Other Psychiatry and Psychology Commons^™

Individual Problem Representations In Distributed Work, Alicia Fernandes, Philip J. Smith, Ken Durham, Mark Evans

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

Human-machine interfaces in distributed work systems provide external problem representations that activate the cognitive processes people use to perform their work. Appropriate design of such representations is an important factor in supporting complex work. In air and surface traffic management, problems are typically framed according to airspace constraints even for practitioners whose domain is the airport surface. Constraints are passed from the en route and terminal domains to the surface in the form of airspace constraints, with the displays available to Air Traffic Control Tower (ATCT) personnel communicating these constraints in airspace terms. However, ATCT personnel use a different mental …

Uas In The Nas Air Traffic Controller Acceptability Study-1: The Effects Of Horizontal Miss Distances On Simulated Uas And Manned Aircraft Encounters, Rania W. Ghatas, James R. Comstock Jr., Maria C. Consiglio, James P. Chamberlain, Keith D. Hoffler

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

This study examined air traffic controller acceptability ratings based on the effects of differing horizontal miss distances (HMDs) for encounters between UAS and manned aircraft. In a simulation of the Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) East-side airspace, the CAS-1 experiment at NASA Langley Research Center enlisted fourteen recently retired DFW air traffic controllers to rate well-clear volumes based on differing HMDs that ranged from 0.5 NM to 3.0 NM. The controllers were tasked with rating these HMDs from “too small” to “too excessive” on a defined, 1-5, scale and whether these distances caused any disruptions to the controller and/or to the surrounding …

Computational Simulation Of Authority-Responsibility Mismatches In Air-Ground Function Allocation, Martijn Ijtsma, Amy R. Pritchett, Raunak P. Bhattacharyya

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

Authority-responsibility mismatches are created when one agent is authorized (has authority) to perform an activity, but a different agent is responsible for its outcome. An authority-responsibility mismatch demands monitoring by the responsible agent that itself requires additional information transfer and taskload. This paper demonstrates a computational simulation methodology that identifies when mismatches will occur in complex, multi-agent aviation operations, and their implications for information transfer between agents and task demands on each agent. A case study examines 25 authority and responsibility allocations in a NextGen/SESAR scenario in a terminal area where authority and responsibility for activities involving optimal profile descents, …

Development Of The Air Traffic Control Tower Alerts Standard, Edmundo A. Sierra Jr., Michael Buckley

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

FAA HF-STD-008 Air Traffic Control Tower Alerts Standard specifies functional requirements, alarm and alert human interaction characteristics, and threshold levels in systems that use an alert mechanism to capture human attention in air traffic control tower environments. FAA HF-STD-008 was developed to address a shortfall in the general criteria for alerts found in FAA HF-STD-001 Human Factors Design Standard. FAA-HF-STD-008 was developed in three phases: literature review and draft development, subject matter expert working group review and development, and stakeholder comment and adjudication. The results of the work include specific requirements for alerts and additional evidence of a repeatable human …

Contribution Of Multimethodology To Human Factors In Air Navigation Systems, Lisia Maria Espinola Da Silva Pacheco Cabral, Marcos Pereira

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

This article presents a general view of a post-graduation study developed from 2011 to 2014 into some civil Air Navigation contexts of a brazilian public organization, to promote System and Rational Thinking, and Metagovernance, aiming at structuring, understanding and monitoring problems prone to variability, dynamics and unpredictability, to contribute to minimum risks management and opportunities of changes in real work. The study was developed to support TRM (Team Resources Management) behavior abilities, introduced as a Program since 2009, and adopted: a qualitative and collective method;Multimethodology as a predictive methodology, in which Conceptual Map was the central instrument, based on Soft …

Psychological Aspects Of The Organization Of Information At The Instructor’S Flight Simulator Workplace, Tetiana Bondareva

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

This Paper presents a critical analysis of the classical procedure of training pilots on Full Flight Simulators (FFS), and developed new version of the procedure of instructor’s actions during simulator training. The developed procedure will change an instructor’s position as person, who sets parameters before and during performing exercise, to a person as involved participant, who is waiting for a forthcoming training flight circumstances together with the crew. This developed procedure implies a rearrangement of specific operations from the instructor on the software, and also the availability of an alternative monitor, on which the most significant events (selected for specific …

