Department Labs

Robotics Control Lab The Robotics Control Laboratory at New Mexico State University is studying cognitive issues related to interfaces for control of multiple robots. Both virtual and physical robots are being used. Existing artifacts in the form of video games with customized scenarios have been used in single computer, dual computer, and LAN multi-player mode. A variety of tasks have been developed involving either cooperative tasks with several robots or independent time critical tasks. Data includes multiplexed video, think aloud verbal protocol, situational awareness, performance and workload measures. In addition to the use of virtual robot environments, an 8' x 12' miniature environment for radio controlled camera equipped mini robots has also been built. Real world issues such as obstacle avoidance, perceptual distortion, spatial navigation, and multiple robot coordination are being studied in this simulated environment. Test subjects operate both the virtual and mini-robots in specific tasks designed to highlight task switching and monitoring of multiple robot activities. See more pictures of the lab. Human Robotics Interaction:Evidence-based Interface Design [Powerpoint presentation]
Mother and Infant Lab In our Mother-Infant Lab, we are exploring how infants' cognitive development is affected by cortisol responses to stress. A longitudinal design is being used, and in our new study data are being collected at these infant ages: 2 months, 3 months, 6 months, 8 months, and 10 months. Salivary cortisol samples are taken from the infant and the mother to determine whether or not they exhibit a similar adrenocortical response to a mildly stressful event (the direction of change is the same or not pre-experiment to post-experiment), and to assess whether infants' cortisol response to the laboratory situation decreases or increases. We have found both of these factors to be related to the amount of learning infants exhibit in cognitive tasks involving discrimination, memory, inter-modal matching and grammar recognition We are also investigating how behavioral interactions between mother and infant are related to infant learning. Specific behaviors of the mother and infant are coded in 10-sec intervals across a 10-min interaction period. The study provides valuable information about the emotional, social, and intellectual health of infants in a diverse population. For more information about the Mother-Infant Lab please contact Dr. Laura Thompson.
Team Cognition, Culture and Communication Lab (TC3) The Team Cognition, Culture and Communication Lab (TC3) is a highly configurable laboratory for studying the performance of distributed and co-located teams. The laboratory permits researchers to: Assess team performance in a Distributed Military Environments Examine Cognitive measures of performance such as learning, transfer as well as prospective and transactive memory. Examine individual difference measures including, Cultural Cognition Measures, Trust, Anxiety, and Situation Awareness Develop models for automated analysis of team communication using Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) Assess the role of language in measuring team performance. For more information about the TC3 lab, please contact Dr. Peter Foltz.
User-System Eyetracking in Realtime (USER) Lab As humans interact with visually displayed information, researchers can try to understand the perceptual and cognitive mechanisms that underlie performance in multiple ways. We can observe and record what a user's hands do as they complete a task; we can ask the user to verbalize their conscious thoughts; and we can record where their eyes move as they interact with the visual information. As we take a variety of different overt measures of what the user does, we can construct a more accurate picture of the covert processes that are responsible for those actions. Eyetracking is especially useful in studying (1) the spatial distribution and movement of visual attention, (2) visual search for needed information, and (3) points in a realtime processing sequence of visual information at which users stop to engage in cognitive activities. The Laboratory for User-System Eyetracking in Realtime (USER) is currently engaged in research on how people read various kinds of visual displays of information, including mathematical equations, tabular displays of data, and graphs. For more information about the USER lab, please contact Dr. Doug Gillan.

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