Psychology and Human Factors News

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Student Spotlight: Brandon Woolman

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Brandon Woolman with Triforce at Otter River Sled Dog Training Center

This weekend, huskies and their mushers from near and far will gather in Calumet, Michigan, for the Copper Dog 150. Brandon Woolman, Michigan Tech University Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors (ACSHF) masters student, will be among the over 50 teams registered for the event. Brandon is a member of The Mushing Club at Michigan Tech – maybe the only collegiate-level mushing organization in the nation. His role as “handler” will be to help prepare and care for a very energetic team of dogs, poised and ready to run!

Brandon gives us an insight to how he got into dog sledding, the relationship between mushers and their dogs, and what he’d like to accomplish during his time with the Mushing Club.

Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into the sport of dog sledding?

I grew up in Waterford, Michigan and earned my undergraduate degree in cognitive neuroscience from the College of Wooster, Ohio. Two summers ago while visiting Houghton, I went to the Otter River Sled Dog Training Center with my partner Suzie Harris, who is a member of the Michigan Tech Mushing Club and current secretary. It was so cool to see all of the dogs and the workings of the kennel. Later, when I was accepted to the ACSHF masters program, I realized that I could actually participate in the Club myself and help out with the dogs.

I’ve kind of always been an outdoors person. I really enjoy the winter so I like the cold and snow. Southeast Michigan doesn’t get a ton of snow compared to up here where we’ve gotten nearly 250 inches so far this season. But I also grew up in Grayling, where my father lived, and we would do a lot of ice fishing, sledding, tubing, and snowboarding – all sorts of winter activities.

The thing that I like best about the sport of dog sledding is its friendly competitive nature – two adjectives you usually don’t hear together in describing a sport. When I started going to the races, I had never been on a sled before. I would just go and talk to all the mushers and the people involved with the races, and help out with the dogs. I also enjoy seeing the Michigan Tech team arrive at the events with so many people. Other teams might have two to four, but at the last event, Marquette’s Midnight Run, we had 20 members of the Mushing Club helping out with our three teams.

It’s always nice to hear stories from the mushers. They’re all very friendly and so are all the people who help put the races together – from the volunteers at the start, checkpoint crews along the way, and the judges. I try to talk to as many people as I can and hear their stories of past races, experiences they’ve had caring for their dogs, and learning more about their lifestyle.

The mushers definitely form a strong bond with their dogs. And the lead dogs are amazing and really smart. Until you get them leashed up and ready to go, you wouldn’t realize the strength of just one dog, and the mushers are racing with a team of 6-12, depending on the length of the race. That’s a lot of power in front of a sled.

I’ve learned that good mushers prioritize praise and positive reinforcement when training their dogs. With patience and time, they build trust with their team. Of course belly rubs, ear scratches and treats help as well. Mushers learn what motivates each dog, just like humans, they are all unique.

Do you have a mentor in the sport?

I definitely look up to Tom Bauer. He and his wife Sally are the owners of the Otter River Sled Dog Training Center and sponsor the Mushing Club. We [club members] go to their kennel and help take care of the dogs. We feed and run them and keep their spaces clean.

I’m always excited to follow Tom during a race. It’s cool when he’s out there and I get to watch where he is on a tracking system. You can actually see as his team moves through the course and encounters other racers. It also helps to estimate the location of the teams and how close they are to the next checkpoint.

As a handler, I help with the maintenance and feeding of the dogs before and during the race. At the rest points, you’ve got to take the dogs out of their houses every four hours and let them stretch their legs. It can be a lot of work when you’re staying overnight and you need to wake up at 2 or 4am. It definitely helps when you have a lot of handlers with the team, so it’s not just you. We’re all bearing through it together – negative temps and snowstorms alike. As far as dressing to stay warm, I wear Rocky boots, wool socks, lots of layers, and a good pair of Carhartts.

A highlight for me so far this year was helping run Tom’s team to the starting line at the Midnight Run. So much excitement and adrenaline ready to break loose as crowds of people watched on. It took four of us to hold the team, along with Tom pressing on the break until the countdown was complete.

