URSP Student Paul Beatty Conducts An Assessment of Uncertainty and Decision Making using Electrophysiological Methods

My name is Paul Beatty and I am a student researcher within the Psychology/Neuroscience field. In addition to joining OSCAR, I have been participating in the Psychology Honors Program, which is a three-semester program dedicated to constructing an undergraduate thesis (working with a faculty member, conducting original research, and defending my findings in front of a three-member faculty committee). In general, my research investigates the neural basis of uncertainty and attention by using a neuroimaging technique known as electroencephalography (EEG).  

Simply stated, EEG allows researchers to observe and record highly sophisticated and complex patterns of electrical activity that occurs in the brain during cognitive tasks.  More specifically however, my current research investigates the relationship between numerous event-related potential (ERP) components known as the Correct Response Negativity (CRN) and the Error Related Negativity (ERN). Besides my normal class schedule, on a weekly basis, I write programming scripts using MATLAB, recruit participants for experimentation (using Sona Systems), run them through the experiment itself (which takes an average of 3 to 4 hours per person), conduct behavioral, electrophysiological, and statistical analyses, and work on a manuscript for publication.  In addition, I also attend regular lab meetings and participate in numerous other ongoing experiments and analyses in a lab that I volunteer. Since I am also an officer of the student-run organization “Students in Neuroscience”, I attend weekly journal club meetings, dive into the literature, and learn a variety of new research skills and techniques.  In fact, just this week, I have learned about numerous methodical aspects of Independent Component Analysis (ICA). All in all, each of these tasks has contributed to my long-term goal to continue to conduct EEG/ERP research in graduate school and academia.  In fact, I have been accepted as a PhD student in GMU’s Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience program under Dr. Craig McDonald. 

FWS Research Assistant Highlights: Roohussaba Khairullah

My name is
Roohussaba Khairullah and I am a research assistant in The TRUstworthy and Mindful AutomatioN (TRUMAN) Lab. The primary goals of this lab is to understand how different automated agents interact with humans and the ways in which these agents may affect performance, trust, reliance, and compliance during a task. This lab is led by Dr. Ewart De Visser who has a Ph.D. in Human Factors and Applied Cognition.

I am currently working under Kaitlyn Marinaccio, the lead researcher, on the DICON experiment in which we are assessing the performance and trust levels of operators interacting with automated systems and while using adaptive trust cues to calibrate trust, enhance the operator’s decision making. As part of the OSCAR work study program, I am involved in research on human trust in varying levels of automation. I have always been interested in learning more about Psychology and I enjoy studying topics such as trust and perception. As a research assistant, I have many responsibilities such as collecting and analyzing data, searching for articles to summarize and present to the lab, and assisting in running experiments. Basically, I help the researchers in any way I can and follow the directions provided by them. Recently, I have learned how to run experiments in real life. Although as a Biology major, I have run multiple experiments on flies, arthropods and other animals, this was the first time when I was dealing with human beings and it was quite fun. In a long-term, this experiment is providing me with the experience of dealing with actual human being. Since as a pre-medical student, I have read about the systems of human beings at a cellular and organ level in books, but this experiment allows me to see them as a whole and allow me to see that human beings have feelings, emotions and their own thinking and also how their performance, trust, reliance, and compliance are affected during a task in real life.

FWS Research Assistant Highlights: Namhee Kim

This semester, I have the honor of working with Dr. Daniel Lofaro, the founder of Lofaro Labs at George Mason University. I came into this research position not knowing much about Robots, except what I had seen from the movie Transformers. I learned to install/use Robot Operating System (ROS) & Gazebo (3D simulator). I have been self-teaching myself C++ programming, to write a controller for the robot, Pioneer 3DX which I like to call Mickey Mouse because of its red and yellow design. My project is to program Mickey Mouse for Dr. Lofaro to be able to use Mickey Mouse to deliver candy to the other ECE professors down the hall.

On a weekly basis, I write tutorials for Lofaro Labs Wiki on ROS and Gazebo for others to easily understand, and write/edit the controller for the robot. The controller is a working progress; getting the robot to move smoothly and how/where I want it to move. One thing I discovered recently, was that a robot has to be told specifically in detail in what direction to move, how fast and when to stop because it does not have human instincts to think, ‘I should probably slow down or stop’ or even ‘I shouldn’t be going around in circles unceasingly’. It will do what you tell it to do and nothing more, therefore in writing the controller, I have to be cautious of any logic or syntax errors.

I hope to design and program a personal robot to follow me around, take pictures and help carry my belongings. I also hope to align my research for travelers who love to take pictures of their surroundings, and baby strollers so that mothers could more easily go places, especially if they have more than one child. Some may think, ‘what if Robots take over the world?’ but I believe that as long as those doing research with Robots are motivated and have good intentions to help humans ease their lives and the stress of daily tasks, we will not have to worry. I am passionate about using the knowledge I have to help those around me and all around the world. I thank Dr. Lofaro for helping find my passion and motivation for more knowledge.

FWS Research Assistant Highlights: Meghana Varde

For my work-study position, I am working with Professor Marion Deshkmukh, who is hosting various events about the time period of the fall of the Berlin Wall.  There have been movies, lectures and guest speakers.  Topics range from the art and music to President Kennedy visiting Berlin.

On a weekly basis, I make copies of posters and flyers that are distributed to different departments on campus.  I have also made phone calls to make sure that orders/requests go through for the events.  I am able to attend various events and get an understanding of how the effect that the fall of the wall had on the people during this time period. 

One of the events that I attended was listening to guest speaker Andreas Daum, SUNY Buffalo, talk about President Kennedy’s visit to Berlin in the 1960’s.  It was interesting to learn about what goes on when a president visits another country.  President Kennedy spoke about what was happening at the time period. He took an entire tour around the city of Berlin in an open car, which most presidents did at the time.

This position has helped me learn how to manage my time and improve my organizational skills.  These are skills that I can practice now and continue to use them for the rest of my life.  As a Chemistry major, most of my classes are either science or math, so having this position has opened my eyes and mind to something outside of my comfort zone.  This was definitely a great experience and a great way to learn new things. 

FWS Research Assistant Highlights: Dawite Ewentu

Hello, my name is Dawite Ewnetu and I am a junior pursuing a dual degree in computer science, and mathematics. I worked with Professor Daniel Lofaro during the Fall of 2014. I work in the Lofrao Labs which is located in the Engineering Building. I work on different assignments starting from designing a floor model to using a 3D printer to print the parts of a robot. On a daily bases, I meet with my mentor in order to discuss my current project, and to understand my new upcoming assignment. Then, I gain a deeper understanding through research, and then pursue the task at hand. Among many others things, I truly enjoyed working with talented students. I had a wonderful opportunity to gain knowledge from others which even included the senior design team members. This experience gave me a chance to understand how to work on research. I feel fortunate to work with Professor. Daniel. He helped me understand how robots work together, the software that is used to do robot simulations, and I learned about web-designed simulators. During a recent conversation with Professor. Daniel, I was told that I am going to start working on making a clone version of Minibot, which is the robot designed by the senior design team. This assignment is going to help me be innovative in my own research, which is something I am looking forward to. Initially, I started working with OSCAR to learn how to create a robot, and thus far, I learned a lot. Next semester, I am hoping to have my own mini robot that could be used for a maze game system. In order for this goal to be fulfilled, I need to learn different softwares, and robot simulation. The most important thing I learn from working with OSCAR is, not to depend on others to learn about new discoveries. I gain a deeper understanding from trying to solve and complete various assignments by myself. Overall, I became more open to new ideas and, also develop the strength to overcome obstacles that a startup researcher faces.