Bradford L. Schroeder

Keeping in Touch Tactile Interface Design for Older Users

Dependence on touch-screen devices is becoming unavoidable as the technology grows in ubiquity in commonly used devices such as smartphones, tablets, and ATMs. Unfortunately, when designing these devices, too little attention is paid to a large and growing portion of the population: older adults. Because many older adults find touch screens to be highly appealing and useful, it is important to strengthen the focus on the older user. Toward that end, this article synthesizes the relevant research to provide design guidelines on touch screens for the elderly. The guidelines include such considerations as gestures, element sizes, complexity, and feedback.

Problematic Texting Behaviors Individual Differences in Personality

Problematic texting behaviors consist of well-understood behaviors (such as texting while driving) and behaviors that have not been thoroughly researched in the past. A study was performed to examine several physically and socially problematic texting habits with respect to individual differences in personality and sensation-seeking behavior. Participants completed several self-report surveys gauging texting habits, personality, and sensation seeking. General findings indicated that extraversion and neuroticism were positively related to some socially problematic texting behaviors, but unexpectedly, extraversion was related to non-social aspects of texting, such as texting while driving. The disinhibition subscale was most strongly related to almost all of the problematic texting behaviors that we assessed, most notably for texting and driving. Based on these findings, an example of using individual differences to improve analyses of problematic texting behavior is provided. Additional results and implications for human factors are further discussed.

Texting behind the Wheel and Beyond: A Look at Problematic Habits

Texting while driving is a dangerous behavior that is heavily researched. However, there are other problematic texting habits that are less well-researched. A study was performed to examine other potentially problematic texting behaviors in addition to texting while driving. Furthermore, individual differences in cognition and feelings of control were examined in relation to these texting habits. Participants completed several self-report surveys assessing texting habits, cognitive wisdom, and locus of control. It was found that those who text while driving also tend to text more during a movie, while in class, and while stopped in the car at a red light or traffic jam. It was also found that a somewhat high proportion of participants endorsed potentially problematic texting behaviors such as texting while stopped in the car and texting while about to fall asleep. It was concluded that one of the major issues with problematic texting relates to reductions in situation awareness. Additional human factors implications are discussed.

Texting as a Multidimensional Behavior: Individual Differences and Measurement of Texting Behaviors.

Two studies were conducted to develop and confirm a generalized measure of texting behavior, the Texting Behaviors Index, using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis on samples of undergraduate students. A solution containing 6 factors for texting behaviors was supported, which were named social connection, escapist, distracted, audacious, nurtured communication, and driving. The characteristics of these factors were explored using individual differences in personality and sensation-seeking behavior, where extraversion and disinhibition were consistent significant predictors for many types of texting. Additionally, a measure of depressive symptoms was predictive of some types of problematic texting. In general, our results support that texting is not a unidimensional social behavior, but a multidimensional behavior composed of social and nonsocial facets, including problematic behavior. The usefulness of this scale, particularly with respect to problematic texting behaviors, and future applications for empirical, survey, meta-analytic, and health research are discussed.

Toward a User-Centered Approach for Emergency Warning Distribution:

There are many known problems with inappropriate response to emergency warnings. Recommended actions are not always properly followed, and sometimes emergency warnings are not taken seriously. A variety of psychological individual differences can influence the perception of emergency warnings. At present, warning distributors do not consider how these factors affect emergency warning response. We recommend that emergency warning distribution systems be developed that account for these differences to improve response. To this end, we propose four guidelines supported by psychological research and inspired by currently available technologies. These guidelines frame a user-centered approach to more appropriately tailor warning messages for each recipient.

Individual Differences in Middle School and College Students’ Texting

The present study surveyed a sample of middle school students on their technology habits, with a primary focus on texting behaviors. A secondary sample of college students was surveyed as a comparison group to examine individual differences in texting behaviors. Results indicate that college students text more frequently than middle schoolers; however, college students’ texting behaviors decrease in frequency as they get older, whereas middle schoolers’ texting behaviors increase in frequency. Females also generally reported texting more frequently than males. Extraversion was found to be predictive of texting in the middle school sample, but both Extraversion and Neuroticism were found to be predictive of texting in the college sample. Results are discussed in the context of previous research and with respect to human factors and developmental psychology, such that the study of technology use could offer insight into the social development of adolescents and young adults.

