Research
CARL is about research and development of cognitive tools. Our efforts focus on
- Human physiological and cognitive processing and limitations
- Visual, acoustic and haptic presentation formats and user interfaces
- Enhancement of cognitive performance, such as encoding, organization and retrieval of data, problem solving and decision making
- Security user decision making and attention.
CARL is currently investigating the effective animation of complex diagrammatic displays.
- What are the mechanism of mapshock, a phenomenon evident in cognitive confusion and motivational disengagement arising during the exposure to complex diagrammatic displays ?
- How can mapshock be alleviated ?
- Does graph theory provide a key to a common algorithm for traversing complex diagrammatic representation effectively?
- What are the visual scanning patterns of high functioning visuo-spatial learners ?
- Can mapshock be alleviated by modeling and guiding visual scanning patterns with animation ?
- Does the viewing of animated diagrammatic representations result in training effects or transfer of spontaneous use of efficient visual processing strategies ?
- Does “cognitively-appropriate” animation enhance visual literacy ?
Research Projects in Preparation include:
# 1 HCI methodologies using Eyetracking
# 2 Science based Solutions for the Aging Population
# 3 Computational Theory of Perception Afforded Cognition*
*Dr. Bahr's research is summarized as theoretical and applied investigation of perception afforded cognition (PAC). PAC integrates the Gibsonian model of direct perception, where all knowledge is inherently present in environmental stimuli, with top-down cognition-centric approaches found in cognitive psychology and neuroscience. PAC provides a framework for the ecologically valid investigation of quantitative & qualitative features of modality inputs and their effects on cognitive processes in line with Neisser’s conceptualization of real-world cognition. GSB