The theme for the Performance Research Laboratory (PeRL) is the study of  how human-environment interaction affects  system performance . There are two general programs of research: 1) individual differences in the performance, workload, and stress associated with performing cognitive tasks, and 2) advances in signal detection theory (specifically, fuzzy signal detection theory--FSDT). Most of our research focuses on tasks involving signal/threat detection (e.g., friend/foe identification, shoot/no-shoot decisions in law enforcement and military scenarios), as well as vigilance and human interaction with automation.

The focus of the individual differences research is how variations in task characteristics interact with the characteristics of the person (i.e., personality, emotion, motivation) to influence performance, workload, and stress of cognitively demanding tasks. The signal detection (FSDT) program has as its goal the testing and validation of FSDT, particularly tests of whether the assumptions of traditional SDT are also met by data analyzed using FSDT.  We are examining this with both simple perceptual discriminations of duration and shape, as well as in more complex threat detection (e.g., simulated IED images).