Hamilton College Usability Lab
Abstract
With the help of DURIP funds, we created a new Usability Research lab at Hamilton College that enables us to gather a variety of cognitive and behavioral metrics from users in order to gather real time, quantitative measures of their mental states while they work with a variety of computer interfaces. The equipment purchased with the DURIP funds is listed in Table 1. Paramount to Hamilton's approach is the use of a relatively new, non-invasive brain imaging technique called Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) to make real-time, objective measurements of users' mental states while they work with various user interfaces. fNIRS was introduced in the early 1990's to complement, and in some cases overcome practical and functional limitations of EEG and other brain monitoring techniques. Users can wear the comfortable fNIRS device in real working conditions, allowing the measurement of their brain activity while they work with a given interface. These unbiased, real-time metrics are used to augment more traditional usability tests, providing greater insight into the effects of a given interface design on target users.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 12, 2011
- Accession Number
- ADA557995
Entities
People
- Leanne Hirshfield
- Stuart Hirshfield
Organizations
- Hamilton College