..............................................................................20 Effects of Physical Fatigue on Mental Processes.................................................20 How to Spot a Lie: An Investigation of the Effectiveness of Lie Detection Training ..............................................................................................................................21 Impact of Perception on Initial Character Judgment............................................22 Comparing the Accuracy of Self-Report Questionnaire, Reading Comprehension, and Distraction Task to Determine the Reliability of ADHD Diagnostic Tools.........23 An Investigation of Graduate School Decisions..................................................24 A Normative Evaluation of Paper-and Pencil and Computerized Trail-making Tests ..............................................................................................................................25 Underlying Reasons Behind Alcohol Consumption: A Naturalistic Survey of Social Media Users..........................................................................................................26 Trolley Studies Predicting Decision Making: Preliminary Findings....................27 How is the Ebbinghaus Illusion affected by touch?.............................................28 The Application of Cultural Mixture Model to Cultural Groups with Trained Knowledge............................................................................................................29 Optimizing Risk Communication with Graphs....................................................31 Throwing of a Ceramic Cylindrical Vessel: How Height is Affected by Sensory Deprivation...........................................................................................................32
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Preface Welcome to the 2014 Upper Peninsula Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference! This conference was organized to showcase and publicize the research being done by local students in human and behavioral sciences. Our mission is to organize a conference involving student research in: psychology, human factors, education , human effectiveness, human-centered design, social science, kinesiology, and other related fields. This year we have more than 30 abstracts, and many of the authors are presenting research here for the first time. Presenters come from both MTU and NMU, and across several departments in each. We would like to acknowledge the sponsorship of the MTU Human Factors Student Chapter and the MTU Department of Psychology. Shane Mueller
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Conference Information Presentation Format Oral presentations are scheduled for a total of 15 minutes each, which should include 12 minutes of presentation and 3 minutes of questions. The moderator will provide you with information about how much time is left. Posters will be presented on easels that accommodate 4'x4' posterboard. Citing work from these Proceedings Research in these Proceedings can be cited as: Lastname, F. (2014). Title of Paper. Proceedings of the Upper Peninsula Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference (UPISRC-2014), p.#, MI: Houghton. Available from:. https://sites.google.com/a/mtu.edu/upirs/
Conference Organizing Committee Shane T. Mueller (MTU/Chair) Mounia Ziat (NMU) Sarah (Yin-Yin) Tan (MTU/Student Chair) Samantha Wagner (NMU) Carrie-Anne Balcer (NMU)
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Conference Site The conference will be held at the Michigan Tech Memorial Union (MUB--(http://www.mtu.edu/memorialunion/). Ballroom A, which is located on the second floor. Visitor parking is available at Lot 27, with metered parking on the streets near the MUB (Macinnes Drive and College Avenue) More details are available at http://www.mtu.edu/maps/
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Map of the 2nd Floor of the Memorial Union Building
Conference Site
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Schedule Time
Poster Presentations (9:00 – 10:00 AM) Presenter Category Title
9:00
Shane Mueller
Welcome
9:00-10:00am M. Woller-Carter Cognitive
E.. T. Cokely R. Franchock Y..Rocio Garcia-Retamero 9:00-10:00am Y.-Y. Tan
S. T. Mueller
9:00-10:00am R. Huff
Optimizing Risk Communication with Graphs
30
Cognitive Modeling
The Application of Cultural Mixture Model to Cultural Groups with Trained Knowledge
29
Psychology
A normative evaluation of paper-and pencil and computerized trail-making tests
25
Psychology
Impact of Perception on Initial Character Judgment
22
Psychology
Underlying Reasons Behind 26 Alcohol Consumption: A Naturalistic Survey of Social Media Users
Psychology
Effects of Physical Fatigue on Mental Processes
20
Psychology
Comparing the Accuracy of Self-Report Questionnaire, Reading Comprehension, and Distraction Task to Determine the Reliability of ADHD Diagnostic Tools
23
Decision Making
An Investigation of Graduate School Decisions
24
Science (CS)
S. T. Mueller 9:00-10:00am M. Eby
Z. Evans D. Schreifels 9:00-10:00am C. LaFave
C. Santerre B. Panasiewicz 9:00-10:00am K. Boardman
M. Jordon 9:00-10:00am K. Harter
T. Mauer F. Yovich
9:00-10:00am M. Kemppainen
H. Suokas A. Wetelainen
Pg.
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9:00-10:00am B. Nelson
K. Coon 9:00-10:00am R. Chosa
Decision Making
Trolley Studies Predicting Decision Making: Preliminary Findings
27
Psychology
How to spot a lie: An investigation of the effectiveness of lie detection training
21
Psychology
How is the Ebbinghaus Illusion affected by touch?
28
Physiology
Throwing of a Ceramic Cylindrical Vessel: How Height is Affected by Sensory Deprivation
31
A. Zhuravlyova 9:00-10:00am E. Smith
C. Calvetti M. Ziat V. Hayward 9:00-10:00am M. Ziat
C. Konieczny B. Kakas
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Session 1: Oral Presentations (9:30 AM – 12:00 Noon) Presenter Category Title
Time
Human Factor (HF)
Pg.