Learning Of Location-Identity Bindings: Development Of Level 1 Situation Awareness In An Air Traffic Control-Like Task, Alexander Nalbandian, Esa Rantanen

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

Knowing “what is where” is essential to human perception and performance. This knowledge corresponds to the concept of Situation Awareness (SA), specifically Level 1 SA. The underlying research paradigm concerns tracking of identical objects moving on a screen (Multiple Object Tracking, MOT). This method has been useful to investigate the fundamentals of visual tracking, but it lacks a connection to real-world scenarios. In another paradigm, objects tracked have unique identities (Multiple Identity Tracking, MIT) requiring a combination of peripheral and focal perception in tracking. This model has been used to examine air traffic controllers’ SA. This paper will report results …

Human Span-Of-Control In Cyber Operations: An Experimental Evaluation Of Fan-Out, Vincent F. Mancuso, Gregory J. Funke, Monica B. Eckold, Adam J. Strang

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

Modern cyber operations require operators to maintain supervisory control of remote computer agents. A current operational concern is the number of agents an operator can control at once. This issue resonates with similar “span-of-control” research conducted in UAV operations (e.g., Cummings & Mitchel, 2008). One way to identify operator span is via “fan-out,” a numeric calculation that provides a span-of-control estimate based on system and environmental variables. However, fan-out is a mechanical representation that only accounts for task-characteristics and environmental variables, thus providing an upper bound of human performance that does account for cognition, workload, or work interruptions. The present …

Investigating Uas Operator Characteristics Influencing Mission Success, Haydee M. Cuevas, Kristina M. Kendrick, Zane A. Zeigler, David J. Hamilton

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

The two objectives of this study were to 1) evaluate how specific operator characteristics (prior experience in manned and unmanned flight, teamwork, and gaming) influence mission success in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) operations; and 2) evaluate the potential utility of a performance assessment tool. Mission success was assessed using a modified version of the Situation Awareness Linked Indicators Adapted to Novel Tasks (SALIANT) methodology. Eighteen participants completed a UAS scenario (port security) as part of 9 two-person crews (pilot and sensor operator). Results showed that the SALIANT measure was able to discriminate differences in performance among the UAS crews. Results …

Performance Assessment Methods To Evaluate Discretionary Atc Safety Standards, Julia Pounds, Lisa Galoci

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) established the Air Traffic Safety Oversight Service (AOV) in 2005. Its mission is to provide independent oversight of the US air traffic service provider, Air Traffic Organization (ATO). AOV monitors ATO compliance with safety standards and safety management systems (SMS) including the ATO’s policies, procedures, and practices. AOV based its surveillance activities on systematic auditing methods to monitor ATO compliance with required safety controls. However, audits could only be used to monitor required safety controls having objective (strong) evidence of performance available. AOV lacked methods to monitor discretionary (weak) safety controls or safety controls …

Development Of An Alternative Methodology For Implementation Of Sagat During Task Performance, Durant C. Bridges

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

Situation awareness (SA) has been linked to performance in a variety of disciplines to date, but originated in the aviation arena. Situation awareness derives from attention and working memory being used toward acquiring and interpreting information from the environment (Endsley, 1995). The most revered objective method of measuring situation awareness is the Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique (SAGAT). This technique employs random freezes of participant interfaces during simulations to query participants and assess the level of knowledge of what is happening at the time of the freezes. A discussion of applications using an alternative approach to SAGAT for operators in …

The Smart Cockpit Initiative, Kevin M. Smith, Stephane Larrieu

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

Flight deck displays that automatically adapt themselves to changing operational conditions are referred to as mission adaptive displays, or smart cockpits. Most smart-enabling technology is already available in modern aircraft. To be operationally effective, however, mission adaptive displays should: • Present mission critical information when it is most urgently needed. • Be capable of responding to all mission critical events—single and multiple occurrences. • Depict a rising risk profile based upon risk defining criteria. • Utilize abstract clusters to reduce workload in high stress situations. • Contain, whenever appropriate, performance aids so that precise maneuver execution is assured.

