William “Deak” S. Helton

Helton Main Profile Selected Publications

DEAKS Lab Canine Factors and Ergonomics "Working Dogs" Environmental Psychology Human Factors and Ergonomics

Canine Factors & Ergonomics

“The Study of Working Dogs”

We study working dogs. Our primary interest is the development of expertise and the role of attention in performance (DEAKS Lab). We study dogs in a variety of occupational roles, from signal dogs (hearing assistance) to mine detection dogs. Our laboratory is unique in studying both human and canine workers. Working dogs extend our human capacities. They are increasingly employed in a multitude of occupational roles, from medical diagnosis to fighting termite infestations. The study of these working dogs bridges the gap between Human Factors and Comparative Psychology and offers many points of potentially fruitful exchange.

Mine Detection Dog in Bosnia Picture by Ian McLean of the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining

Representative Publications

1. Helton, W.S. (in press). Sustained attention in mine detection dogs. In I. McLean (Ed.) Remote explosive scent tracing. Geneva, Switzerland; GICHD Press.
2. Helton, W.S. (in press). Deliberate practice in dogs: A canine model of expertise. Journal of General Psychology.
3. Helton, W.S. (2006). Canine models of expertise. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 50, 875-879.
4. Helton, W.S. (2006). Expertise in trained dogs. Proceedings of the Cognitive Science Society, 28, 1488-1493.
5. Helton, W.S. (2005). Canine factors: Bridging the gap between human factors and comparative psychology. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 49, 876-880. “One of the most interesting papers of 2005 according to the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.”
6. Helton, W.S. (2005). Animal expertise, conscious or not. Animal Cognition, 8, 67-74.
7. Helton, W.S. (2004). Utilizing genetic algorithms and neural nets in expert systems: What animals teach us. Recent Advances in Soft Computing, 5, 177-182.
8. Helton, W.S. (2004) Expertise development: Animal models? Journal of General Psychology.131, 86-96

Canine Factors and Ergonomics Links

The International Society of Anthrozoology is interested in human-animal relationships.

The International Society of Applied Ethology is interested in applied animal behavior.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, and Tobacco is one of the main trainers of search dogs.