How do you balance your studies and time spent with the dogs?

I try to get to the kennel at least once a week. My schedule is rather busy with coursework and research so it really depends on how things are going. Some weeks I just can’t make it, but then there are those weeks when I’m able to help out a lot. The kennel has nearly 70 dogs so any time I can give makes a difference.

Right now I’m trying to learn all the dogs by name. There are some of our Club members who know them all. Mushers have a naming system that helps in remembering which dogs are from what litter. Each litter is named after a certain category, such as Greek Gods with one named Ares, for example.

My goal before I complete my degree and leave the Mushing Club is to race as a musher for the team. But until then, I’ll enjoy being with the dogs and the people in this very interesting world of dog sledding.

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Brandon is currently working with his advisor, Dr. Kevin Trewartha, CLS/KIP associate professor, in a research project aimed at evaluating whether subtle differences in motor behavior could serve as a sensitive marker for early cognitive impairment in Alzheimer’s disease. The project, funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH), is assessing differences in rapid motor decision making between healthy older adults and individuals with mild cognitive impairment or early stage Alzheimer’s disease.

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ACSHF Forum: Kyle Wilson, Seeing Machines

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The Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors (ACSHF) Forum will be held from 2-3 p.m. Monday (Feb 21) virtually via Zoom. Our speaker is Kyle Wilson, Ph.D. Kyle is a Human Factors Senior Scientist and Team Lead at the company Seeing Machines in Canberra, Australia.

Title: Driver behaviors and safety risks surrounding new in-cabin technology: Three case studies from human factors research in automotive and rail environments. 
Brief Description: Dr. Wilson will discuss three human factors studies he was involved with in the transport space – each with a focus on how people experience new technology and related implications on safety and performance. He’ll cover:

  • One of the world’s first on-road automated vehicle studies with a primary focus on driver behaviour
  • Field research involving 10+ hour night shifts in the cramped cabin of a coal train
  • An on-road study evaluating safety and usability of an app that tells drivers when the traffic light is going to change

For each study he’ll discuss the goals, approach taken, findings and outcomes. Throughout, he also intends to highlight challenges and lessons learned, in what was sometimes ‘messy’ applied research.

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100 Years in the Making

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Hello, I’m Sara, a second-year psychology student at Michigan Tech and I’d like to invite you to Winter Carnival 2022!

My sorority, @mtu_alphagam, is one of nearly 70 campus and community organizations participating in this year’s snow statue competition. We have spent a combination of 102 hours shoveling, hauling, stacking, packing, freezing and adding the final touches to our creation. Did you know that it takes three different teams to complete a snow statue? There are people who work on the statue itself, then those who make the letters displayed in front of the statue, and people who make the ice sculptures.

This year Alpha Gamma Delta is partnering with our neighbor, Sigma Tau Gamma, in a variety of carnival events including statue building, stage revue, and several other competitions such as curling, broomball, speed skating, and human dog sled races. One of my sisters, Abigail Bethune, was voted Royal Majesty and will reign over the week’s events. We are very proud of her!

The annual Winter Carnival tradition has come a long way since the one-night event in 1922. Now the week-long schedule includes snow volleyball and soccer, ice bowling, speed skating, skiing and snowboarding, broomball, CCHA hockey games, human dog sled races, Bigfoot Glowshoe, and the SnoBall, to name a few.

So, Come One, Come All To Our 100th Carnival!

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ACSHF Forum: Grad Student Presentations

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The Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors (ACSHF) Forum will be held from 2-3 p.m. Monday (Feb 7) virtually via Zoom. There will be two speakers: Anne Linja and Lauren Monroe, both ACSHF graduate students.

Linja will present “Examining Explicit Rule Learning in Cognitive Tutorials: Training learners to predict machine classification“.

