Group Lead for the Intelligent Spacecraft Interface Systems (ISIS) Laboratory
Address: Mail Stop 262-4, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035
Phone: 650-604-0052
Email: robert.s.mccann@nasa.gov
1987 Ph.D. Cognitive Psychology,
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
1984 M.A. Experimental Psychology, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario,
Canada.
1981 B.A. Honours, Experimental Psychology, Queen's University at Kingston,
Ontario, Canada.
2003 Recipient of the Code I "Fish"
award for dedication and enthusiasm for NASA goals and missions.
2001 Recipient of a NASA Headquarters Acquisitions Improvement award for work
on the second generation RLV NRA-9 evaluation.
2001 Co-recipient of a NASA Johnson Space Center Group Achievement Award for
rapid development of the initial Cockpit Avionics Upgrade Display/Control and
Applications Requirements.
2000 Co-recipient of a NASA Johnson Space Center Group Achievement Award in
recognition of outstanding contributions to the Space Shuttle Cockpit Council
Development Team.
1999 Co-recipient of a NASA Ames Group Achievement Award for significantlyimpacting
the safety and efficiency of airport surface operations in all-weather conditions
through the development, integration, and demonstration of key navigation and
situation awareness technologies.
1999 Recipient of the 1999 Wright Brothers Memorial Award Medal for outstanding
technical paper titled, "An Evaluation of the Taxiway Navigation and Situation
Awareness (T-NASA) System in High-fidelity Simulation," (SAE Paper No.
985541). This award annually recognizes the best paper, presented at a Society
of Automotive Engineering technical meeting, relating to the invention, development,
design, construction, or operation of an aircraft or spacecraft.
1997 Recipient of NASA Ames Research Center Honor Award for excellence in the
category of contractor employee.
1996 Recipient of a Society of Automotive Engineers Excellence in Oral Presentation
Award for presentation entitled "Advanced navigation aids in the cockpit…"
1987-1990 Awarded National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship.
1987 Awarded Arts Graduate Scholarship, University of Waterloo.
1982-1986 Awarded Postgraduate Scholarship, Natural Sciences and Engineering
Research Council of Canada.
1982 Awarded Province of Ontario Graduate Scholarship.
Space Human Factors, attentional limits on human information processing, the role of attention in visual word processing.
Astronomy, Natural History.
Present: Group Lead, Intelligent
Spacecraft Interface Systems (ISIS) Laboratory.
2000-2002: Ames Shuttle Cockpit Upgrade Project. Responsibilities include managing,
participating, and planning Ames efforts in support of the Space Shuttle Cockpit
Avionics Upgrade and 2nd Generation Reusable Space Vehicle cockpit architecture
development.
1999: Lead, Obstacle Detection and Depiction (subelement 2.11 of the Safe All-weather
Flight Operations for Rotorcraft [SAFOR] Level 4 Plan). Responsibilities included
the design of electronic displays to reduce wire strikes, development of experimental
mission scenarios to evaluate the displays, and supervising programmer development
of the Rotorcraft Part- Task Simulator (RPTL). Collaborator: Karen Jones, SJSU.
1991-1998. Co-developer of the Taxiway Navigation and Situation Awareness (T-NASA)
system, an electronic display suite to help pilots taxi under low-visibility
conditions.
Principal Investigator, part-task and full-mission simulations evaluating separate
and combined components of the T-NASA system on pilots’ taxi performance.
Responsibilities included supervising the development of a part-task simulation
facility to examine taxi behavior, conducting research to evaluate the impact
of the displays on pilots’ taxi performance, and conducting a full-mission
simulation evaluating the T-NASA system in the Advanced Concepts Flight Simulator
(ACFS). Collaborators: David Foyle, Anthony Andre, Becky Hooey, Durand Begault,
Elizabeth Wenzel, Bonny Parke, Barb Kanki, Vern Battiste.
Co-Principal Investigator (with David Foyle) researching attentional issues
relating to the use of Head-Up Displays (HUDs). Laboratory experiments and part-task
flight simulations suggested that pilots have difficulty processing HUD symbology
and the out-the-window scene in parallel. A design solution involving scene-linked
(earth-referenced) symbology was developed and evaluated.