10:00-10:15am
S. G. Landry J., D. Ryan J. W. Walker M. Jeon
10:15-10:30am
M. F. Hosseini HF A. Hardy M. Jeon P. Lautala
10:30-10:45am
Y. Sun M. Jeon
HF
Design and Evaluation of Lyri15 cons (Lyrics + Earcons): Cognitive and Affective Mappings Using a Sound Card Sorting Task
10:45-11:00am
K. Thanasuan S. T. Mueller
Cognitive Modeling
A Model of Lexical Memory Ac- 17 cess in the Crossword Domain
11:00-11:15am
A.van der Merwe S. T. Mueller
CS
Conceptual models of success and failure goals in elite athletes
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11:15-11:30am
W. Zhang R. Pastel
I/O Psych
Communication is More than Verbal: An Analysis of Stakeholder Communication during Software Development
19
11:30-11:45am
S. R. Wagner
Ergon.
Night Landing Task Using a Haptic Device
18
11:45-12:00am
Ida T. Fonkoue Physio. M.. E. King J. J. Durocher J. R. Carter
Gesture Sonification in Virtual Environments
10
Driver Behaviors with Various Visual Warnings at the Railroad Grade Crossings
8
Mental Stress and Cardiovascular Reactivity in Humans: A Time-dependent Response
7
(12:00 – 1:00: Lunch Break) Lunch available in the basement of the MUB or at local restaurants
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Session 2: Oral Presentations (1:00 PM – 4:00 PM) Time
Presenter B. S. Perelman S. T. Mueller
Category Cognitive Modeling
Title Modeling Human Behavior in Spatial Problem Solving
Pg. 13
1:15-1:30am
R. Bose M.F. Hosseini A. Riener M. Jeon
Human Factors (HF)
Design and Evaluation of the Multimodal Indoor Way finding System for the Visually Impaired People
2
1:30-1:45am
W. Lehman R. Zhang M. F. Hosseini M. Jeon C. H. Park
HF
Design of a Social Robot for 11 Affect Recognition Learning of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
1:45-2:00pm
J. Croschere S. G. Landry B. Perelman, M. Jeon P. Lautala
HF
Sonic In-vehicle Auditory Warnings for Grade Crossings Interactions at Immersive Virtual Environment
4
2:00-2:15pm
J. Marquez K. Morrow
Psychology
Familiarity and Complexity in Learning in a Mental Rotation Task
12
2:15-2:30pm
S. Burns C. Leith D. Morrison T. J. Aiyash J. Marquez M. Minnick K. Morrow K. Shupert T. Morris
Psychology
Do Computerized and Paper-and-Pencil Mental Rotation Tasks Measure the Same Underlying Process?
3
2:30-2:45pm
H. King C.Wallace
Computer Science
Adaptability in Computer Use: Exploring Qualities Beyond Motivation
9
1:00-1:15am
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Coffee Break 2:45-3:00 Time
Presenter
Category
Title
3:00-3:15pm
H. Florinki J. Min
I/O Psychology
Assessing the Effect of a Salesperson's Customer Service Duration on Up-selling and Cross-Selling
6
3:15-3:30pm
A. Savord E. Wisuri P. Pless M. Ziat
Ergonomics
Kinesthetic Memory Adaptation in Flute Players
14
3:30-3:45pm
J. Fancher K. Kilpela J. Fridstom M. Ziat
Ergonomics
InGrid: Interactive Grid Table
5
3:45-4:00pm
C. A. Balcer T. Rolison A. Shirtz M. Ziat
Visual Attention
How visual cues affect tactile temperature perception
1
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Oral Presentations How Visual Cues Affect Tactile Temperature Perception Carrie Anne Balcer1, Taylor Rolison2, Andrew Shirtz2 & Mounia Ziat1 1
Psychology Department, Northern Michigan University Computer Science Department, Northern Michigan University
2
The purpose of this study was to measure reaction times (RTs) when a conflict arises between the visual feedback and the temperature of an object. This study focused on the quantifiable RTs along with the qualitative feedback of the participants. It was hypothesized that when the information of the visual and temperature stimuli are incongruent (warm-cold or cold-warm), the RTs will be slower than when they are congruent (cold-cold or warm-warm). We suggest that vision could convey temperature perception in an independent but complimentary manner. We utilized the Oculus Rift to create a virtual environment that allowed us to control the visual cues of an objects’ temperature and a Peltier thermo-device to provide the tactile temperature stimuli. The preliminary results confirmed our initial expectation that participants RTs are longer for incongruent stimuli than congruent stimuli.
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Design and Evaluation of the Multimodal Indoor Wayfinding System for the Visually Impaired People Rahul Bose1, Seyedeh Maryam Fakhr Hosseini1, Andreas Riener2, & Myounghoon Jeon1 1
Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI 2 University of Linz, Linz, Austria
People with visual impairments face considerable limitations with their mobility, but still there is little infrastructure in place to help them. In this study, we present a new wearable navigation system, “Personal Radar”, which assists blind people to navigate in indoor environments using a system composed of ultrasonic sensors and different output modalities. The device is a self-contained, self-governed system that is aimed to design for obstacle detection, current location awareness and direction suggestion for the visually impaired in indoor conditions. The system design primarily consists of ultrasonic sensors, auditory and tactile actuators, and microcontroller. In addition to distance and time information obtained from the system, subjective perception and perceived workload are assessed. After briefly describing our initial system design, we report the improvements from the pilot study. Then, we introduce our experiment in progress. In the experiment, blind folded students and visually impaired people navigate through mazes and an empty room based on auditory and vibrotactile feedback of the device. This system is expected to serve as an effective research platform for obstacle detection, current location awareness, and direction suggestion for the visually impaired.
