Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 339)

This bibliography lists 105 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during July 1990. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance

The Effects of an Equine Riding Simulator as an Objective Feedback Modality on Learning Outcomes for Rider Competency on Performance Skills in Equestrian Riding Fundamentals

This study examined the effects of different feedback modalities provided during simulated-based practice on performance and perceptions. In addition, the research also addressed the relationship between participants\u27 feedback literacy, perceptions, and improvement scores. The purpose of this research was motivated by the emerging equine simulation technology that provides feedback on movement and coordination during complex motor skill acquisition. Selecting an effective feedback approach for simulation-based practice in motor skill learning is contingent on the complexity of the performance skill and the learner\u27s experience. However, the learner\u27s feedback literacy can result in contradictory performance and perceptions despite the feedback approach experienced. Feedback literacy is a concept that identifies a learner\u27s ability to uptake feedback. This mixed-methods study used the conceptual framework of Carless\u27s 3P Model of the Learner Experience of Feedback. Seventy-five participants completed the study, consisting of three 10-minute practice sessions with a pre/posttest and an exit survey at the end of their third session. The study demonstrated that the combination of instructor- and simulator-mediated feedback had the most significant impact on improvement scores by the completion of three practice sessions. Regardless of feedback modality, the novice participants had the most significant improvement score impact by the completion of three practice sessions. When an instructor provided feedback, participants had more positive perceptions of the practice experience. The study supported that the higher the participant\u27s feedback literacy, the more they engaged in practice, appreciated feedback, and improved on performance scores, regardless of feedback received. The lower a participant\u27s feedback literacy, the more negative they were about the experience and their perceived improvement, and the higher likelihood of disengaging during practice, regardless of feedback received. The results indicate that a multi-modality approach to feedback in simulation-based motor skill practice is effective. The findings also support that feedback literacy influences a learner\u27s engagement during practice, and instructor feedback can mitigate the negative influences of low feedback literacy. Conclusions from this research suggest that using a horseback riding simulator has the potential to improve riding seat skills and supports an equine welfare-minded approach to learning in equestrian sports

A proposed psychological model of driving automation

This paper considers psychological variables pertinent to driver automation. It is anticipated that driving with automated systems is likely to have a major impact on the drivers and a multiplicity of factors needs to be taken into account. A systems analysis of the driver, vehicle and automation served as the basis for eliciting psychological factors. The main variables to be considered were: feed-back, locus of control, mental workload, driver stress, situational awareness and mental representations. It is expected that anticipating the effects on the driver brought about by vehicle automation could lead to improved design strategies. Based on research evidence in the literature, the psychological factors were assembled into a model for further investigation

Introduction: The Third International Conference on Epigenetic Robotics

This paper summarizes the paper and poster contributions to the Third International Workshop on Epigenetic Robotics. The focus of this workshop is on the cross-disciplinary interaction of developmental psychology and robotics. Namely, the general goal in this area is to create robotic models of the psychological development of various behaviors. The term "epigenetic" is used in much the same sense as the term "developmental" and while we could call our topic "developmental robotics", developmental robotics can be seen as having a broader interdisciplinary emphasis. Our focus in this workshop is on the interaction of developmental psychology and robotics and we use the phrase "epigenetic robotics" to capture this focus

A Cognitive Model for Generalization during Sequential Learning

Traditional artificial neural network models of learning suffer from catastrophic interference. They are commonly trained to perform only one specific task, and, when trained on a new task, they forget the original task completely. It has been shown that the foundational neurocomputational principles embodied by the Leabra cognitive modeling framework, specifically fast lateral inhibition and a local synaptic plasticity model that incorporates both correlational and error-based components, are sufficient to largely overcome this limitation during the sequential learning of multiple motor skills. Evidence has also provided that Leabra is able to generalize the subsequences of motor skills, when doing so is appropriate. In this paper, we provide a detailed analysis of the extent of generalization possible with Leabra during sequential learning of multiple tasks. For comparison, we measure the generalization exhibited by the backpropagation of error learning algorithm. Furthermore, we demonstrate the applicability of sequential learning to a pair of movement tasks using a simulated robotic arm

Investigating the Informational Nature of a Modeled Visual Demonstration.

