Papers by Stephen M Fiore
Putting working memory to work: Integrating cognitive science theories with cognitive engineering research
PsycEXTRA Dataset, 2003
Abstract Human factors research has long included discussions of the importance of mental models ... more Abstract Human factors research has long included discussions of the importance of mental models when understanding human-human interaction and human-system interaction. Additionally, a small number of researchers in the field have included theories of working memory and related constructs in their research approaches. Nonetheless, little if any research has acknowledged the connection between these two very important constructs arising out of the cognitive sciences. In this paper we discuss recent theoretical and ...
Enhancing learners' cognitive and metacognitive processes via self-generated elaboration
PsycEXTRA Dataset, 2006
Abstract The present study investigated the utility of the query method for enhancing learners&am... more Abstract The present study investigated the utility of the query method for enhancing learners' cognitive (eg, knowledge organization, knowledge acquisition) and metacognitive (eg, comprehension monitoring) processes. The query method involves a guided, sentence generation task requiring elaboration of key concepts in the training material which encourages learners to 'stop and think'about the information already presented before proceeding to new concepts in the training. This study also investigated the effect of ...
Determining the Effect of Training on Uncertainty Visualization Evaluations
Advances in intelligent systems and computing, Jun 28, 2018
Traditional studies in uncertainty visualization often require naive participants to complete com... more Traditional studies in uncertainty visualization often require naive participants to complete complex, domain-specific tasks in order to examine how effectively a visualization conveys uncertainty to support decision making. However, without assessing whether participants understand such tasks, it can be difficult to determine whether differences in performance are due to a given visualization or to varying degrees of comprehension. Although training is commonly administered to non-experts, to date, training has not been a focal point in uncertainty visualization research. In this paper, we evaluated how variations in training, coupled with assessments of knowledge acquisition and application, can inform uncertainty visualization research. Overall, we found significant performance differences based on training condition, illustrating how training influences task comprehension, which in turn influences decision making. This study serves to highlight training as a critical component of uncertainty visualization studies by quantifying performance variations due to training.
Clustering social cues to determine social signals: developing learning algorithms using the "n-most likely states" approach
Proceedings of SPIE, May 13, 2016
Human-robot teaming largely relies on the ability of machines to respond and relate to human soci... more Human-robot teaming largely relies on the ability of machines to respond and relate to human social signals. Prior work in Social Signal Processing has drawn a distinction between social cues (discrete, observable features) and social signals (underlying meaning). For machines to attribute meaning to behavior, they must first understand some probabilistic relationship between the cues presented and the signal conveyed. Using data derived from a study in which participants identified a set of salient social signals in a simulated scenario and indicated the cues related to the perceived signals, we detail a learning algorithm, which clusters social cue observations and defines an "N-Most Likely States" set for each cluster. Since multiple signals may be co-present in a given simulation and a set of social cues often maps to multiple social signals, the "N-Most Likely States" approach provides a dramatic improvement over typical linear classifiers. We find that the target social signal appears in a "3 most-likely signals" set with up to 85% probability. This results in increased speed and accuracy on large amounts of data, which is critical for modeling social cognition mechanisms in robots to facilitate more natural human-robot interaction. These results also demonstrate the utility of such an approach in deployed scenarios where robots need to communicate with human teammates quickly and efficiently. In this paper, we detail our algorithm, comparative results, and offer potential applications for robot social signal detection and machine-aided human social signal detection.