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Do Computerized and Paper-and-Pencil Mental Rotation Tasks Measure the Same Underlying Process? Sheila Burns, Charles Leith, Danielle Morrison, Thaher J. Aiyash, Jordon Marquez, Morghan Minnick, Kelly Morrow, Kayla Shupert, & Troy Morris Psychology Department, Northern Michigan University Mental Rotation tasks, as introduced by Roger Shepard and Metzler (1971), have been taken as a major way to assess a “purely mental” type of visual processing which is often attributed to the right parietal lobe functioning of the brain. In the late seventies, Vandenberg and Kuse (1977) introduced a paper-and-pencil mental rotation task which, though very different from the original Shepard and Metzler task, has been taken as its equivalent. Our research suggests that while the two tasks are correlated, the correlations are not high enough to think of them as equivalent or as being validity checks for each other. The large sex/gender differences on the paper-and-pencil task have been used in numerous accounts of intrinsic sex differences (Kimura) suggesting that the spatial processing skills of males and females are different. However, there is little if any sex difference on the computerized task, and there is clear evidence of learning, suggesting that experience may significantly affect performance on at least some mental rotation tasks. We see the computerized task as the definitive measure of mental rotation providing the linear relationship between degrees of rotation and time to respond, a measurement which cannot be made on the paper and pencil task. These results present clear implications for STEM training in the educational system. We must look for training, rather than intrinsic skill, to bring all individuals to an appropriate level of performance.
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Sonic In-vehicle Auditory Warnings for Grade Crossings Interactions at Immersive Virtual Environment Jayde Croschere, Steven G. Landry, Brandon Perelman, Myounghoon Jeon, & Pasi Lautala Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI Grade crossing warning signals are designed to warn drivers of approaching trains using a combination of visual and auditory signals. Still, in 2013 there were 2,087 collisions involving trains and motorists according to preliminary statistics by the Federal Railway Administration. Driver misunderstanding of warning signals and other human errors account for many of these collisions. Advances of In-vehicle technologies has spurred new research on design of multimodal interfaces that can warn drivers of upcoming rail crossings and oncoming trains. The goal of this research is to examine the suitability of various auditory stimuli for warning motorists of approaching grade crossings and trains. The research will be a sequence of three experiments. First, in an exploratory study, we will present verbal, non-verbal, and combination alert sounds and gather feedback from participants regarding recognition, meaning, and overall effectiveness of sounds for use as alert signals. In a second experiment, we will assess the sounds identified in the exploratory study for effectiveness as determined by quantitative measures such as response time. In the third experiment, the sounds will be presented during a medium-fidelity driving task involving a railroad crossing scenario to examine driver behavior, attention, and performance. Physiological data including heart rate and heart rate variability will be recorded as indirect measures of workload and startle response, which has been shown to cause deficits in operator performance. Results of the series of experiments may assist the design and presentation of auditory cues in future in-vehicle warning systems to prevent collisions.
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InGrid: Interactive Grid Table Jon Fancher1, Kurt Kilpela2, Josh Fridstom2, & Mounia Ziat1 1 Psychology Department, Northern Michigan University 2 Computer Science Department, Northern Michigan University This work presents InGrid, an interactive grid table that allows users to interact with touch-screen tablets and slide digital contents from one tablet to another. The whole concept of InGrid is related to the peripersonal and extrapersonal spaces and the acquisition of knowledge. The motivation behind InGrid was not only to add digital technology to a physical table, but also to understand basic concepts related to embodied cognition. Finally, InGrid blends the physical and digital world within the same interaction by using color sensors.
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Assessing the Effect of a Salesperson's Customer Service Duration on Up-selling and Cross-Selling Haley Florinki & Jun Min Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI The purpose of this research project is to empirically test how a salesperson’s time spent with the customers impact on their purchasing decision. More specifically this project focuses on the duration of a salesperson’s customer service and its effects on upselling and cross-selling. Up-selling takes place when a salesperson attempts to sell a similar but better quality product than the first product exposed to a customer. Cross-selling happens when complimentary products adding to the main product that customer initially looks for creates extra customer value. Regarding the research method, this project used observation research to capture important independent variables (Time spent with customers, and product display method) and dependent variables (Whether or not the sale was made, and sales results - upselling & cross-selling). Responses from shoppers in a large local mall were recorded into the IBM-SPSS software. The questionnaire was designed for the associate to be able to interact with a customer and complete the questionnaire afterwards. The expected outcome was that the amount of time spent with a customer would increase the likelihood of upselling and/or cross-selling. The results from the Chi-square test greatly supported the evidence that the time spent with the salesperson had a positive impact on sales. I specifically found that while a salesperson’s short time spent with customer (less than 30 sec) increased the likelihood of up-selling, her long time spent with customers (more than 90 sec) promoted that of cross-selling.