Abstract:
Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning (ML) systems are becoming more commonplace and relied upon in our daily lives. Decisions made by AI/ML systems guide our lives. For example, these systems might decide whether we get a loan, what our medical diagnoses are, and the full-self driving car we’re sharing the road with even makes decisions. However, we may not be able to predict, or even know whether, or when these systems might make a mistake.

Many Explainable AI (XAI) approaches have developed algorithms to give users a glimpse of the logic a system uses to come up with its output. However, increasing the transparency alone may not help users to predict the system’s decisions even though users are aware of the underlying mechanisms.

One possible approach is Cognitive Tutorials for AI (CTAI; Mueller, Tan, Linja et al., 2021), which is an experiential method used to teach conditions under which the AI/ML system will succeed or fail. One specific CTAI technique that was proposed involved teaching simple rules that could be used to predict performance; this was referred to as Rule Learning. This technique aims to identify rules that can help the user learn when the AI/ML system succeeds, fails, the system’s boundary conditions, and what types of differences change the output of the AI system. To evaluate this method, I will report on a series of experiments in which we compared different rule learning approaches to find the most effective way to train users on these AI/ML systems. Using the MNIST data set, this includes showing positive and negative examples in comparison to providing explicit descriptions of rules that can be used to predict the system’s output. Results suggest that although examples help people learn the rules (especially examples of errors), tutorials that provided explicit rule learning and provided direct example-based practice with feedback led people to best predict correct and incorrect classifications of an AI/ML system. I will discuss approaches to developing these tutorials for image classifiers and autonomous driving systems.


Monroe will present “Don’t throw a tempo tantrum: the effects of varying music tempo on vigilance performance and affective state“.

Abstract:
Vigilance tasks, or sustained attention tasks, involve an operator monitoring an environment for infrequent and random critical signals buried among more frequent neutral signals for an extended period of time. In addition to an observable decline in task engagement, task performance, and arousal over time, these tasks are also related to an increased subjective workload. Previously, music has been shown to have a positive impact on operator engagement and reaction times during sustained attention. The present study (N=50) examined the effects of music played at different tempos on a selection of performance metrics and subjective measures of mood, engagement, and workload. Results indicated that varying the tempo of music did not have an effect on the decline in the correct detection of critical signals. There also was not an observable impact on measures of engagement and stress but the fast tempo condition had a slightly significant positive impact on worry from pre to post task subjective measures. 

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ACSHF Forum: Grad Student Presentations

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The Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors (ACSHF) Forum will be held from 2-3 p.m. Monday (Jan. 24) virtually via Zoom.

There will be two speakers: Pomm Khaewratana and Alex Watral, both ACSHF graduate students.

Pomm Khaewratana:
Title: Learning with word game: Effects of crossword and elaboration on learning scientific vocabulary
Abstract: Crosswords have been used in a variety of science classrooms as a supplementary tool to help students learn technical vocabulary and to improve scientific thinking. However, the majority of crossword studies showed positive findings only for the former and almost none for the latter. We currently lack evidence for the usefulness of crossword in learning anything beyond the vocabulary and their definition or associated context provided as crossword hints. In this presentation, I will describe a continuation of the series of my experiments that evaluate the effect of crossword with an add-on elaboration task. The task supposedly enhances learning and retention of learned vocabulary by having learners generate sentences from technical words that depict an application-based use of the words. Fifty undergraduate students were recruited as participants in the aforementioned within-subject-design experiment. Results indicated significant improvement on memory level but not on the higher level of application.