Virtual Teams as Sociotechnical Systems
IGI Global eBooks, May 24, 2011
A virtual team can be described as an organizational unit unconstrained by geographical, temporal... more A virtual team can be described as an organizational unit unconstrained by geographical, temporal, organizational, and/or national boundaries (Townsend, DeMarie & Hendrickson, 1998). Despite their rising popularity, numerous issues exist surrounding how virtual teams can productively coordinate their resources, activities, and information, often in dynamic and uncertain task environments (Fiore, Salas, Cuevas & Bowers, 2003; Townsend et al., 1998). With organizational structure increasing in complexity to include both co-located and virtual team members, explicit linkages between theory and practice are critically needed to mitigate the negative effects that technology-mediated interaction may have on virtual team productivity. Our goal here is to demonstrate how classic and current theories and principles from organizational psychology can be effectively integrated within a sociotechnical systems framework to address the unique challenges faced by this subset of teams. Specifically, we analyze the effects that collaborative information technology and lack of co-location may have on virtual team members. We conclude with suggested interventions for organizational practice.
Transdisciplinary Team Research to Develop Theory of Mind in Human-AI Teams Panelists
Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society ... Annual Meeting, Sep 1, 2021
This panel will provide a transdisciplinary perspective on developing artificial social intellige... more This panel will provide a transdisciplinary perspective on developing artificial social intelligence for teams. A panel with representatives from the cognitive, computational, and neural sciences will discuss theoretical, methodological, and technological insights derived from their respective disciplines. These perspectives will be integrated via a set of questions meant to guide synthesis across disciplines in support of a transdisciplinary team research approach. Through discussion across the panel and audience, our goal is to contribute to research and development in the area of Human-AI-Robot Teaming effectiveness.
Using guided learner-generated instructional strategies to transform learning into a constructive cognitive and metacognitive activity
PsycEXTRA Dataset, 2004
Abstract Successful learning outcomes in learner-controlled, computer-based training environments... more Abstract Successful learning outcomes in learner-controlled, computer-based training environments are inherently dependent upon learners' possession of well-developed metacognitive skills, that is, how well learners are able to accurately monitor and regulate their knowledge acquisition process. The present study explored the effectiveness of embedding a guided learner-generated instructional strategy (query method), designed to support learners' cognitive and metacognitive processes, within the context of computer- ...
Journal of International Technology and Information Management
A human-centered computing platform that improves teamwork and transforms the "humancomputer inte... more A human-centered computing platform that improves teamwork and transforms the "humancomputer interaction experience" for distributed teams is presented. This Ubiquitous Collaboration, or uC ("you see"), platform's objective is to transform distributed teamwork (i.e., work occurring when teams of workers and learners are geographically dispersed and often interacting at different times). It achieves this goal through a multimodal team interaction interface realized through a reconfigurable open architecture. The approach taken is to integrate: (1) an intuitive speech-and video-centric multi-modal interface to augment more conventional methods (e.g., mouse, stylus and touch), (2) an open and reconfigurable architecture supporting information gathering, and (3) a machine intelligent approach to analysis and management of heterogeneous live and stored sensor data to support collaboration. The system will transform how teams of people interact with computers by drawing on both the virtual and physical environment.
Advances in Physiology Education
Purpose: 1) Help novice students scaffold problem-solving, engage safely in the deliberate practi... more Purpose: 1) Help novice students scaffold problem-solving, engage safely in the deliberate practice of diagnostic reasoning and medical decision-making in real-time; 2) Assess how accurately students gather and apply data in medical reasoning and treatment during High Fidelity Patient Simulations (HFPS); 3) Identify students scientific misconceptions related to the case; 4) Promote student metacognitive processing, self-assessment and self-efficacy; 5) Facilitate the explicit calibration of student confidence in deliberate reasoning with patient outcomes. Method: Mixed method; metacognitive calibration self-assessing (MCC) survey tool applied to HFPS; N=80, 20 teams of 6 medical students; Semi-structured interviews with faculty N=5. Results: When scored by faculty using a rubric, the mean student accuracy ranged from 23-74%, whereas their self-assessment of confidence ranged from 71-86%. This result revealed overconfidence bias in novice students regarding the correctness of their w...