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Mental Stress and Cardiovascular Reactivity in Humans: A Time-dependent Response Ida T. Fonkoue¹, Michelle E. King¹, John J. Durocher1,2 & Jason R. Carter¹ 1
Department of Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology; 2 Department of Biological Sciences, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI
Cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) to acute laboratory mental stress (MS) has been extensively studied as a potential predictor of future cardiovascular risk, but length of MS trial can vary across studies. We hypothesized that CVR would be different between short (1 min) versus longer (3 and 5 min) MS trials, but that within-subject reactivity would be correlated. We recorded heart rate (HR) and beat-to-beat blood pressure reactivity to 1 min, 3 min and 5 min mental arithmetic in 21 subjects (age, 20±3 yrs, 10 men and 11 women). Mean arterial pressure (MAP) reactivity to 1min of MS (∆6±1 mmHg) was blunted compared to 3 min (∆11±1 mmHg; P˂.001) and 5 min (∆11±1 mmHg; P˂.001) of MS. In contrast, HR reactivity to 1 min of MS (∆21±2 beats/min) was augmented compared to 3 min (∆17±2 beats/min; p<.01) and 5 min (∆17±2 beats/min; p<.01) of MS. HR reactivity (range, r=.648 to .790; p<.001), but not MAP reactivity, was consistently correlated across MS trials. When probed for sex differences, CVR across trials tended to be more correlated in women. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that CVR to acute MS is time-dependent, thus caution should be taken in interpreting CVR data. However, CVR responders for shorter MS trials appear to remain responders for longer trials, especially in women.
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Driver Behaviors with Various Visual Warnings at the Railroad Grade Crossings Seyedeh Maryam Fakhr Hosseini, Alexander Hardy, Myounghoon Jeon, & Pasi Lautala Cognitive and Learning Sciences, Michigan Technological University Rail level crossing (RLC) research focuses on preventing collisions and improving system safety. Collisions at RLCs are often attributed to unintentional errors, which can be a result of driver failure to detect RLC warnings or comprehend their meaning. This paper presents a method using simulated railroad situations to determine the response of drivers to different visual warnings at the railroad grade crossings. To this end, we asked 24 college students to drive in a virtual road environment with three railroad crossing scenarios: a full gate with blinkers, a gate without lights, and a standard crossing buck. The half of the participants was exposed to a train at the outset and the remaining half was not, to capture the effects of expectation. As expected, vehicle speed significantly decreased when the vehicle was approaching the crossing than the baseline, regardless of the warning type. Both the full gate with lights and the standard gate had a tendency to be more effective than the normal zone. Additionally, participants, who were exposed to a train early in the scenario, showed more defensive driving behaviors (i.e., slower speed) than the other case. The eye-tracking data also showed a tendency that when approaching crossings, the driver looks wider to the left and the right, as if expecting a train for all crossing types. Results are discussed with the implications and recommendations for the grade crossing warning design.
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Adaptability in Computer Use: Exploring Qualities Beyond Motivation Harriet King & Charles Wallace Computer Science Department, Michigan Technological University Among daily computer users who are proficient, some are flexible at accomplishing unfamiliar tasks on their own and others have difficulty. Our earlier quantitative analysis shows that extrinsically motivated users in all age groups and competence levels have weak productivity when faced with unfamiliar tasks or software, while intrinsically motivated users have few difficulties and are adaptable computer users (King et al., 2013). The same study also collected qualitative data using ethnographic techniques and a think-aloud-type verbal protocol. Two of the intrinsic users were non-digital natives who had low perceived competence. Their coded results statistically supported the conclusion that intrinsic users had less difficulty using unfamiliar software or systems. But intrinsic motivation is clearly not the only relevant factor. The narratives in our qualitative data point to further issues, raising questions of how perseverance, grit, and confidence impact user flexibility. Mike (age 74) and Wilma (age 87) are both intrinsics who demonstrate grit in using computers but have opposite confidence levels. Mike is very persevering and resourceful and boldly suggests workarounds to avoid completing the test. He explores confidently, trying many different things but doesn't recognize when he has the correct answer and can't remember the answer minutes later. Wilma likes reassurance and explores timidly but quickly finds and recognizes the answer and remembers to apply it again minutes later. Both demonstrate grit in overcoming age related limitations to complete the test. Qualitative data beyond motivation factors informs our understanding of successful flexibility in computer use.
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Gesture Sonification in Virtual Environments Steven G. Landry, Joseph, D. Ryan, James, W. Walker, & Myounghoon Jeon Cognitive and Learning Sciences, Michigan Technological University For decades, researchers have spurred research on sonification, the use of non-speech audio to convey information. As immersive interaction and embodied cognition have been gaining traction in academia and industry, interactive sonification and gesture-based interaction have become emerging fields in human-computer interaction. The ultimate goal of the current project is to establish an immersive interactive sonification platform (iISoP) for diverse sonification design research. To this end, we have developed the interactive sonification platform based on 12 tracking cameras and 24 multivisions. Visual representations of the users’ movements are presented on the multivisions, while their gestures are translated into sound using a variety of sonification algorithms. The object of this paper is to present interdisciplinary projects that have been conducted and envisioned at iISoP and thus, motivate active discussion of applications of sonic interactions in the community. Current projects include gesture-sonification, gesture digital drawing, big virtual instruments, and an MTU introduction world map. Future projects include a gesture-based music composition program, athletic training using augmented mirrors and data sonification, a gesture-based interface for large scale data mining, and a sonification program of the life story for senior citizens, etc.
