Patricia Bockelman

Methodological lessons in neurophenomenology: Review of a baseline study and recommendations for research approaches

Neurophenomenological (NP) methods integrate objective and subjective data in ways that retain the statistical power of established disciplines (like cognitive science) while embracing the value of first-person reports of experience. The present paper positions neurophenomenology as an approach that pulls from traditions of cognitive science but includes techniques that are challenging for cognitive science in some ways. A baseline study is reviewed for “lessons learned,” that is, the potential methodological improvements that will support advancements in understanding consciousness and cognition using neurophenomenology. These improvements, we suggest, include (1) addressing issues of interdisciplinarity by purposefully and systematically creating and maintaining shared mental models among research team members; (2) making sure that NP experiments include high standards of experimental design and execution to achieve variable control, reliability, generalizability, and replication of results; and (3) conceiving of phenomenological interview techniques as placing the impetus on the interviewer in interaction with the experimental subject.

Cyber workforce development using a behavioral cybersecurity paradigm

This paper contributes to the ongoing efforts in the cybersecurity community to strengthen cyber workforce development by providing an overview of key gaps and proposing practical education strategies. Leveraging documented incidents from defense, industry, and academia and the rest of the United States government, we identify emerging cyber-education opportunities highlighting human-centric elements using a gap analysis approach. We closely examine the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education’s (NICE) National Cybersecurity Workforce Framework (NCWF) as well as the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies (NICCS) educational framework. These documents provide a foundation for current and future research with cybersecurity workforce development. Next, the paper outlines a pilot education program launched at the University of Central Florida (UCF), designed to address the unique challenges of the human dimension in cybersecurity. The purpose of highlighting this pilot program is to provide an example of human-centric cyber-educational curriculum. The present paper offers a launching point for further discussion about the human side of cybersecurity, closing with considerations of the “lessons learned” from early responses to the UCF program from the program’s inaugural student cohort.

“Sizing Up” Emerging Technology for Firefighting: Augmented Reality for Incident Assessment

Every year, structure fires account for billions of dollars in property damage and injuries to firefighters and civilians. Emerging technologies, such as augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) have been identified to assist in mitigating the loss of life and property, but they have not been fully evaluated. The goal of this work is to clearly identify how AR can enhance fire suppression operations by mapping feedback from a needs assessment conducted with firefighters to the areas where technology could be leveraged to support an initial incident assessment (size up), demonstrating the practical use of AR for the fire service.

Factors of Cybersickness

As virtual reality (VR) applications expand in private and public sector contexts, so do reports of sickness elicited within VR systems. Users of head mounted VR displays frequently report symptoms similar, but not identical, to those of motion sickness and simulator sickness. Because of this distinction, the symptoms are collectively classified as symptoms of cybersickness. While researchers and tech developers alike acknowledge VR’s propensity for inducing cybersickness, there is no symptom prediction tool. The present paper describes a research agenda which will culminate in a cybsersickness prediction tool. First, the authors clarify nomenclature relevant to the VR, virtual environments (VE), and cybersickness. The preliminary literature review resulted in a test Cybersickness Index Matrix (CIM), with three cybersickness trigger categories: System, Task, Individual Differences. Researchers conducted a validation test of the CIM in a pilot study conducted in conjunction with an energy industry training program. The paper presents those preliminary results and provides a discussion including CIM refinement and future implementation potential.

The Very Idea of Non-Reductionist Science

Throughout the previous chapters we have talked about a non-reductionist science. In this chapter, we want to clarify what that means. We first look at the very successful notion of scientific reductionism as it gets used in the natural and social sciences. We then focus on some complications for the reductionist project in cognitive science that derive from embodied approaches to cognition, and ask we how it’s possible to do science in this context.

Awe and Wonder in a Simulated Space Flight: Experiment 1

This chapter explains the experimental design and the results of our first experiment, the design of the simulated environments used in that experiment, and a variety of technical details about the equipment we used in addition to what we measured. The use of a simulated environment to create an experimental test bed where a number of variables can be easily manipulated is an appealing idea for the exploration of certain hard-to-test behavioral and experiential phenomena. For several reasons, the study of such experiences without the use of simulation would be unfeasible or too expensive. For example, testing subjects on Earth, rather than sending them into space, is more affordable and also provides a degree of control over a number of important aspects. As will be illustrated, however, the use of simulation (instead of real space flight) also comes with certain limitations.

Liftoff: Towards an Exploration of Subjective Experience

Near the ruins of the ancient city of Miletus, you can still walk out into an open field at night and gaze at an extremely rich array of stars. According to a famous legend, in the sixth century BCE, Thales of Miletus, one of the first philosophers to appeal to naturalistic explanations, walking across a field and gazing at the stars, found the heavens so wondrous, or was so lost in his astronomical calculations, that he walked directly into a well. Wonder has a double meaning nicely captured in the uncertainty of Thales’ mental state. Was he so awestruck by the starry vista that he was caught up in the reflective emotion of wonder, or was he so busy just wondering, intellectually, how the heavens worked? The two senses of the term meet in the claim that wonder is the beginning of philosophy. The first sense is closely tied to the feeling of awe; the second to the feeling of curiosity.

Imaging and Imagining Space: How Popular Culture Shapes Our Expectations of Outer Space

It is remarkable to think that visual phenomena that we take for granted today, and that seem self-evident and in no need of further explanation, appear in history only at a specific point in time. Today it is possible, for example, to create and reproduce photographic images of lightning flashes and the Milky Way. In regard to such images, the usual thought is that an image simply represents what already exists. In this chapter, we look into this commonly held belief, because in the history of images this simple relationship between a phenomenon and its representation is called into question by a theoretical perspective that claims the contrary, namely, that images can and do, to some extent, also have an impact on that which is being represented. The fact that people did not always depict phenomena, such as lightning or the Milky Way, and facts about the way they began to do so, allow inferences about their perception of these things (Baigrie 1996; Daston and Galison 2007; Galsion and Jones 1998).

The Phenomenology of Unprecedented Experience: Ontological and Cognitive Wonder

Is wonder inconceivable? The question is not, is wonder impossible, but is it inconceivable, that is, is it impossible to put into concepts, despite the fact that clearly people experience it, and we talk and write about it? Is wonder absolutely unique to each person who experiences it? Do concepts undermine wonder as wonder, turning it into something else that might be researchable, but is no longer the original experience?

Redesigning Plato’s Cave: Experiment 2

Experiment 1 had confirmed a number of important points for our project. First, we were able to elicit experiences of awe and wonder that replicated (or came close to) those articulated by the astronauts. Second, the specific combination of methods in a neurophenomenological framework showed potential as a way to explore those experiences. As we detailed in Chapter 4, however, the first experiment presented some methodological challenges along the way. In this chapter, we describe how we responded to the lessons learned from Experiment 1. We describe our second experiment and develop a style for data integration that considers physiology, psychology, and phenomenology as a combination of approaches that can offer a precise triangulation on the experiences in question.