Research Themes

Self-regulation & Attention regulation

Electronic devices, telecommuting, and increases in self-directed work present today’s workforce with enormous challenges of deciding what to pay attention to while at work. And yet, our research shows that the experience of mental disengagement at work is frequent, and can harm performance, motivation, emotions, and well-being. Thus, our research in this area helps answer important questions for organizations such as how to motivate employees to stay on task in the face of distraction (even for very difficult or very easy tasks, where mind wandering is most likely to occur), how to structure the work-day and workspace to stay focused, and how to facilitate self-regulated learning.

We tackle these issues with a cross-disciplinary focus on attention regulation, including recent popular interest on the constructs of mind wandering and mindfulness using the resource allocation model (Kanfer & Ackerman, 1989) as a theoretical framework. This requires considering interacting inputs of individual capabilities and skills, motivation, and task demand to predict when mind wandering is most likely, and when it is most detrimental.

In the future, we hope to provide additional insights regarding the nature and consequences of attention regulation in complex, adaptive environments (e.g., cyber-security), the subjective or emotional experience associated with different classes of attention, the costs and benefits associated with on- and off-task thoughts, and the influence of attention regulation failures in interpersonal interactions.

Training & e-Learning

As noted above, motivation, ability, and attention regulation have significant influences on how we learn. However, such a comprehensive approach that is multi-level and dynamic is difficult in experimental training research, so evidence of the mechanisms underlying learning and the development of complex job skills is lacking. In an attempt to tackle this challenge, our emphasis in training is to understand how people acquire complex skills and knowledge, especially in dynamic environments, and how groups and organizations can help facilitate successful learning. Additionally, as e-learning becomes increasingly pervasive, our research also addresses some of the unanswered questions in this area, including how to design for and facilitate learner engagement, and when and how to allow and support learner control.

Experimental research from lab-based studies with college students using complex simulators (e.g., tank operation, air traffic control), and field-based studies with working adults using online training courses (e.g., Microsoft Excel) have provided us with rich opportunities to both observe and manipulate the skill acquisition process. Findings regarding the importance of individual ability and various personality traits for learning and flexibility, the usefulness of different self-regulatory strategies (e.g., goal-setting, mindfulness, implementation intentions), and the benefit of team debriefs (after-action reviews) provide significant, practical implications for training and e-learning design, delivery, and evaluation.

Personnel Selection & Retesting

 Opportunities to re-take an assessment multiple times as part of a selection, promotion, or training context present significant challenges in terms of the meaning and interpretation of multiple test scores. Thus, the challenges of understanding and accounting for retesting are a growing concern for human resource management. Our research in this area attempts to theoretically and empirically establish the factors underlying score change due to retesting. So far, we have provided empirical evidence for several individual differences (e.g., cognitive ability, conscientiousness), and methodological considerations (e.g., test type, test form) that can contribute to improved retest performance; however, additional mechanisms have yet to be tested.