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Design of a Social Robot for Affect Recognition Learning of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders William Lehman1, Ruimin Zhang1, Seyedeh Maryam Fakhr Hosseini1, Myounghoon Jeon1, and Chung Hyuk Park2 1 Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI 2 New York Institute of Technology, New York, NY Research has shown evidence that people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) may have decreased accuracy in identifying affective cues in other people, which prevents them from being intermingled with other people. There is also evidence that people with ASD prefer interaction with an interactive robot over interaction with another person. Blending these findings together, this study aims to design training systems using a social robot, ROMO that will assist children with ASD in learning to recognize and interpret affect in voice and facial expressions. The current project will use 3 neutral phrases in 2 genders and 7 emotions (curious, excited, happy, sad, scared, sleepy, and neutral) to establish which emotions are most accurately recognized by participants, and which gendered voice is preferred for use in future experiments. Participants will see ROMO’s emotional facial expression paired with an emotional voice and will then identify the emotion expressed and rate the intensity of that emotion. The first experiment will use voice, face, or both voice and face with the same affective stimuli for participants to judge emotions. The second experiment will mismatch face and voice affect to determine participants’ ability to judge each stimulus while receiving mismatched information. The goal of this project is to work with children with ASD to develop games with ROMO that will allow for practice in identifying facial and voice affective cues.
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Familiarity and Complexity in Learning in a Mental Rotation Task Jordan Marquez, Kelly Morrow, Shelia Burns, & Charles Leith Psychology Department, Northern Michigan University Bethel-Fox and Shepard (1988) demonstrated that with practice, novel complex stimuli came to be treated like novel simple stimuli in a mental rotation task. They suggested that the complex stimulus became “familiar” with practice. They suggested that the figures become integrated and can be treated as a whole when rotated. However, they had no familiar stimuli. This talk will present two experiments demonstrating the role of both familiarity and complexity in a mental rotation task. We will also show the impact of these two components on SPEED (the ability to make a same/different judgment with no rotation) and SPIN (the ability to make the same/different judgment when the two objects are rotated to different angles). Experiment 1. Students were run individually in a mental rotation task using familiar stimuli, letters, and two sets of Bethel-Fox and Shepard (1988) stimuli. We found that with practice, the Bethel-Fox and Shepard stimuli came to approach the familiar letters in both SPEED and SPIN. Experiment 2. Experiment 1 left confounded the issue of familiarity and complexity. Students were run individually in a two by two design in which both familiarity (letters vs shapes) and complexity, (simple vs complex) were manipulated. We found that early in learning, both complexity and familiarity contribute to rotation SPEED and SPIN. Our conclusion is that both familiarity and complexity must be considered when predicting performance in a mental rotation task.
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Modeling Human Behavior in Spatial Problem Solving Brandon S. Perelman & Shane T. Mueller Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences, Michigan Technological University Spatial problem solving is comprised of numerous subdomains typically studied in isolation. From a basic psychology approach, the phenomenon is called pathfinding, and research focuses on understanding the agent’s ability to localize itself and learn new environments. The human factors community studies wayfinding, a similar line of research that pertains to the environmental features that direct humans through an environment; the goal of this body of research is to inform environment and signage design. A third subdomain, routing, refers to the body of research concerned with path optimization for use with operations and logistics. One quality of many of these spatial problems is that humans can solve them near-optimally through the use of heuristics. Our present research effort seeks to tie together these disparate lines of research into an integrative model of spatial problem solving. For this purpose, we have conducted a number of empirical studies with human subjects, testing their spatial abilities in both search and routing, and modeled this performance using (1) a biologically plausible pathfinding model based on the hippocampus, and (2) a trajectory-based model designed to represent humans’ ability to make local problem solving decisions in the context of a higher level plan. The results of this research effort indicate that traditional models of spatial problem solving, which posit that human performance is attributed mainly to bottom-up processes, are insufficient to account for the human data, and that top-down strategic plan formation is required especially for solving ecologically valid spatial problems.
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Kinesthetic Memory Adaptation in Flute Players Andrea Savord, Erik Wisuri, Peter Pless, & Mounia Ziat Psychology Department, Northern Michigan University This study investigates well-practiced (8 or more years of experience) and beginning (less than 1 year of experience) flute players in a kinesthetic memory adaptation task. Each participant played the C-major scale ten times in three different conditions: CTL, MOD1, and MOD2. For the CTL condition, participants used the traditional flute and standard fingerings. By using a modified flute, MOD1 and MOD2 conditions required flipping the right hand to be on the same side as the left hand; for the MOD1 condition, participants played using the same fingers to play the scale, while for the MOD2 condition they played the scale using the same keys. It was expected that beginning flute players would be better able to adapt to the modified conditions than the well-practiced, as their motor memory of the original task was not yet an unconscious process. It was also expected that experts would adapt more easily to the MOD1 condition, as their unconscious motor memory may be more associated with finger movement than key presses. Preliminary data, however, do not show these trends.
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Design and Evaluation of Lyricons (Lyrics + Earcons) For Semantic and Aesthetic Improvements of Auditory Cues Yuanjing Sun & Myounghoon Jeon Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI Auditory researchers have developed various non-speech cues in designing auditory user interfaces. A preliminary study of “Lyricons” (lyrics + earcons) has provided a novel approach to devising auditory cues in electronic products, by combining the two layers of speech sounds and earcons (short musical motives). The purpose of the present study is to introduce iterative design processes and to validate the effectiveness of lyricons compared to earcons, whether people can more intuitively grasp functions that lyricons imply than those of earcons. Results favor lyricons over earcons. Future work and practical application directions are also discussed.
