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This paper explores the implications of metaphorical elements in the contextof physical products that coexist with a digital interface, through an empiricand theoretical approach. Further, problematic aspects of the use ofmetaphors in a digital space will be discussed, and two prototypes will becreated to investigate how icons are perceived in different contexts.In cooperation with home-security company Verisure, the prototypes will beproduced and usability tested. Fundamental interaction design principleswill be implemented in order to investigate the impact of metaphor in iconbasedinteraction. These findings will be discussed and processed into a setof key factors to consider when working with icons.

In order to continue the decline of smoking prevalence, it is imperative to understand the factors that contribute to the development of nicotine and tobacco addiction, such as adolescent initiation of nicotine use, stress, and the interaction of adolescent stress and adolescent nicotine. Both clinical and preclinical literature indicates that adolescent, but not adult, nicotine administration leads to long-lasting impairments in learning and memory and affect. Specifically, chronic nicotine treatment beginning in early adolescence or late adolescence resulted in adult deficits in contextual fear learning. However, the current study demonstrated that these adult learning deficits did not occur solely from nicotine administration. Rather, an interaction between adolescent nicotine and adolescent stress resulted in adult learning deficits in contextual fear. Additionally, it was found that dietary choline supplementation that began immediately following cessation of adolescent nicotine treatment and continued through a protracted abstinence period lasting thirty days reversed adult deficits in contextual fear. Finally, the current study found that adolescent nicotine exposure beginning at either early adolescence or late adolescence increased depressive-like behaviors, but not anxiety-like behaviors, following a protracted abstinence period. In contrast, chronic nicotine treatment in adult increased anxiety-like behaviors measured by the elevated plus-maze following a protracted abstinence period. The work encompassed in this dissertation suggests that the interactions between adolescent stress and adolescent nicotine increases the risk for developing cognitive and affective impairments, which may promote continued use of nicotine in adulthood. / Psychology

A long-held belief is that human attention can be deployed voluntarily according to observers’ goals (top-down) or shifted automatically to the most salience object in the environment (bottom-up). Recent studies suggest a third category of attentional control: selection history. By this view, an observer’s experience in performing a task that requires the control of attention could automatically affect subsequent attention deployment in the task. This thesis examined selection history mechanisms of attentional control in two visual search phenomena. The first phenomenon is known as the Contextual Cueing Effect (CCE), and refers to an increased search efficiency when a specific distractor configuration is repeatedly associated with a specific target location (Chun and Jiang, 1998). In one study, we found a CCE when one repeated configuration was associated with up to four different target locations, suggesting that the CCE may involve mechanisms other than attentional guidance by one-to-one context-target associations. In another study, we found that the CCE was not affected by concurrent working memory load, and that there was little correlation between the magnitude of the CCE and working memory task performance when measured separately in the same participants. These results suggest that working memory may not be involved in such contextual learning. The second phenomenon is known as the the Item-Specific Proportion Congruent (ISPC) Effect, and refers to item-specific learning that controls the extent to which salient distractors capture attention. Through manual response and eye movement measures, we demonstrate that the ISPC effect reflects the search process itself, rather than processes that precede or follow search. We propose does item-specific learning produces transient changes in the activation of goal-related processes that mediate attention capture. / Thesis / Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) / Where we attend in visual space can be affected involuntarily by memories of how we have attended to visual space in the past. In other words, automatically retrieved memories can control our visual attention independent of volition. This thesis examines two visual search phenomena that display this type of memory-based control over attention. The first phenomenon reveals that search performance improves with experience searching through the same set of visual distractors on multiple occasions. We demonstrate that this form of learning is remarkably flexible; it can occur for multiple targets associated with the same set of distractors. We also demonstrate that this form of learning probably involves long-term rather than short-term memory mechanisms. The second phenomenon reveals how memory-based processes can prevent attention from being captured by a salient distractor. Eye movement data reveal that this form of learning impacts search itself, rather the processes that precede or follow search.