A Comprehensive Effort To Arrive At An Optimally Reliable Human Factors Taxonomy, Raymond E. King

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

Department of Defense (DoD) members sought to improve the inter-rater reliability of the DoD Human Factors Analysis and Classification System, (DoDHFACS). DoDHFACS differs from the original system developed by Wiegmann and Shappell (2003), based on the work of Reason (1990), by further analyzing mishaps and hazards to a more granular level – arriving at specific “nanocodes.” The steps involved in the effort included determining which of the 147 “nanocodes” were rarely/never used and collapsing nanocodes and rewriting definitions to arrive at 109 nanocodes. Next, a stepwise checklist to guide investigators through consideration of nanocodes was created. Student investigators were guided …

Recent Advances In Tactile Cueing, Angus H. Rupert, Ben D. Lawson

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

Flight tests conducted by the Army and Navy have demonstrated the utility of the Tactile Situation Awareness System (TSAS) as an adjunct to visual instruments to improve pilot performance in degraded visual environments or under conditions of high workload. The tactile stimulators (tactors) used in each of the flight tests have been incorporated into aircraft components (seat cushions and shoulder straps) and a torso garment (belt or vest). Current tactors must operate at full magnitude and a very restricted frequency range (240 to 250 Hz) in order to provide consistent and perceptible stimuli in the aviation environment. Fortunately, recent developments …

Near-Future Technological Countermeasures For Spatial Disorientation In Flight, Eric M. Littman, Ben D. Lawson, J. Christopher Brill, Angus H. Rupert

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

Spatial Disorientation (SD) is an important cause of deadly aircraft mishaps, despite improvements in night vision, head-up-displays, cockpit automation, etc. This paper explores several technological countermeasures for SD. This report begins by discussing the magnitude of the SD problem and the reasons why technological countermeasures are needed. The authors discuss the three main approaches that are typically used (improved selection, training, or technology) to decrease the incidence of SD, and argue that improved selection and training, although beneficial, are not sufficient by themselves to prevent SD. The authors introduce various technological solutions they are developing, including better models to predict …

Hiroshima And Mass Trauma Today: Treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder In Individuals And Communities, Ashley Martinez

International ResearchScape Journal

At 8:15 am on August 6^th, 1945, the world and the way in which we fight wars changed forever. Immediately following the drop of the Little Boy atomic bomb, the city of Hiroshima was decimated, leaving the surviving citizens to deal with poverty, starvation, loss of loved ones, and utter destruction of their lives. After the bombing, survivors were left with burns, radiation poisoning, and physical scars. Unknown to the survivors of the atomic bombings, or Hibakusha, were the ensuing psychological and emotional damages. In 2014, we know more about traumatic experiences than in 1945. Studies from …

Perceived Harms And Benefits Of Parental Cannabis Use, And Parents’ Reports Regarding Harm-Reduction Strategies, Kathleen J. Donoghue

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research focussed on families in which at least one parent was a long-term cannabis user; I explored family members’ perceptions of the benefits and harms of cannabis use and the strategies parents used to minimise cannabis-related harm to themselves and their children. In depth, semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 43 individuals from 13 families, producing a series of family case studies that enabled examination of multiple perspectives within each family. In Study 1, I used an interpretive framework guided by Miles and Huberman’s (1994) thematic content analysis technique to analyse interview data, while study 2 yielded detailed descriptive vignettes …

Life Balance – A Mindfulness-Based Mental Health Promotion Program: Conceptualization, Implementation, Compliance And User Satisfaction In A Field Setting, Lisa Lyssenko, Gerhard Müller, Nikolaus Kleindienst, Christian Schmal, Mathias Berger, Georg Eifert, Alexander Kölle, Siegmar Nesch, Jutta Ommer-Hohl, Michael Wenner, Martin Bohus

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Background

Mental health disorders account for a large percentage of the total burden of illness and constitute a major economic challenge in industrialized countries. Several prevention programs targeted at high-risk or sub-clinical populations have been shown to decrease risk, to increase quality of life, and to be cost-efficient. However, there is a paucity of primary preventive programs aimed at the general adult population. “Life Balance” is a program that employs strategies borrowed from well-established psychotherapeutic approaches, and has been made available to the public in one federal German state by a large health care insurance company. The data presented here …

