EAGER: Advancing Human-Cyber Interaction: Development of Neuro-Physiological Methods

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The project aims to improve how humans, particularly those with degenerative cognitive conditions or limited cognitive capacities, interact with complex computing or computer-enabled services (broadly called cyber-systems). To advance the state of user interfaces (UI) and create more adaptive interaction modalities, the foundational knowledge regarding human-cyber interaction (HCI) must incorporate more neuro-physiological evidence. The project proposes a three-step plan for attaining this advance. First, three experimental subject groups will be carefully selected and recruited for comparative analysis: 1) healthy and young adults 2) demented or near-demented older adults, and 3) adults suffering from mild brain trauma. Second, experimental sessions will be conducted based on incrementally complex information searching and messaging tasks that require executing the tasks inside an MRI machine. The goal of the experimental phase is to collect neuronal activation patterns using fMRI, as well as behavioral data associated with response time and accuracy. Third, the experimental findings will be analyzed to establish potential association among neuronal evidence, behavior, and UI performance. The broad technical aim of the initiative is to establish and refine methods for gathering neuro-physiological evidence under complex HCI conditions, and develop new user modeling techniques for supporting flexible and effective interaction. Development of advanced user interfaces capable of monitoring and establishing risk factors associated with impending or existing brain-degenerative conditions is a longer term translational aim. The resources and outcomes produced will be broadly shared among scholars in computer and information science disciplines, with the aim of promoting and supporting training of next-generation HCI researchers.