Alex Watral:
Title: Online Assessment of Motor Learning in Younger and Older Adults
Abstract: Motor learning is a specific type of learning that occurs through repetition of a movement following the law of practice wherein rapid improvements in performance occur initially, followed by more gradual improvements as practice continues. In this sense, we can think of motor skill learning as unfolding in two phases that may rely on different cognitive mechanisms. Evidence has shown that motor learning abilities change with healthy aging such that older adults are slower to learn novel motor tasks initially while ultimately they are still able to learn to the same degree as young adults. One of the gold-standard approaches to studying motor learning is called the visuomotor rotation (VMR) paradigm. Motor learning tasks like the VMR paradigm are typically implemented in our lab using a robotic device called a Kinarm. As our understanding of motor learning evolves, we need to focus on options for testing that are more accessible than laboratory limited approaches. We have created a web-based application to assess visuomotor adaptation in a remote setting. No application downloads are required on the part of the participant. The only requirement is for them to have a computer (laptop or desktop) and an internet connection. This makes the application far more accessible than current laboratory and portable platforms. The overarching goal of this project is to validate the web-based application in younger adults as well as healthy older adults. We are also interested in verifying that previously identified correlations between the early and late stages of motor learning and implicit memory, spatial working memory, and visual-spatial abilities can be observed with this online app. Healthy younger adults (n=21) and healthy older adults (n=17) participated in this study. Each participant met with a researcher via Zoom and shared their screen while performing the VMR task and cognitive battery so that the researcher could troubleshoot as needed. Preliminary results suggest that the online application produced results similar to the laboratory task. Further analyses will be conducted to determine if there were significant differences between the two collection methods (app vs laboratory) and to see how cognitive constructs correlate with performance on the VMR app.

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KCP Future Faculty Fellow – Brittany Nelson

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It started when I took a critical thinking class where I learned how irrational many of my, and most people’s decisions, are. Many hold a misconception that we are rational creatures that we weigh pros and cons of each choice and choose the option that has the most utility. I was immediately fascinated that this is not the case; decisions are influenced by biases, environment, emotions, fatigue, and more. As an undergraduate, I conducted a blind experiment that measured the impact of reading a free will philosophy pamphlet on behaviors such as stealing candy and donating money. (Those who read the pamphlet that suggests we don’t have free will are more likely to steal candy and not donate money!) After learning how little we make rational decisions —without even being aware— I understood the potential the field of cognitive science has for helping people.

My interest in teaching allowed me to take many powerful lessons from my Masters’ degree in Applied Cognitive Science and share them with students when I was a visiting professor at Finlandia University. This position opened my eyes to how instructors can empower students through teaching. From this experience, I gained a passion for and concrete skills in how to be a professor.

Under the advisement of Dr. Erich Petushek, my current Ph.D. research at MTU involves identifying, measuring, and improving key factors that impact healthy lifestyle decisions. Lifestyle behaviors cause 60% of premature deaths and lead to 10 years longer life expectancy free of major chronic diseases. I hope that the long-term impact of this research is saved lives and a significant improvement in quality of life.

It is my goal to become a professor in psychology. As a professor, I can empower students to reach their potential and lead a lab devoted to helping people make good decisions. I am so grateful and honored to receive the King-Chávez-Parks Future Faculty Fellowship. I know it will help pave my way toward my goal.

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The Next Chapter: Physical Therapy School

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I’m Emma DeBaeke, I graduated in spring 2021 from MTU with a Bachelors of Exercise Science and a minor in Psychology. The research and the anatomical-based program have given me the perfect foundation for the next chapter in my life, Physical Therapy school. I have just started school at the University of Michigan- Flint in their DPT program. Personally, I feel as if U of M has been the right choice for me because of the ability to live closer to my family, the PT Heart clinic, and the amazing professors. However, MTU will always be in my heart.

I wouldn’t be who I am today without my experiences at Tech. With Michigan Tech being so far from my home town it helped me grow. It took a lot of tenacity, determination, and help from the Chemistry Learning Center to make it through my first semester. I also couldn’t have made it through without the supportive community at MTU. I have had numerous occasions where people have helped me shovel out my car from the snow, and I have run into countless alumni downstate who are always so kind. 

Throughout my time at Tech I was on the rowing team, a Resident Assistant in DHH, and an Athletic Training Intern. I am still active in the MTU community as a sister of Delta Phi Epsilon. I personally enjoy being busy and these roles allowed me to either give back to the community or better myself personally. I know preparing to apply for graduate school can be stressful. I believe when preparing your resume it’s important to find activities that you enjoy to fulfill the graduate program’s recommendations and help you stand out during interviews.

