Human Factors & Ergonomics

“The Study of Working Humans”

We study working people. Our primary interest is the development of expertise and the role of attention in performance (DEAKS Lab).

We work collaboratively with others across the Michigan Technological Campus. Some of our collaborators include Jason Carter in Exercise Science, Michele Miller in Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, Amlan Mukherjee in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Robert Pastel in Computer Science, and Jindong Tan in Electrical and Computer Engineering. This collaborative work extends from research in engineering education to human-interfaces with computers and robots.

Representative Publications

Helton, W.S., Hollander, T.D., Tripp, L.D., Parsons, K., Warm, J.S., Matthews, G., & Dember, W.N. (in press). Cerebral hemodynamics and vigilance performance. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology.
Helton, W.S. & Garland, G. (2006). Short Stress State Questionnaire: Relationships with reading comprehension and land navigation. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 50, 1731-1735.
Helton, W.S. & Holmstrom, R. (2006). Cognitive slips-failures and daily stress: Further investigations with the Short Stress State Questionnaire - Daily (SSSQ-D). Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 50, 1240-1244.
Helton, W.S., Fields, D., & Thoreson, J.A. (2005). Assessing daily stress with the Short Stress State Questionnaire (SSSQ): Relationships with cognitive slips-failures. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 49, 886-890.
Helton, W.S., Matthews, G., Warm, J.S., & Dember, W.N. (2005). Being optimistic may not always be advantageous: The relationship between dispositional optimism, coping, and performance. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 49, 1224-1228.
Helton, W.S., Hollander, T.D., Warm, J.S., Matthews, G., Dember, W.N., Wallart, M., Beauchamp, G., Parasuraman, R., & Hancock, P.A. (2005). Signal regularity and the mindlessness model of vigilance. British Journal of Psychology,96, 249-261 .
Helton, W.S. (2004). Validation of a short stress state questionnaire. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 48, 1238-1242.
Helton, W.S., Neu, J.M., Shell, T.A., Ramsey, A.J., & Myers, D.M. (2004). Assessing and improving user satisfaction in higher education: A role for human factors. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 48, 1054-1058.
Helton, W.S., Shaw, T.H., Warm, J.S., Matthews, G., Dember, W.N., & Hancock, P.A. (2004). Workload transitions: Effects on vigilance performance, and stress. In D.A. Vincenzi, M. Mouloua, & P.A. Hancock (Eds.) Human performance, situation awareness and automation: current research and trends (pp. 258-262). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Helton, W.S., Hollander, T.D., Warm, J.S., Matthews, G., Dember, W.N., & Parasuraman, R. (2003) Challenges to the mindlessness model of vigilance through signal regularity. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 47, 1663-1667.
Hollander, T.D., Helton, W.S., Tripp, L.D., Parsons, K., Warm, J.S., Matthews, G., & Dember, W.N. (2003) Cerebral vascularity and performance on an abbreviated vigilance task. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 47, 1673-1677.
Helton, W.S., Warm, J.S., Mathews, G., Corcoran, K., & Dember, W.N. (2002) Further tests of the abbreviated vigil: Effects of signal salience and noise on performance and stress. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 46, 1546-1550.
Helton, W.S., Dember, W.N., Warm, J.S., & Matthews, G. (2000) Optimism-pessimism and false failure feedback: Effects on vigilance performance. Current Psychology, 18, 311-325.

Human Factors and Ergonomics Links

Human Factors and Ergonomics Society

International Ergonomics Association

For Jobs in Human Factors, check out HFcareers.com.