ECT Brownbag: Dr. Tamara Galoyan
Performance and Mental Workload in a Spatial Navigation Transfer Game
When: Thursday, April 15, 10am– 11am EST
Zoom Link: https://nyu.zoom.us/j/91044407438
This presentation will focus on a study that examined the effects of task-related variables, such as the difficulty level, problem scenario, and experiment week, on performance and mental workload of 27 adult subjects during problem solving in the Spatial Navigation Transfer (SNT) game. The game was designed by the researchers of this study using Cognitive Load Theory as a conceptual framework. The study reports task performance measures such as total time spent on a task (TT) and reaction time (RT); neurophysiological measures involving the use of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS); and a subjective rating scale for self-assessment of mental workload (NASA TLX) to test the related hypotheses.The results revealed a number of interaction effects for the dependent measures of TT, RT, fNIRS, and NASA TLX, thus confirming that both the behavioral performance and mental workload were sensitive to task manipulations during the SNT gameplay.
Tamara Galoyan, Ph.D.
Email: toma.galoyan@gmail.com
About the speaker
Dr. Tamara Galoyan is a postdoctoral research associate at the Department of Educational Psychology in the College of Education at the University of Utah. She holds a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Learning Technologies (STEM concentration) from Drexel University’s School of Education. Her research is multidisciplinary and lies at the intersection of learning sciences, STEM education, online and blended pedagogy, and neuroeducation. She has more than a decade of experience in teaching, education research, instructional design and curriculum development for learners of diverse age groups and cultural backgrounds both in the US and Armenia, her home country. Tamara also serves as a founding co-editor of Emerging Voices in Education (EViE) journal and co-founder of the Education, Learning, and Brain Sciences (E-LaBS) research consortium at Drexel University’s School of Education.