Many of the most popular intelligent training systems, including driving and flight simulators, g... more Many of the most popular intelligent training systems, including driving and flight simulators, generate user time series data. This paper presents a comparison of representation options for two different student modeling problems: 1) early failure prediction and 2) classifying student activities. Data for this analysis was gathered from pilots executing simple tasks in a virtual reality flight simulator. We demonstrate that our proposed embedding which uses a combination of dynamic time warping (DTW) and multidimensional scaling (MDS) is valuable for both student modeling tasks. However, Euclidean distance + MDS was found to be a superior embedding for predicting student failure, since DTW can obscure important agility differences between successful and unsuccessful pilots.
There is an increased interest in collaboration and teamwork in the workforce, higher education, ... more There is an increased interest in collaboration and teamwork in the workforce, higher education, and K-12 education. The Assessment and Teaching of the 21st Century Skills (ATC21S) included collaboration among the most important skills necessary for a successful career. While there is widespread agreement in the field of education that collaboration is an important skill, there is less agreement on how to build an assessment to measure it. In 2015 the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published its draft framework, which included strong rationale for the inclusion of CPS, calling collaborative problem solving “a critical and necessary skill across educational settings and in the workforce.” This plan by the OECD to add CPS to its 2015 PISA test has important implications for U.S. assessments, including the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
Proceedings of the 2019 International Conference of The Computational Social Science Society of the Americas, 2021
This paper explains the design of a social network analysis framework, developed under DARPA's So... more This paper explains the design of a social network analysis framework, developed under DARPA's SocialSim program, with novel architecture that models human emotional, cognitive and social factors. Our framework is both theory and data-driven, and utilizes domain expertise. Our simulation effort helps understanding how information flows and evolves in social media platforms. We focused on modeling three information domains: cryptocurrencies, cyber threats, and software vulnerabilities for the three interrelated social environments: GitHub, Reddit, and Twitter. We participated in the SocialSim DARPA Challenge in December 2018, in which our models were subjected to an extensive performance evaluation for accuracy, generalizability, explainability, and experimental power. This paper reports the main concepts and models, utilized in our social media modeling effort in developing a multi-resolution simulation at the user, community, population, and content levels.
Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 2020
As the complexity of aircraft cockpit operations increases, training effectiveness must be improv... more As the complexity of aircraft cockpit operations increases, training effectiveness must be improved, and learning accelerated. Virtual reality (VR) training is increasingly offered as a method for improving training efficacy given its ability to provide a rich sensory experience during learning. This paper describes a study examining how training efficacy can be improved by improving learning diagnostics. We study how varying forms of knowledge assessment are related to different types of task knowledge and task performance in a VR flight simulator. The data suggest that participants who demonstrated higher training comprehension, measured via diagnostic test questions, on conceptual (and to a lesser effect) declarative knowledge, also demonstrated superior knowledge transfer in the VR flight simulator. Findings are discussed in the context of improving cognitively diagnostic assessments that are better able to predict task performance and inform individually tailored training remed...
Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 2019
This study examined how human-robot interaction is influenced by individual differences in theory... more This study examined how human-robot interaction is influenced by individual differences in theory of mind ability. Participants engaged in a hallway navigation task with a robot over a number of trials. The display on the robot and its proxemics behavior was manipulated, and participants made mental state attributions across trials. Participant ability in theory of mind was also assessed. Results show that proxemics behavior and robotic display characteristics differentially influence the degree to which individuals perceive the robot when making mental state attributions about self or other. Additionally, theory of mind ability interacted with proxemics and display characteristics. The findings illustrate the importance of understanding individual differences in higher level cognition. As robots become more social, the need to understand social cognitive processes in human-robot interactions increases. Results are discussed in the context of how individual differences and social si...