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Conceptual Models of Success and Failure Goals in Elite Athletes Alex van der Merwe & Shane T. Mueller Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors, Michigan Technological University In four incident-based interviews, we examined the success and failure goals within elite athletes as well collegiate athletes across a variety of different sports. These were individual sports rather than team-based competition, as our goal was to focus on conceptual models of the individual factors that determine success and failure in these athletes. The participants that were interviewed were from the sporting discipline of track and field: two were international athletes that have competed on the World and Olympic stage, and two were collegiate seniors. Interviews were conducted either face to face or using Skype, and lasted anywhere from 45mins to 1hr30mins depending on the athlete. Analysis showed that in terms of success goals during important athletic event, athletes tended to discuss how they maintained internal focus (“holding it together”), or external social motivators (demonstrating ability to rivals, friends, or family). Failure goals included external stressors that were out of the athlete’s control, breaking under stress, self-doubt and time. In contrast, goals tended to focus less on physical control or technique, suggesting that during competition, performance success requires mastering the mental game as well as they physical one..
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A Model of Lexical Memory Access in the Crossword Domain Kejkaew Thanasuan, & Shane T. Mueller Dept of Cognitive and Learning Sciences Michigan Technological University Solving crossword puzzles requires two types of information: a clue (a semantic cue) and a letter-based constraint (an orthographic cue), which we assume can both be used to access and retrieve answers from lexical memory. To investigate how these are used together, we conducted a study to investigate whether both types of information are used independently or simultaneously in crossword enthusiasts. The task included two levels of difficulty for both semantic and orthographic cues, in order to assess whether the types of information interact. The results show that the difficulty of semantic disappears as the number of given letters increase. By examining these results within the context of a computational model of lexical access, we conclude that a two-route non-interactive process can explain the pattern of data, suggesting that even in experts, they do not use compound lexical cues to search memory. Furthermore, we adapted this retrieval model to explain expert and novice performances in a complete crossword puzzle. We will discuss the implications of this, and propose a study the effects of English crossword puzzle in second-language learning, with the aim of developing puzzle games that will aid non-native speakers improving their English skills.
Upper Peninsula Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference 2014
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Night Landing Task Using a Haptic Device Samantha R. Wagner & Mounia Ziat Psychology Department, Northern Michigan University In this study we explored force feedback improvement on landing trajectories in a featureless environment. More specifically, we asked participants to land a virtual object during featured (F) and featureless night conditions (NF); with (H) and without haptic feedback (WH). The results showed that haptic feedback aided featureless night landing along the mediolateral direction (left-right). However, this benefit was less evident in a featured condition suggesting that participants were relying on visual cues during the task. This confirms previous findings related to the black hole illusion, a visual illusion that affects glide path, where experienced pilots rely mainly on their visual inputs during night landing.
Upper Peninsula Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference 2014
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Communication is More than Verbal: An Analysis of Stakeholder Communication During Software Development Wei Zhang & Robert Pastel Michigan Technological University The software development process is a collaboration between developers, users experience experts, clients and other stakeholders. Several teams of Computer Science students developed citizen-science Android applications, working with scientists, the application clients and domain experts. Using a variety of ethnographic techniques, we studied the applications' development. We determined the progress and performance of the teams by interviewing team members, studying their emails records, and documents shared by the scientists. The results from usability tests were used to measure the performance of the teams in terms of software correctness and usability. Our results showed that communication between clients and developers during the software development process is more complex than verbal. Documents shared by the scientist can serve a critical role in requirement gathering.
Upper Peninsula Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference 2014
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Poster Presentations Effects of Physical Fatigue on Mental Processes Katie Boardman & MacKenzie Jordan Dept. of Cognitive and Learning Sciences Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI Athletes face mental processes throughout a game including interpreting input and making decisions. Previous research has provided conflicting results for similar studies. We hypothesize that athletes feel their mental processes diminish along with their physical processes throughout a game/event. Michigan Technological University Varsity athletes took part in a survey to help analyze whether this is true and we used the information to form a second hypothesis about their actual mental processes during physical fatigue. Results showed that athletes did feel their mental and physical performance declined throughout a game/event but the physical declined more than the mental. Our second experiment was done to help verify the athletes’ feelings with a mental test completed periodically throughout their workout. We will discuss the results from this second experiment that studied the physical and mental performance of the athletes. (Advisor: Shane Mueller).
