PSYCHOLOGY LABORATORY
Welcome to the experimental psychology laboratory! We have lots of resources for researchers and instructors doing experimental psychology at UCO. We have workstations, research equipment, materials, stuff, gadgets, and we can show you how to use them. The lab is made possible by our department and college.
“Clouds are not spheres, mountains are not cones, coastlines are not circles, and bark is not smooth, nor does lightning travel in a straight line.”
― Benoît Mandelbrot”
COMPLEXITY &
SELF-ORGANIZATION
We know what you're thinking.... Is that a vegetable? Yes! Romanesco broccoli is a cousin to cauliflower and it's a delicious example of a natural fractal. Its shape highlights the beauty of recursive phenomena in biology. Intricate patterns and beautiful trajectories emerge from simple rules. Self-organized behavior is everywhere! We see it in ecosystems, cities, galaxies, economies, and nervous systems. Individual actions combine to create complex collective outcomes. Understanding a few simple rules governing these interactions reveals orderliness in behavior and the dynamics of change. Seemingly random behaviors can lead to organized patterns at all levels. Who will be resilient? Why don't birds in flocks collide? Is the universe fractal too? Maybe!
AVAILABLE METHODOLOGIES
Electroencephalography
Event-related electrical potentials in real-time
Eye Tracking
Sophisticated machines and innovative education
Performance Measures
Ergonomics and applied perception
Computerized Tasks
From purposes and uses to tasks and environments
Computational Modeling
Recipes for behavior
Virtual Reality
Imagining the possibilities
Artificial Intelligence
Ethical appications for academic work
WHAT'S WITH THE FREAKY IMAGES?
What else do you do there in the psychology lab?
We wear the most comfortable clothes and shoes as the temperature inside the building is quite warm. We also design and conduct experiments focused on perception and action. You can see an eye-tracking study we presented to the international Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology and the Life Sciences here. Use View|Slideshow to embiggen the poster image.
What is complexity science?
Complex adaptive systems are interacting elements that change their behavior based on experience. The elements self-organize and their collective behavior displays nonlinearity, emergence, spontaneous order, adaptation, and feedback loops. Complexity science is the interdisciplinary study of these self-organizing systems.
Can I work there too?
Maybe! Email experimentrak@uco.edu to schedule a visit. Let us know if you want to join an ongoing project or if you have already have one cookin'. To work in the lab, you'll need a CITI training course certificate from https://sites.uco.edu/academic-affairs/files/oric/citi-training-registration-steps-hsr.pdf
What are fractals?
Infinite forms most beautiful. And math-y. Simple repeating shapes show how complexity emerges from a few simple rules.
Who are you people?
We are some humans who do complexity science and you can too!
What is the lab schedule?
It depends. Our in-person availability changes every semester according to each member's schedule. Weekday mornings are a good time to see us in our natural habitat. The lab is not open between semesters or in the summer unless by special arrangement.
Is that really psychology?
Heck yeah! Behavior and mental life are complex patterns that repeat over time. Our thoughts, habits, and obsessions are fractal. If you study psychology, you're studying complex systems....
Where are you?
