March 23, 2023
Richard Pak was
Psychology professor Richard Pak was recently elected to the College of Fellows for the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES). Receiving a Fellow designation – the highest recognition possible from the College of Fellows – is a high honor that recognizes consistently impressive professional contributions, service to the Society and other accomplishments.
February 28, 2023
Our latest paper is now published in Human Factors:
Abstract
Objective: Discuss the human factors relevance of attention control (AC), a domain-general ability to regulate information processing functions in the service of goal-directed behavior.
Background: Working memory (WM) measures appear as predictors in various applied psychology studies. However, measures of WM reflect a mixture of memory storage and controlled attention making it difficult to interpret the meaning of significant WM-task relations for human factors. In light of new research, complex task performance may be better predicted or explained with new measures of attention control rather than WM.
Method: We briefly review the topic of individual differences in abilities in Human Factors. Next, we focus on WM, how it is measured, and what can be inferred from significant WM-task relations.
Results: The theoretical underpinnings of attention control as a high-level factor that affects complex thought and behavior make it useful in human factors, which often study performance in complex and dynamic task environments. To facilitate research on attention control in applied settings, we discuss a validated measure of attention control that predicts more variance in complex task performance than WM. In contrast to existing measures of WM or AC, our measures of attention control only require 3 minutes each (10 minutes total) and may be less culture-bound making them suitable for use in applied settings.
Conclusion: Explaining or predicting task performance relations with attention control rather than WM may have dramatically different implications for designing more specific, equitable task interfaces, or training.
Application: A highly efficient ability predictor can help researchers and practitioners better understand task requirements for human factors interventions or performance prediction.
Précis: A highly efficient ability predictor can help researchers and practitioners better understand task requirements for human factors interventions or performance prediction. We discuss new measures of attention control that require 3 minutes each, are easier for participants to understand, and are less culturally bound–making them suitable for use in applied settings.Keywords: attention control, working memory, ability/performance, multitasking
August 1, 2022
Abstract:
Forty teams of two participants and one autonomous teammate completed three team missions within a synthetic task environment. The autonomous teammate made an ethical or unethical action during each mission, followed by an apology or denial. Measures of individual team trust, autonomous teammate trust, human teammate trust, perceived autonomous teammate ethicality, and team performance were taken. Teams with unethical autonomous teammates had significantly lower trust in the team and trust in the autonomous teammate. Unethical autonomous teammates were also perceived as substantially more unethical. Neither trust repair strategy effectively restored trust after an ethical violation, and autonomous teammate ethicality was not related to the team score, but unethical autonomous teammates did have shorter times. Ethical violations significantly harm trust in the overall team and autonomous teammate but do not negatively impact team score. However, current trust repair strategies like apologies and denials appear ineffective in restoring trust after this type of violation. This research highlights the need to develop trust repair strategies specific to human-AI teams and trust violations of an ethical nature.
May 27, 2022
Consumer automation is a suitable venue for studying the efficacy of untested humanness design methods for promoting specific trust in multi-component systems. Subjective (trust, self-confidence) and behavioural (use, manual override) measures were recorded as 82 participants interacted with a four-component automation-bearing system in a simulated smart home task for two experimental blocks. During the first block all components were perfectly reliable (100%). During the second block, one component became unreliable (60%). Participants interacted with a system containing either a single or four simulated voice assistants. In the single-assistant condition, the unreliable component resulted in trust changes for every component. In the four-assistant condition, trust decreased for only the unreliable component. Across agent-number conditions, use decreased between blocks for only the unreliable component. Self-confidence and overrides exhibited ceiling and floor effects, respectively. Our findings provide the first evidence of effectively using humanness design to enhance component-specific trust in consumer systems.
Practitioner summary: Participants interacted with simulated smart-home multi-component systems that contained one or four voiced assistants. In the single-voice condition, one component’s decreasing reliability coincided with trust changes for all components. In the four-voice condition, trust decreased for only the decreasingly reliable component. The number of voices did not influence use strategies.
February 16, 2022
Draheim, C., Pak, R., Draheim, A. A., & Engle, R. W. (2022). The role of attention control in complex real-world tasks. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-021-02052-2
Article link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13423-021-02052-2
Uncorrected pre-print: https://psyarxiv.com/9ekpu
Working memory capacity is an important psychological construct, and many real-world phenomena are strongly associated with individual differences in working memory functioning. Although working memory and attention are intertwined, several studies have recently shown that individual differences in the general ability to control attention is more strongly predictive of human behavior than working memory capacity. In this review, we argue that researchers would therefore generally be better suited to studying the role of attention control rather than memory-based abilities in explaining real-world behavior and performance in humans. The review begins with a discussion of relevant literature on the nature and measurement of both working memory capacity and attention control, including recent developments in the study of individual differences of attention control. We then selectively review existing literature on the role of both working memory and attention in various applied settings and explain, in each case, why a switch in emphasis to attention control is warranted. Topics covered include psychological testing, cognitive training, education, sports, police decision-making, human factors, and disorders within clinical psychology. The review concludes with general recommendations and best practices for researchers interested in conducting studies of individual differences in attention control.
November 9, 2021
Our publication was recently recognized by the College of Behavior and Social Science:
The Clemson University College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences (CBSHS) has recognized faculty from each of its seven departments for outstanding research publications.
Rachel Mayo, associate dean for research in the College, said this distinction was based on research published in the last three years that had the most citations in other research publications.
“These publications exemplify the breadth and depth of outstanding scholarship in the behavioral, social, and health sciences,” Mayo said. “These faculty authors are recognized by their peers as their work is cited both nationally and internationally.”
De Visser, E. J., Pak, R., & Shaw, T. H. (2018). From “automation”to “autonomy”: the importance of trust repair in human–machine interaction. Ergonomics. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00140139.2018.1457725
March 25, 2021
Lab alumna Margaux Ascherl (Price) gets featured in Successful Farming
As the program delivery manager, autonomy, at John Deere, Margaux Ascherl is challenging the stereotypes so that every girl knows a STEM career is within her reach and that gender should be the last thing on her mind.
October 12, 2020
Briefly quoted in an article describing how COVID might accelerate the adoption of AI/Automation.
This trend towards automation and roboticisation isn’t new – but covid-19 is vastly accelerating it. “What this pandemic has done is make people extremely aware of hygiene and the need to distance”, says Richard Pak at Clemson University in South Carolina. “In these times, robots and automation definitely provide a safety benefit.”
July 17, 2020
Congratulations to Claire Textor. The announcement of the winners will be made during the Plenary Session, on Tuesday 21 July, at 15:00 – 16:00 hrs CEST (Copenhagen).
Title: The Effects of Increasing Degree of Unreliable Automation on Older Adults’ Performance
April 14, 2020
I was briefly interviewed about the use of robots in grocery stores during the pandemic:
The need for social distancing has accelerated the production of robots to cut down on worker interaction. Robots can sort recycling and stock grocery shelves and ease workplace fears about contamination. However one researcher says automated technology shouldn’t replace people but work in collaboration with them.
