Using a modified news media brand personality scale developed by Kim, Baek, and Martin (2010), this study measured the personalities of eight news media outlets and combined them into the same associative network with participants’ self-image via the Pathfinder tool (Schvaneveldt, Durso, & Dearholt, 1989). Using these networks, this study was able to both explore the personality associations of participants and observe if self-congruity, measured by the distance between the self-image node and a brand, is significantly related to participant preference for a brand. Self-congruity was found to be significantly related to preference. However, this relationship was mediated by participants’ fiscal and social orientation. Overall, using Pathfinder to generate associative networks and measure self-congruity could be a useful approach for understanding how people perceive and relate to different news media outlets.

Previous research on the effect of smartphone use on user distraction has primarily focused on phone calls and various forms of texting. As technology progresses, drivers are now able to use HMD (head-mounted displays) and other hands-free devices. HMDs allow users to have their eyes directed to the road, however open the user to inattentional blindness and give them a false sense of security. The present study compared the effects of two smartphone tasks and two Head Mounted Display (HMD) tasks on car following performance in a driving simulator. Simulation tasks were chosen across two factors: Devices used (Smartphone vs. HMD) and Condition of the Participant (Distracted vs. Not Distracted). Brake Reaction Times (BRT) were significantly slower in the condition in which the user had to text off of the HMD when compared to the Baseline condition (p=.004) and moderately significant when compared to the Texting condition (p=.059). Although there are many applications that might help users by lessening workloads, currently wearing HMDs cause drivers to become overconfident by following lead cars closer while increasing their reaction time.

This thesis offers a look into color theory and how it applies to commonly-used electronics, with computers being the main focus. This is done by employing research in user interface design, color theory, Brief Implicit Association Task validity, and Mechanical Turk participant validity. This study utilizes a recent modification of the more widely known implicit association task and takes advantage of MTurk's pool of subjects for its' data. Via a BIAT, implicit associations between red or blue colored computer images and "analytic" or "creative" synonyms were examined. No significant associations were found, despite strong background research. These findings suggest that further research is needed in this area before broader conclusions can be made.

There have been conflicting accounts of animation's facilitation in learning from instructional media, being at best no different if not hindering performance. Procedural motor learning represents one of the few the areas in which animations have shown to be facilitative. These studies examine the effects of instructional media (animation vs. static), rotation (facing vs. over the shoulder) and spatial abilities (low vs. high spatial abilities) on two procedural motor tasks, knot tying and endoscope reprocessing. Results indicate that for all conditions observed in which participants engaged in procedural motor learning tasks, performance was significantly improved with animations over static images. Further, performance was greater for rotations of instructional media that did not require participants to perform a mental rotation under some circumstances. Interactions between Media x Rotation suggest that media that was animated and did not require a participant to mentally rotate led to improved performance. Individual spatial abilities were found to influence total steps correct and total number of errors made in the knot tying task, but this was not observed in the endoscope task. These findings have implications for the design of instructional media for procedural motor tasks and provide strong support for the usage of animations in this context.