Upper Peninsula Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference 2014
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How to Spot a Lie: An Investigation of the Effectiveness of Lie Detection Training Robin Chosa & Alyona Zhuravlyova Dept. of Cognitive and Learning Sciences Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI The effectiveness of lie detection training is highly contested. The potential benefits are large, because untrained people are typically close to chance when detecting lies. Understanding the cues that indicate a person is lying may be an asset to many individuals throughout society, and may ultimately save resources tied up as a consequence of undetected lies. To test this, we conducted an experiment in which we compared trained and untrained observers who rated video statements about whether they were truthful or lies. Materials for the study included video recordings of five confederates answering four open ended questions. Each video contained two true answers and two lies, selected ahead of time. Initial evaluation of materials indicated untrained subjects produced a 48% accuracy rate, which means they were correct by chance. We will report the results of a study in which we compare participants who received training in facial micro-expressions thought to be related to lying, in comparison to untrained individuals. Results will be discussed with respect to the utility and effectiveness of casual lie detection training in the general population. (Advisor: Shane Mueller)
Upper Peninsula Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference 2014
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Impact of Perception on Initial Character Judgment Meagan Eby, Zach Evans, and David Schreifels Dept. of Cognitive and Learning Sciences Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI Age bias is commonly thought to be a deciding factor in the hiring practice of most firms. Two experiments examined the effects of age bias on judgment. Participants in both studies initially answered basic demographic questions relating to age and sex and were also asked whether they perceived themselves as young, middle aged, or old. Participants in the first study were asked to rate several faces on five qualities (wisdom, creativity, adaptability, cooperativity, and intelligence) using a likert scale. Initial results showed that the characteristics of wisdom and intelligence have a strong relationship with both age of the given face and age of the participant; a connection was also seen between sex and creativity. In the second study, participants were asked to make hiring decisions; stimuli were based on the data collected in the first study. (Advisor: Shane Mueller)
Upper Peninsula Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference 2014
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Comparing the Accuracy of Self-Report Questionnaire, Reading Comprehension, and Distraction Task to Determine the Reliability of ADHD Diagnostic Tools Kayla Harter, Tessa Mauer, & Faryn Yovich Dept. of Cognitive and Learning Sciences Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI There is growing concern within the public and the medical field that ADHD is being overdiagnosed; a problem that may be solved with the use of more reliable diagnostic methods and tools. As supported in research results from Samuelsson, Lundberg, and Herkner, (2004) and Epstein et al. (2003), we believe that performance levels on certain types of tasks may contribute to more accurate diagnoses. Specifically, we hypothesized that poor performance on each task would positively correlate with Self-Report responses indicating symptoms of ADHD. There was a statistically significant correlation between self-report survey responses and poor performance on the visual distraction test. However, our results also brought into question the reliability of the ADHD Self-Report itself, as many participants reported experiencing symptoms of ADHD, but had never been clinically diagnosed. Further research must be completed to confirm the dependability of results generated from the Self-Report Survey, as well as how gender impacts survey responses. We will discuss our findings at The UP Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference. (Advisor: Shane Mueller)
Upper Peninsula Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference 2014
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An Investigation of Graduate School Decisions Marshall Kemppainen, Heather Suokas & Amanda Wetelainen Dept. of Cognitive and Learning Sciences Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI The goal for this project is to determine how students make decisions regarding graduate school and to establish some of the critical factors in the decision making process. We are particularly interested in which questions those students ask themselves when making such an important decision. However, the decision to apply to graduate school is different from the decision about which school to attend. Kallio (1995) listed the following factors that influence the graduate school decision: residency status, quality and other academic characteristics, work-related concerns, spouse considerations, financial aid and campus social environment. There are likely common characteristics that factor into most people’s decisions, such as cost, financial aid, school location and available majors, but the goal is to discover other features that make one school standout over another. Preliminary interviews were conducted with both undergraduate and current graduate students at Michigan Tech in order to direct the further research and survey. Opportunities for a higher level job was a common reason to attend graduate school for both graduate students and undergraduate students. However, the undergraduate students tended to mention more about family influence while the graduate students emphasized themes involving in-depth learning. Program reputation, financial aspects, and location were common critical factors for both groups, but the graduate students mentioned that previously established relationships significantly affected their choice of where to attend graduate school. Based on the interview results, we created an in-depth survey that will be conducted to help determine how graduate and undergraduate students make their graduate school decisions.
Upper Peninsula Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference 2014
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A Normative Evaluation of Paper-and Pencil and Computerized Trail-making Tests Rachael Huff & Shane T. Mueller Dept. of Cognitive and Learning Sciences Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI The Halstead-Reitan Trail-making Test is an established method of measuring attention and switching skills, and has been shown to measure important aspects of executive control. One of the limitations of the test is that there are only a handful of versions, making re-testing difficult. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a computerized version available within the PEBL Test Battery (Mueller & Piper, 2014) is predictive of performance on existing versions. To evaluate this, we tested the existing paper version, an identical computer versions, and an algorithmically-generated computer version. Results showed a high reliability within the PEBL computerized version and correlations to the Reitan versions, but indicate that the paper-and-pencil task involves different skills that the computerized trail-making tests.
Upper Peninsula Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference 2014
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Underlying Reasons Behind Alcohol Consumption: A Naturalistic Survey of Social Media Users Chase LaFave, Cassaundra Santerre, and Blake Panasiewicz Dept. of Cognitive and Learning Sciences Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI The purpose of this study was to look at alcohol consumption through the Alcohol Use Disorders Identifications Test (AUDIT) (Allen, Litten, Fertig, Babor, 1997) and its relationship to the personality types as measured by The Big Five Personality Test (Goldberg, 1999). Due to a lack of previous conclusive research, we have compiled multiple evaluations to analyze the relationship between personality type and alcohol consumption. We anticipated finding a correlation between personality and alcohol risks in order to see if it is possible to prevent high alcohol risk of these individuals. The procedure that was implemented was an anonymous online survey that included a test for personality type, the AUDIT test, and the Berlin Numeracy Test. This survey was posted to different social media sites including Reddit, and Facebook. In our first round of data collection, there was a significant correlation between openness to experience, and conscientiousness to alcohol risk. We will discuss the results between openness to experience, conscientiousness, Berlin Numeracy Test, and Alcohol Risk. (Advisor: Shane Mueller)
Upper Peninsula Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference 2014
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Trolley Studies Predicting Decision Making: Preliminary Findings Brittany Nelson & Kelsey Coon Dept. of Cognitive and Learning Sciences Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI Previous research has investigated ethical decisions using the trolley dilemma, where a bystander has to make a choice to sacrifice one for the good of the many. This purpose of this study was to determine if the hypothetical and ethical decision to a trolley bystander case would be predictive of real life actions and other naturalistic ethical permissibility. The trolley study sets a hypothetical scenario for a decision to sacrifice one good for many; one life for five others. An online survey was given and data was collected from 92 subjects. There were no correlations between the decision to the bystander case and any other question supporting the null hypothesis. There was a correlation between the permissibility of torture, the decision for America to ever go to war, and political party. Other results and implications are discussed. Results concerning the trolley bystander case may have been confounded because of the extremely low variability (7 vs. 85). The study was replicated and preliminary findings are discussed. (Advisor: Shane Mueller)
Upper Peninsula Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference 2014
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How is the Ebbinghaus Illusion affected by touch? Erin Smith1, Candace Calvetti1, Mounia Ziat1, and Vincent Hayward2 1
Northern Michigan University, Marquette, MI, 2UPMC Univ Paris 06, Institut des Systémes Intelligents et de Robotique, Paris, France
In this poster presentation, we report evidence for the existence of the Ebbinghaus illusion in the tactile modality. Participants were asked to bimanually explore two sets of Ebbinghaus circles while blindfolded. The results show that the participants are more likely to be deceived when the illusory stimulus is present compared to when a stimulus that does not present the illusion is present. These results contribute to the perception-action debate and the two-stream hypothesis, which states that the pathways for action and perception are separated in the visual system.