Asthma-Related Anxiety And Quick-Relief Medication Use In Urban Children With Asthma, Sarah E. Astrab, Robin Everhart

Undergraduate Research Posters

Among children, asthma is the most common chronic illness. Although not curable, asthma is manageable with the use of both daily controller medication and quick relief or rescue medication. Anxiety has been found to increase asthma symptoms in children. Caregivers who are anxious about their child’s asthma symptoms may perceive their child’s asthma as more severe or doubt their ability to manage their child’s asthma, which can result in the misuse of asthma medication. This study focused on the association between asthma-related anxiety and the use of quick-relief asthma medications in a low-income, urban sample in Richmond, Virginia. Child participants …

Is Postpartum Depression A Disease Of Modern Civilization?, Jennifer Hahn-Holbrook, Martie Haselton

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Access to calorie-dense foods, medicine, and other comforts has made modern humans healthier than our prehistoric ancestors in many respects. However, the epidemics of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease suggest that there are also drawbacks to modern living. Here, we address the question of whether the dramatic cultural changes that have occurred over the past century have inflated rates of postpartum depression, adding postpartum depression to the list of diseases of modern civilization. We review evidence from cross-cultural, epidemiological, and experimental studies documenting associations between postpartum depression and modern patterns of early weaning, diets deficient in essential fatty acids, low …

On Reporting The Onset Of The Intention To Move, Uri Maoz, Liad Mudrik, Ram Rivlin, Ian Ross, Adam Mamelak, Gideon Yaffe

Psychology Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"In 1965, Hans Kornhuber and Luder Deecke made a discovery that greatly influenced the study of voluntary action. Using electroencephalography (EEG), they showed that when aligning some tens of trials to movement onset and averaging, a slowly decreasing electrical potential emerges over central regions of the brain. It starts 1 second ( s) or so before the onset of the voluntary action1 and continues until shortly after the action begins. They termed this the Bereitschaftspotential, or readiness potential (RP; Kornhuber & Deecke, 1965).2 This became the first well-established neural marker of voluntary action. In that, the RP allowed for more …

“Me & My Brain”: Exposing NeuroscienceʼS Closet Dualism, Liad Mudrik, Uri Maoz

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Our intuitive concept of the relations between brain and mind is increasingly challenged by the scientific world view. Yet, although few neuroscientists openly endorse Cartesian dualism, careful reading reveals dualistic intuitions in prominent neuroscientific texts. Here, we present the “double-subject fallacy”: treating the brain and the entire person as two independent subjects who can simultaneously occupy divergent psychological states and even have complex interactions with each other—as in “my brain knew before I did.” Although at first, such writing may appear like harmless, or even cute, shorthand, a closer look suggests that it can be seriously misleading. Surprisingly, this confused …

Intentions And Voluntary Actions: Reframing The Problem, Aaron Schurger

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Nachev and Hacker are justified in drawing our attention to the importance of conceptual clarity and coherence as these are too often overshadowed by technical sophistication and methodological rigor, which by themselves count for little. But can a process of “conceptual analysis” actually help us to avoid pitfalls, or does it merely serve to expose those pitfalls in hindsight? What is needed is a method for making scientific arguments formulaic and laying bare the implicit assumptions. We have tools for this, but not everyone uses them.

Tapping To A Slow Tempo In The Presence Of Simple And Complex Musical Meters Reveals Experience-Specific Biases For Processing Music, Sangeeta Ullal-Gupta, Erin E. Hannon, Joel S. Snyder

Psychology Faculty Research

Musical meters vary considerably across cultures, yet relatively little is known about how culture-specific experience influences metrical processing. In Experiment 1, we compared American and Indian listeners' synchronous tapping to slow sequences. Inter-tone intervals contained silence or to-be-ignored rhythms that were designed to induce a simple meter (familiar to Americans and Indians) or a complex meter (familiar only to Indians). A subset of trials contained an abrupt switch from one rhythm to another to assess the disruptive effects of contradicting the initially implied meter. In the unfilled condition, both groups tapped earlier than the target and showed large tap-tone asynchronies …

Development Of A Short Version Of The Modified Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale, Brooke N. Jenkins, Michelle Fortier, Sherrie H. Kaplan, Linda C. Mayes, Zeev N. Kain

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

BACKGROUND: The modified Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale (mYPAS) is the current “criterion standard” for assessing child anxiety during induction of anesthesia and has been used in >100 studies. This observational instrument covers 5 items and is typically administered at 4 perioperative time points. Application of this complex instrument in busy operating room (OR) settings, however, presents a challenge. In this investigation, we examined whether the instrument could be modified and made easier to use in OR settings.

