Day: November 19, 2013

World Usability Day in TechAlum Newsletter

Driving
Driving Simulator

Photo Gallery Added!!

Usability Day

We celebrated World Usability Day Thursday. Held all over the globe, it highlights the importance of humans as participants in technology. Sounds like just the job for Tech students, and many projects on campus proved that point.

We started with a driving simulator, staffed by Jason Sterkenburg, a master’s student in applied cognitive sciences and human factors.

“We are looking at a couple of factors,” Sterkenburg said. “Emotional driving, like being in an angry state, and secondary tasks that affect driving performance, like drinking coffee and other things that can distract drivers.”

Steve Landry, a master’s student in psychology, was showing how a massive keyboard worked, too. Stepping on different parts of the floor, with different emphasis, he played and changed musical notes and tones.

Ultimately, Philart Jeon, an assistant professor in cognitive and learning sciences, wants to bring in dancers whose moves will create different notes.

“Instead of dancing to music, they will be creating new music when they move,” Jeon said.

Read more at TechAlum Newsletter, by Dennis Walikainen.

Risk Literacy in APS Observations

ObserverThe Association for Psychological Science featured a brief review of Edward Cokely’s recent risk literacy research in their “observations” section.

From Tech Today.

Visual Aids Can Help People Better Understand Health Risks

In a new article, researchers Rocio Garcia-Retamero of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin and Edward Cokely of Michigan Technological University discuss the important role that visual aids can play in communicating health-related information. The article is published in the October 2013 issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science.

Read more at Association for Psychological Science (APS) Observations.

In the News

The APS has written a new review of Edward Cokely’s (CLS) work in the observer column, “Teaching Current Directions In Psychological Science”. The article focuses on “How Psychological Science can Support Smarter Medical Decisions.”

From Tech Today.

Teaching Current Directions in Psychological Science
How Psychological Science Can Support Smarter Medical Decisions

Making smart, well-reasoned medical decisions. Two new Current Directions in Psychological Science articles — by APS Fellow Hal Arkes on hindsight biases in real medical decisions, and by Rocio Garcia-Retamero and Edward Cokely on harnessing visual aids to better communicate health risks — beautifully illustrate psychology’s contribution to informed medical decision-making:

Read more at APS Observer, by C. Nathan DeWall and David G. Myers.