Perceptions of Mobile Instant Messaging Apps Are Comparable to Texting for Young Adults in the United States

In recent years, text messaging (“texting”) has become the dominant method of communication for young adults. This prevalence of texting has led to research exploring the beneficial and detrimental behaviors associated with texting, indicating wide-ranging social and human factors implications. As texting continues to take precedence over other forms of communication and research begins to address texting behaviors, the question arises about whether people use other mobile instant messaging applications (“IM apps”) similarly. The current study expands on the research of texting behaviors by asking how similarly young adults view apps (e.g., WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, etc.) to texting. Results indicated that young adults in the United States use texting more frequently than text-based apps, but that these apps are viewed similarly to texting. The implication is that research addressing texting behaviors may apply to other forms of text-based communication; however, texting remains the most prominent mode of communication, justifying its own continued examination.

Unsafe Texting and Socially Problematic Texting: Need for Cognition as an Underlying Predictor

As texting becomes the dominant medium for communication, problematic and unsafe texting habits arise. Understanding who is more likely to engage in problematic texting can give insight into the underlying traits driving these behaviors. The current exploratory study investigated the extent to which texting habits were correlated with an individual difference measure, the Need for Cognition scale. Results indicated endorsement of certain texting behaviors is inversely related to an individual’s need for cognition, or the extent to which a person enjoys and engages in thinking. In particular, texting behaviors related to safety (e.g., texting while walking), avoidance texting (e.g., texting while in a new place), negative behaviors (e.g., texting to insult or gossip), and health (e.g., waking up to respond to texts) were correlated negatively with stronger need for cognition. These and other texting behaviors have human factors implications of health, safety, and interpersonal relations.

Presence and Usability Do Not Directly Predict Procedural Recall in Virtual Reality Training

The goal of this experiment was to compare the effectiveness of training a procedural task in two simulated environments (desktop and virtual reality [VR]) and to examine the impact of different interaction methods in VR (gesture-based and voice-based). Traditional desktop-based computer simulations may create learning environments different from VR systems due to differences in task presentation (i.e., 2D versus 3D) and interaction method (i.e., clicking a mouse versus physically moving), which may influence presence and usability. Previous theoretical work purports that simulations that are more immersive, such as VR, should foster a sense of presence and lead to higher learning outcomes (see Witmer and Singer 1998), but these claims remain largely untested. Therefore, we compared two VR conditions and a desktop training condition to determine and examine the influence of presence and usability on recall. Seventy-five college students learned how to replace an alternator in one of three training conditions. Following the training, participants completed a presence questionnaire, usability questionnaire, and written recall test to assess how well they learned the procedure. We found no significant differences among the groups on presence, usability, or recall performance. Furthermore, we found no relationship between presence and recall, but a moderated mediation analysis indicated that usability predicted recall, but only for those receiving low immersion (i.e., desktop) training. That is, for desktop training, those who rated usability lower recalled fewer procedural steps. Contrary to theory, our results suggest that presence is not predictive of learning outcomes in more immersive simulations.

Reconsidering the “Conventional Wisdom” of the Relationship between False Alarms and Risk Beliefs

The purpose of this research was to examine how false alarm experience of weather-related emergencies affects the relationship between perceived danger and desire for warnings. Participants reported how dangerous they perceived each event to be, whether they believed warnings should be distributed, whether they had experienced the event, and whether they had experienced a false alarm of the event. Participants indicated strong agreement for the desire for weather warnings. Although the literature implies that people who have experienced many false alarms may perceive that danger as less severe in the future due to the “crywolf effect,” our data suggest that people have a heightened risk perception and desire for warnings of those events. Because memories inform mental representations that guide decision-making in uncertain situations, it is imperative that future research continue to examine what people have stored in memory of false alarm experiences to settle debates in the contentious literature of false alarms and risk perception.