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ACSHF Forum: Monday, January 10

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The first Spring 2022 Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors (ACSHF) Forum will be held from 2-3 p.m. on Monday (January 10) in the Harold Meese Center (Meese), Room 109, and virtually via Zoom. There will be two speakers: Lisa Casper and Betsy Lehman, both ACSHF graduate students.

Lisa Casper’s Abstract:
Perspective shifting in design: Evidence of innovation in makerspaces

One of the critical 21st-century skills students need is to be able to think differently.  Makerspaces and design thinking have become part of university innovation education strategies across the world to help students develop these skills.  But how do we support innovation in makerspaces?   At Michigan Tech, we use design thinking in conjunction with the makerspace.  Most research and evidence of innovation in makerspaces is anecdotal.  My research is taking a cognitive engineering approach to supporting and developing innovation in makerspaces.  In this talk, I will review research on makerspaces and innovation theories with a backdrop of the design thinking process.  Using cognitive task analysis, we interviewed expert makers from Europe and the United and conducted a thematic analysis of the data.  Themes from these interviews suggest focus areas for innovations in makerspaces that will support future experiments. 

Betsy Lehman’s Abstract:
Taking It Easy: Ease of Generating Alternative Explanations As A Mediator Of Counterfactual Reasoning In Ambiguous Social Judgments

It is important to know how people make sense of situations and question their theories. Questioning one’s perspective may be critical in many situations, such as taking action against climate change, improving diversity and equity at work, or even promoting vaccine adoption.  According to sensemaking theory (Klein et al., 2007), people must first question their theory of a situation before they can shift their perspective. However, research on how people question their frame is limited.  Using counterfactual theory (Roese & Olson, 1995), we examined factors and strategies affecting this part of the sensemaking process in two studies.  In Study 1, 80 participants generated explanations and predicted outcomes in five ambiguous social  situations. Data were analyzed using path analysis to compare fit between a base model (i.e., ease, malleable factors, and missing information all predicting outcome likelihood judgments) and a model based on counterfactual generation theory (Roese & Olson, 1995). Results indicated that the latter model fit was better, indicating that ease of generation may be a critical mediator in the sensemaking process. Based on this result, Study 2 was designed to experimentally test this effect by manipulating ease of generation and a focusing strategy. This work contributes to research focused on understanding of the mechanisms of perspective shifts to support applications for system design and training, such as programs to reduce implicit bias.  

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Q&A with Dr. Natasha Hardy

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In the week leading up to Mid-year Commencement 2021, we got to chat with ACSHF PhD recipient Natasha Hardy and hear about her journey from starting the program in Spring 2011 to accepting her current position with a multi-billion dollar, publicly-traded company. Read along to learn more.

Hello Dr. Hardy – First and foremost, congratulations on successfully completing your dissertation and earning your PhD degree in Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors (ACSHF) at Michigan Technological University. Before we get into specifics, can you briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?

I’ve always been very driven to grow and improve myself and I’ve pursued education with an almost single-minded determination since graduating from high school. Looking back, I can’t believe I made it through but my first mentor – Dr. Wayne Wright – always said, “I didn’t come this far to turn back now” and I took that philosophy very much to heart.

I started in the ACSHF program in Spring 2011 and began working and going to school full-time in 2014. In that time, I’ve had 7 jobs with 5 employers and I’ve grown from an entry-level analyst with a small non-profit to a senior level researcher with a multi-billion dollar, publicly-traded company.

Q&A

Q: When did you first realize this was the type of career you wanted to pursue?

A: My catalyst for coming to Michigan Tech was working on my capstone thesis for my Master’s degree: I was so inspired by researching adult learning theory I really wanted to find a program where I could better understand the psychology of learning. I was fortunate to meet Dr. Cokely and begin my journey at Michigan Tech.

Q: What excites you about your work and/or the field of behavioral research?

