Department of Psychology // University of Notre Dame

Flanner Hall

Dynamic Systems Lab

The research conducted in the Dynamic Systems Lab is both methodological and substantive in nature. Methodologically, we are interested in developing modeling and analysis tools that are suited to testing and evaluating linear and nonlinear dynamic models. Substantively, we have several ongoing projects aimed at developing time series and state-space models for representing self-report and physiological data of affect. Our longer-term aim is to develop a broader repertoire of data-driven tools tailored toward analyzing the kinds of longitudinal data typically available in the social and behavioral sciences.

Boker Lab

Director: Steven M. Boker
B09 Flanner Hall

The Boker Lab uses magnetic motion capture and advanced video capture equipment to track posture, gesture, and facial expression during a variety of experimental tasks. The lab has two Ascension Technologies MotionStar systems, one with 16 sensors and one wireless system with 20 sensors. These systems can track full body skeletal motion as participants converse with one another, dance solo or in dyads, or stand still while in a moving room.

The moving room is a set of frames on wheels that support walls for a 4'x4' room. The walls can be moved while the participant stands on a stationary floor, giving the participant a sense of movement from visual perception that is conflict with the proprioceptive sense of being stationary. While the room is moved, particpants' postural adjustments are motion tracked in order to better understand the system dynamics of postural stabilization.

Participants dance with one another while listening to auditory stimuli over headphones. The stimuli are manipulated so that the dancers may or may not be listening to the same stimulus. Motion tracking allows the analysis of coordination to the auditory stimulus as well as coordination between individuals.

Dyadic conversations are conducted over a "video phone".
Participants are in separate rooms, each sitting in a video booth where they see the back projected image of their conversant. The conversant's image can be manipulated in real time in order to understand the dynamics of the coordination between individuals during conversation.

All of these experiments are run from a computerized control room overlooking two experimental rooms. The control room is sound isolated from the two experiment rooms and the experiment rooms are sound isolated from each other. Non-ferrous construction and wooden platforms help reduce spurious effects on the magnetic fields used for the motion capture. A conference room has internet connectivity and is used for video links to labs at other universities during lab meetings.