Creative Education, 2017
The goal of an undergraduate engineering education is to provide students with the necessary know... more The goal of an undergraduate engineering education is to provide students with the necessary knowledge and skills needed to solve real world problems. Creativity and critical thinking are two abilities essential for success in the workplace, and are highly sought after by employers. However, there is evidence of decreasing creativity and critical thinking in senior engineering students. This study sought to understand if freshman engineering students are measurably more creative, but less capable of critical thinking, than senior undergraduate engineering students. Creativity and critical thinking were measured using the Test for Creative Thinking-Drawing Production (TCT-DP) and the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA), respectively. The data suggest that freshman engineering students were significantly more creative than senior engineering students. However, senior engineering students were found to be no better at critical thinking than their freshman counterparts. When compared to normative data, the senior engineering students underperformed significantly compared to the general population of senior college students. With study limitations in mind, these findings may suggest that senior engineering students are not only less creative, but also less capable of critical thinking, than when they started their engineering program. If this is indeed the appropriate conclusion, then there is a need to understand the underlying issues driving the decline of creativity and critical thinking in engineering undergraduate students.
Team Cohesion: Advances in Psychological Theory, Methods and Practice, 2015
In this chapter we discuss attitudinal and affective factors in the context of science teams. We ... more In this chapter we discuss attitudinal and affective factors in the context of science teams. We review some of the key findings on conflict, trust, and cohesion in teams and discuss the differentiation between teamrelated and task-related definitions of each. In so doing, we discuss their relevance to team effectiveness in science teams and provide guidance on notional areas of research for understanding how these are related to effectiveness in science teams.
Global alliance for inter- and transdisciplinarity: connecting organizations to advance collaborative research and education
Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, May 12, 2023
A variety of organizations worldwide are increasingly engaged in crossing boundaries of disciplin... more A variety of organizations worldwide are increasingly engaged in crossing boundaries of disciplines, occupational professions, interdisciplinary fields, and sectors of society for solving complex problems. However, the growth of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research and education has outpaced widespread understanding of what it is and how to ensure effective outcomes. At the same time, European and North American discourses are challenged by growing critique of their dominance, informed by knowledge traditions from different world regions and linguistic communities. A global deficit also continues in related competencies, appropriate evaluation, funding, research process, education and training, and capacity building. This combination calls for collaboration among scholars who are studying and advancing them. Just as disciplines and fields have grown rapidly in academia, scholarly associations and societies are proliferating. Many, support scholars specializing in specific disciplines or research practices. Hence, these and other organizations would benefit from coordinating efforts and exchanging expertise, even while geographically distributed and conceptually separated across knowledge cultures. This chapter describes one recent endeavor and its challenges: the Global Alliance for Inter- and Transdisciplinarity (ITD Alliance). It is a young organization aimed at building a community of scholars with shared interests but also diverse backgrounds, to improve understanding and implementing of complex forms of research and education across the globe.
Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, May 12, 2023
A variety of organizations worldwide are increasingly engaged in crossing boundaries of disciplin... more A variety of organizations worldwide are increasingly engaged in crossing boundaries of disciplines, occupational professions, interdisciplinary fields, and sectors of society for solving complex problems. However, the growth of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research and education has outpaced widespread understanding of what it is and how to ensure effective outcomes. At the same time, European and North American discourses are challenged by growing critique of their dominance, informed by knowledge traditions from different world regions and linguistic communities. A global deficit also continues in related competencies, appropriate evaluation, funding, research process, education and training, and capacity building. This combination calls for collaboration among scholars who are studying and advancing them. Just as disciplines and fields have grown rapidly in academia, scholarly associations and societies are proliferating. Many, support scholars specializing in specific disciplines or research practices. Hence, these and other organizations would benefit from coordinating efforts and exchanging expertise, even while geographically distributed and conceptually separated across knowledge cultures. This chapter describes one recent endeavor and its challenges: the Global Alliance for Inter- and Transdisciplinarity (ITD Alliance). It is a young organization aimed at building a community of scholars with shared interests but also diverse backgrounds, to improve understanding and implementing of complex forms of research and education across the globe.
Creating Dynamic Learning Experiences in Students via Virtual Field Trips
PsycEXTRA Dataset, 2004
Theme issue: Interdisciplinary approaches for uncovering the impacts of architecture on collective behaviour
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 2018
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Papers by Stephen M Fiore