Upper Peninsula Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference 2014
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The Application of Cultural Mixture Model to Cultural Groups with Trained Knowledge Yin-Yin Tan & Shane T. Mueller Dept. of Cognitive and Learning Sciences Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI Previous research (e.g., Cultural Consensus Theory of Romney, Weller, & Batchelder, 1986; Cultural Mixture Modeling of Mueller & Veinott, 2008) has developed methods for identifying groups with the same beliefs and attitudes using data from questionnaires and surveys, but not covert response patterns (e.g., response times). Therefore, the goal of this study is to develop a statistical method and techniques to assess cultural groups based on implicit response time patterns. The geographic paired-learning task is what we designed and implemented in this study. These are 32 pairs of countries either in Eurasia and/or Africa. We conducted 2 experiments to train participants on the adjacency of the paired-countries. In the training sessions, participants were shown the equal-sized outlines of two labeled countries (e.g., Ethiopia and Somalia), and asked to decide whether they were geographically adjacent. They were then given visual and auditory feedback, including a regional map showing the country locations. In the test session, there was no feedback maps presented to subjects. In the first experiment (i.e., 60 participants split into 4 groups, each with different training conditions) we trained subjects with 460 trials in the training session and they were tested 4 times per pair (i.e., totally 128 trials) in the test session. The results in the first experiment show that our newly developed likelihood model can identify highly negatively related groups without knowing their training conditions in advance, but failed to identify orthogonal groups. We also performed a data simulation as if it was in the experiment 1. The results of the data simulation show that, unlike experiment 1, orthogonal groups can also be identified through simulation. The second experiment (i.e., 45 participants split into 3 groups, either highly negatively related or orthogonal groups) was conducted aiming at using a more consistent response time measure to solve the discrepancy in experiment 1 and data simulation. We enlarged the paired-country presentation frequency in the training sessions (e.g., frequencies increased from 1:2:4:8 to 1:3:9:27) and participants were tested with more trials in the test session (e.g., from 128 trials in experiment 1 to 192 trials in experiment 2). The results of the experiment 2 show that, our newly developed method of Cultural Mixture Model can identify all participants, and the results perfectly match their training conditions. The experiment 2 gave us a lesson that a precise, consistent response time measure is needed in order to perform CMM model and to know cultural consensus and shared belief and attitude. Upper Peninsula Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference 2014
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Optimizing Risk Communication with Graphs Margo M. Woller-Carter1, Edward T. Cokely1, 2, Rachel Franchock1, Yasmina Okan3, 4, & Rocio Garcia-Retamero2, 3 1
Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences, Michigan Technical University, 2 Max Planck Institute for Human Development, 3 University of Granada, 4University of Leeds
Graphs offer an efficient means to communicate risk information. However, not all graphs are properly designed to aid decision-making. Additionally, poorly designed graphs affect individuals differently. The current study investigates the effect of poorly designed graphs on decision-making performance for individuals with differences in numeracy, cognitive impulsiveness, and graph literacy. Eyetracking was also collected from participants to investigate qualitative and quantitative differences in search, and the meta-cognitive strategies that are associated with superior performance.
Upper Peninsula Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference 2014
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Throwing of a Ceramic Cylindrical Vessel: How Height is Affected by Sensory Deprivation Mounia Ziat1, Cheryl Konieczny1, Brian Kakas2 1
2
Psychology Department, Northern Michigan University School of Art and Design, Northern Michigan University
During this preliminary study, art students and faculty shaped a cylindrical vessel at a pottery wheel, while deprived of one of the senses (auditory, tactile, or visual). Participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: 1) blindfolded to remove visual input, 2) wore earplugs and headphones with a NRR of 62dB to prevent hearing sound from the pottery wheel, 3) wore 15 mil (0.381 mm) nitrile gloves to significantly reduce cutaneous contact with clay. While no significant results were observed between deprivation groups, the height difference of the cylinders between the control condition and test conditions were significant.
Upper Peninsula Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference 2014
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