The purpose of the study was to explore children's understanding of mind shown in children's play in a preschool classroom. Previous research on children's theory of mind has relied on empirical studies utilizing several tasks, such as false belief tasks. Since children's emerging understanding of self and others is a complex process of entering a community of theories of mind (Nelson, Henseler, & Plesa, 2000), it is important to expand our understanding of children's theories of mind through qualitative inquiry with contextually-relevant methods. This study was guided by the following questions: How is children's theory of mind manifested in play and social interactions with other children in a preschool classroom? How do children negotiate differences between their own and others' theory of mind in their interactions? How are children's relationships extended through their understanding of each other's theories of mind? The main tool for exploration of the study was an interpretive analysis based on data collected through participant observation, along with dialogic interviews, audio and video taping, my reflections, and review of the literature. This study of one preschool classroom presents that theory of mind is not made up of isolated constructs but richly integrated states of mind. It appeared that interplay between social and cognitive factors was more evident in social contexts. Diverse aspects of children's theory of mind were discussed through detailed descriptions and interpretations of play episodes. A new way of looking at children's theory of mind should be more qualitative, contextual, and holistic. / Ph. D.

The General Engineering Program exists at Virginia Tech to provide curriculums that engage, challenge and support entry-level engineers. One important part of this initiative is helping students identify with a specific engineering branch, and overtime develop an identity within it. Yet, there exists little research on what entry-level engineers believe it means to be an engineer, especially during these stages of early formation and continual shifting. In order to generate insight on this topic we developed a contextual inquiry method to help inquire into engineering identity. Two participants were placed in an online chatroom and allowed to talk for ten minutes, with one trying to answer the question 'Am I talking to an engineer or not?' and asked to give their reasoning. Comparisons allow entry-level engineering students to articulate their beliefs on what characteristics, behaviors and personalities make up their cohort -- thus exposing their ideas about identity. Moreover, this methodology also provides opportunities for participants to critique their own bias and further develop and expose their opinions on identity. Additionally, our findings showcase the complexity around student's perceptions of engineers. For example, participants' responses pointed to: many sources that inform identity, the difficulty of identifying what is uniquely engineering, how identity is impacted by the ideal image of an engineer, that identity is a spectrum, and that identity varies with respect to associations and time. As a result, through our inquiry and representation of results we demonstrate the validity of our methodology as a HCI research tool along with the power of narrative forms of representation. / Master of Science / The General Engineering Program exists at Virginia Tech to provide curriculums that engage, challenge and support entry-level engineers. One important part of this initiative is helping students identify with a specific type of engineering, and overtime develop an identity within it. Yet, there exists little research on what entry-level engineers believe it means to be an engineer, especially during their freshmen year of college when they are still forming and changing their ideas about engineering identity. In order to generate insight on this topic we developed a methodology to help inquire into engineering identity. Two participants at a time were placed in an online chatroom and allowed to talk for ten minutes, with one trying to answer the question ‘Am I talking to an engineer or not?’ and asked to give their reasoning. Comparisons allow entry-level engineering students to articulate their beliefs on what characteristics, behaviors and personalities make up their cohort -- thus exposing their ideas about identity. Moreover, this methodology also provides opportunities for participants to critique their own assumptions about engineering identity and further develop and expose their opinions on identity. Additionally, our findings showcase the complexity around student’s perceptions of engineers. For example, participants’ responses pointed to: many sources that inform identity, the difficulty of identifying what is uniquely engineering, how identity is impacted by the ideal image of an engineer, that identity is a spectrum, and that identity varies with respect to associations and time. As a result, through our inquiry and representation of results we demonstrate the validity of our methodology as a Human Computer Interaction research tool along with the power of using written stories to represent results.

In the U.S., the majority of construction companies are small companies with 10 or fewer employees (BLS, 2004). The fatality rate in the construction industry is high, indicating a need for implementing safety training to a greater extent. This research addresses two main goals: to make recommendations and design a safety training system for small construction companies, and to use Contextual Design to design the training system. Contextual Design was developed by Holtzblatt (Beyer and Holtzblatt, 1998) in an effort to address the challenge of designing new systems. Ethnographic in nature, the Contextual Design methodology requires field data collection, requirements analysis, model building, visioning and story boarding, and prototyping. A sample of 12 participants consisting of 7 tradespersons, 3 forepersons, and 2 owners/ managers, was selected for data collection. The data was analyzed based on the Contextual Design approach and a training system prototype was designed. The results of this study are recommendations for safety in small construction companies, a low fidelity paper prototype of the training system, and recommendations on future use of Contextual Design for developing training systems. / Master of Science