This study investigated the informational nature of a modeled visual demonstration of slalom-ski type movements performed on a ski simulator. Hypotheses exist suggesting that a model may convey information primarily about movement coordination (Newell, 1985), or movement form (Whiting, 1988), but there is no empirical evidence that this information is used by the learner so that skill acquisition is facilitated. To investigate this information question, three experiments were conducted that replicated and extended a study by Whiting, Bijlard, and den Brinker (1987) by analyzing movement kinematics of subjects in addition to movement outcome. In the first experiment, the expert model\u27s performance was analyzed. The second and third experiment investigated the acquisition of slalom-ski type movements for groups that observed the expert model on all 5 days, groups that observed the model only on day 1, and groups that learned the skill under discovery learning conditions. Results of movement outcome variables platform amplitude and frequency revealed that observing a model was advantageous over discovery learning. Analysis of movement kinematics suggested that the expert model may have conveyed information about the relative motion of torso and limbs, or movement coordination, that facilitated the acquisition of the slalom-ski type movements. Results further suggested that the coordination information the model may have conveyed was used early in learning, and that observing a model during later stages of learning was of no further benefit

Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes, supplement 192

This bibliography lists 247 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in March 1979

Media Presence and Inner Presence: The Sense of Presence in Virtual Reality Technologies

Abstract. Presence is widely accepted as the key concept to be considered in any research involving human interaction with Virtual Reality (VR). Since its original description, the concept of presence has developed over the past decade to be considered by many researchers as the essence of any experience in a virtual environment. The VR generating systems comprise two main parts: a technological component and a psychological experience. The different relevance given to them produced two different but coexisting visions of presence: the rationalist and the psychological/ecological points of view. The rationalist point of view considers a VR system as a collection of specific machines with the necessity of the inclusion \ud of the concept of presence. The researchers agreeing with this approach describe the sense of presence as a function of the experience of a given medium (Media Presence). The main result of this approach is the definition of presence as the perceptual illusion of non-mediation produced by means of the disappearance of the medium from the conscious attention of the subject. At the other extreme, there \ud is the psychological or ecological perspective (Inner Presence). Specifically, this perspective considers presence as a neuropsychological phenomenon, evolved from the interplay of our biological and cultural inheritance, whose goal is the control of the human activity. \ud Given its key role and the rate at which new approaches to understanding and examining presence are appearing, this chapter draws together current research on presence to provide an up to date overview of the most widely accepted approaches to its understanding and measurement

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 324)

This bibliography lists 200 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during May, 1989. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance

Changes in movement control and coordination with increasing skill in females and males

In comparisons between the sexes on movement tasks, performance outcome is emphasised with little focus upon the coordination process that underpins this. Motor skills develop through practice; differences between the sexes may therefore reflect differences in the volume of experience with a task. The first study compared groups with increasing surfing experience performing a drop-landing. Sex differences in joint angle measures were accounted for at least in part by experience. Study two investigated whether females and males achieve similar improvement from an equal volume of practice using a slalom-skiing simulator task. Over five days of practice there were no differences in rate of learning for any measure. Performance differences in some cases were attributable to anthropometric differences between the sexes that interacted with the task apparatus. Most importantly, frequency for both sexes moved towards their calculated optimal, given the task constraint meaning performance was comparable. Overall males and females showed similar initial and final performance outcomes and achieved similar gains from an equal volume of practice. The basis of coordinative structure is the coupling and correlation between elements in the motor system. Principal component analysis (PCA) can quantify these relations. A recently developed technique in PCA incorporating overall coherence was applied to kinematic and EMG signals to provide further insight into the changes in coordination that occurred with practice. There were no differences between the male and female performers again supporting the idea that with equal practice, performance is similar despite any differences in anthropometrics. Whole body movement on the skiing-simulator could be defined in a low dimensional space that was further reduced over the course of practice. Previous studies had failed to show this; hidden structure was best revealed when PCA incorporating correlation in the frequency domain was employed