A: Understanding the way people think is so fundamental to living – it helps us understand the choices people make, the things they say and do – and I just find it so incredibly interesting and inspiring. Whether you are sitting down with one person and hearing their personal story and diving into key decisions in their life or looking at a nice big fat excel file of data and seeing those decisions in aggregate numbers, there’s just no end to what we can learn and interpolate about people and how they do things. I was inspired to work in UX because every day we encounter things that are unnecessarily challenging due to poor or sub-optimal design.

Q: Looking back, can you tell us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way?

A: There are too many lessons to count, honestly. I have been heart-broken and sobbing, scared, angry, and frustrated beyond reason at some point in my academic journey. Everyone’s path is different, but I think the most important thing I had to learn was to take care of myself and my mental health. There was a point where the anxiety and pressure I felt ate away at me until I was physically ill. I’ve had to learn not to bottle up my thoughts and feelings and instead rely on supportive relationships to help me through hard times. Working with Kelly [Dr. Steelman, advisor and CLS chair] was one of those supportive relationships that carried me through some of my most challenging times.

Q: What piece of advice would you like to give to a first-year psychology / human factors student?

A: Statistics is the most important class you will take, embrace it! I think a lot of people are inspired to come to psychology because they want to have a positive impact on people’s lives. In order to know if you are having an impact, you need to be able to measure, compare, and predict. I use statistics constantly in my work and have had to learn many new statistical techniques. Even though I find it very difficult to learn and understand statistics, it’s also incredibly rewarding.

Q: What do you see for the future of human behavior and design / human factors?

A: This field is going to continue to grow. In industry there is both a top-down and bottom-up push to improve user experience. I think there are two paths you can take. One is creating experiences that inspire people to use them and the other is creating experiences that reduce failure. So, for example, my work with Rocket Mortgage focuses on understanding how people think about and approach home ownership – from the time they start looking at houses through purchasing and into maintaining. This information drives how we design products and tools that help people achieve that goal in the most frictionless way possible. In this case, a good UX should be unnoticeable at worst and delightful at best. On the other hand, my husband built and coded a process to reduce pacemaker failure by improving anchoring coils to give more torsional stiffness but not reduce flexibility, so the anchors wouldn’t break inside the human body. In this case, product failure can be deadly. Which one of these inspires you?

Q: How do you practice a healthy work-life balance?

A: First, I want to acknowledge that being able to say, ‘No’ to work is a privilege. Some people absolutely do not have that luxury. I also know that as a mid-career professional I can probably be more pushy about what I want from an employer than someone who is fresh from school. I stop working at five to prepare dinner for my family and I also always take my vacation time that I earn at work. Only you can decide what is good and appropriate for you. And you should do that proactively so that you know what to look for in an employer.

Q: What is next for you on your life journey?

A: I have so many projects I want to work on! I’m planning to get a certificate in plant-based nutrition from Cornell next – I’m so inspired by the health outcomes associated with plant-based nutrition I just want to learn more. I’m also moving to a new job at Indeed as a UX researcher for their data platform.

Q: Is there anything else you would like to share with us?

A: Navigating people is central to successful work in UX. It’s not about you, it’s about other people and how they think, feel, and act. As a researcher, it’s important to seek to understand the mindset of others by asking questions and challenging your own preconceived notions.

Congratulations to all Fall 2021 graduates and best wishes for your future! Please stay in touch.

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Isaac Flint (PhD, CLS) receives HRI Fellowship

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The Health Research Institute (HRI) at Michigan Tech is pleased to award fellowships to three individuals for the spring 2022 semester. Congratulations to all recipients!

HRI Spring Fellowship awardees are:

  • Shobhit Chaturvedi, Chemistry
  • Manas Warke, Biological Sciences
  • Isaac Flint, Cognitive and Learning Sciences

The mission of the Health Research Institute is to establish and maintain a thriving environment that promotes translational, interdisciplinary, and increasingly convergent health-related research and inspires education and outreach activities.

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