Fatigue and attention 1 (2015)
by James Nellis
Part of the EPSRC Vacation Bursaries Scheme 2015
Student name: James Nellis
Student degree course: Psychology
Year of study: End of 2nd year
Supervisor: Tamaryn Menneer
Vacation Bursary Research project title: Fatigue and attention 1 (2015)
Tell us a bit about you and your chosen research field:
I’m going into my 3rd year of study for Psychology at the University of Southampton. I’m currently undertaking a ten-week placement focusing on the correct handling, utilization and deployment of eye tracking equipment to study visual search tasks.
Tell us about your specific research project:
Previous research has found that fatigue decreases the overall speed of visual search, but that participants do not increase their search time sufficiently when more items are added to the search display. This study will use eye tracking to determine whether fatigued participants are spending less time on each additional item or examining fewer items overall compared with non-fatigued participants. The findings from this study, will be combined with others that are also funded by the TK foundation-funded MARTHA project, having real world application (and potential life saving consequences) to the effects of fatigue on maritimers.
Describe any future plans regarding on-going study/postgraduate research connected to your Vacation Bursary project:
I’ve only spent a short period of time here so far but it has been more than enough to propel me towards an academic career in psychology, and I hope it gives me the edge to successfully enrol onto a masters course. I have also picked up some research ideas that I will be utilising and expanding upon for my 3rd year project.
Categories: Blog. Tags: attention 1, Blog, epsrc, fatigue, interdisciplinary, interdisciplinary research, james nellis, MARTHA, research, tamaryn menneer, University of Southampton, USRG, vacation bursaries, and vacation bursary.