METHODS: This study used qualitative methods, principal component analyses, Cronbach αs, and effect sizes to create the mYPAS-Short Form (mYPAS-SF) and reduce time …

Pregnancy Anxiety And Prenatal Cortisol Trajectories, Heidi S. Kane, Christine Dunkel Schetter, Laura M. Glynn, Calvin J. Hobel, Curt A. Sandman

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Pregnancy anxiety is a potent predictor of adverse birth and infant outcomes. The goal of the current study was to examine one potential mechanism whereby these effects may occur by testing associations between pregnancy anxiety and maternal salivary cortisol on 4 occasions during pregnancy in a sample of 448 women. Higher mean levels of pregnancy anxiety over the course of pregnancy predicted steeper increases in cortisol trajectories compared to lower pregnancy anxiety. Significant differences between cortisol trajectories emerged between 30 to 31 weeks of gestation. Results remained significant when adjusted for state anxiety and perceived stress. Neither changes in pregnancy …

If You Can’T Take The Heat, Stay Out Of The Kitchen: A Reflection On “Student Beliefs, Multiculturalism, And Client Welfare.”, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

In Student beliefs, multiculturalism, and client welfare, Professor Kristin Hancock offers a thoughtful description of and reflection on the contemporary challenges associated with psychology graduate trainees managing their personal and religious beliefs and practices with the training and professional demands of the psychology profession and their educational training institutions. She reviewed several recent court cases (e.g., Ward v. Polite et al., Keeton v. Anderson-Wiley et al., Ward v. Wilbanks et al.) where psychology students sued their graduate programs (typically secular state universities) because their training requirements included multicultural competency training involving sexual issues such as homosexuality. These graduate training …

Relationship Between Sensory Sensitivities And Cognitive And Adaptive Abilities In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Laura Pendergast

Honors Scholar Theses

Sensory sensitivities are widely reported among individuals with ASD. These sensory sensitivities can be classified as over-responsivity, under-responsivity, or seeking of sensory stimulation. Following recent changes in the diagnostic criteria, sensory sensitivities are considered a key feature of the behavioral phenotype of ASDs. Despite their significance, sensory sensitivities have been largely underestimated. Therefore, more research in this area may reveal important information about the influence of sensitivities on functioning, as well as the underlying causes of the symptoms. This study investigated a possible relationship between sensory sensitivities and cognitive and adaptive abilities in children with ASD. The sample included 29 …

Perceived Barriers To Obtaining Psychiatric Treatment At Johnson City Community Health Center, Mychal Bolton

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to describe the perceived barriers to obtaining psychiatric treatment at the Johnson City Community Health Center. The context of the study was a rural area in Eastern Tennessee. Five patients with confirmed DSM-IV mental health diagnoses were recruited during treatment and interviewed at the Johnson City Community Health Center after their scheduled appointments with a Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (MHNP). The semi-structured interview focused on perceived barriers to obtaining treatment, perceptions of treatment received, and perceived availability of treatment. From those interviews, two themes were identified and each of which had two sub-themes identified: …

An Animal Model Of The Motivational Symptoms Of Depression: Testing The Antidepressant Desipramine On An Effort-Related Choice Task, Samantha L. Collins

Honors Scholar Theses

Patients with depression, schizophrenia, and other related disorders often show effort-related motivational symptoms such as anergia, psychomotor slowing, lassitude, and fatigue. Several studies have indicated that dopamine (DA) within the nucleus accumbens (NAc) is involved in the regulation of effort-related behavior. Interference with NAc DA alters response allocation in effort related choice procedures, biasing animals towards the alterative that can be obtained with minimal effort. Previous studies have shown that administration of the vesicular monoamine transporter-2 (VMAT-2) inhibitor tetrabenazine (TBZ) shifts behavior in rats responding on the FR5/chow choice procedure causing a decrease in lever pressing and a compensatory increase …