Principal Investigator, allocation of attention to individual (target) elements
in highly conspicuous perceptual groups. Results suggest that perceptual grouping
and element location mutually constrain the distribution of attention across
elements of complex visual displays. Collaborator: Kevin Jordan.
Principal Investigator, automaticity in visual word-processing. In
contrast to predictions of most current models of visual word processing, our
research indicates that word processing forms a bottleneck, and is not performed
in parallel with concurrent choice reaction-time tasks. Collaborators: Roger
Remington and Mark Van Selst.
Co-Principal Investigator (with Dr. Jennifer Stolz, Assistant Professor, University
of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada) researching the role of spatial attention in visual
word processing. The results add to evidence that the spatial attention and
visual word-processing systems are interactive.
1987-1990: National Research Council (NRC) Postdoctoral Researcher, NASA-Ames
Research Center.
-The nature of human performance
limitations in multi-task environments
-The role of spatial attention in the perception of printed words.
-The role of strategies in the performance of choice reaction time tasks.
- Evaluation of connectionist models of visual word processing.
1985-1987: Ph.D. dissertation research, University of Waterloo. Thesis title:
"On the locus of word frequency effects in word recognition: Evidence
from the processing of novel letter strings".
Supervisor: Dr. Derek Besner.
1983-1984: M.A. Thesis research. Thesis title: "On the memory code in serial
feature-positive discriminations".
Supervisor: Dr. Robert St. Claire-Smith.
1981: B.A. Honours Thesis research, Queen's University at Kingston. Thesis
title: "Strategies in Tachistoscopic Recognition".
Supervisor: Dr. D.J.K. Mewhort.
1980: Research Assistant to Dr. Brian Butler, Queen's University at Kingston.TEACHING
EXPERIENCE:
1983-1987: Assistant in instruction, University of Waterloo.
Fall 1983: Introduction to Psychology
Spring 1984: Cognitive Processes
Summer 1986: Cognitive Processes
Fall 1987: Experimental Methods
1981-1982: Assistant in instruction, Wilfrid Laurier University.
Fall 1981: Introduction to perception
Winter 1982: Statistical Methods Responsibilities included examination preparation,
grading, lecturing, and designing and supervising student research projects.
Reviewer: Aviation, Space, and Environmental
Medicine
Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology
Cognitive Psychology
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance
Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied
Memory and Cognition
Perception and Psychophysics
Psychological Research
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
Thesis Advisor: Jean Lynch, San Jose State University Master's Thesis.
Robert Edmiston, San Jose State University Master's Thesis.
Karen Jones, San Jose State University Master’s Thesis.
Thesis Examiner: External Examiner, Ph.D. Thesis, Cognitive Science Program,
Carleton University, September 2003.
Colloquium Speaker: Queen's University at Kingston, October 1991.
University of California at Berkeley, February 1995.
Space Shuttle Cockpit Avionics Upgrade
Evaluation Project (2003-2004).
Cockpit architecture roadmap team (CART) (2000).
Responsibilities: Co-develop requirements document for 2nd Generation reusable
launch vehicle cockpit architecture.
Lead analyst on ASRS runway incursion incident reports (1999).
Responsibilities included causal analyses of ASRS runway incursion incidents,
presentation of findings to the RI-JSAT at monthly meetings, and development
and justification of intervention strategies to prevent incursions.
Evaluator: NASA Unique (Technical Area 9) industry proposals for 2nd Generation
Reusable Launch Vehicle program (January 2001).
The Psychonomic Society.
The Society of Automotive Engineers.
McCann, R. S., & McCandless,
J. (2003). Human-machine teaming for dynamic fault management in next-generation
launch vehicles. in Proceedings of the Joint Army-Navy-NASA-Air Force 3rd Modeling
and Simulation Meeting, Colorado Springs, FL, Dec 1-5.
McCann, R. S., & McCandless, J. (2002). Toward a crew-system concept for
real-time fault management in next-generation aerospace vehicles. in Proceedings
of the Joint Army-Navy-NASA-Air Force 2nd Modeling and Simulation Subcommittee
meeting, Sandestin, FL, April 8-12.
McCann, R. S., & Jones, K. M. (2001). Depicting wire hazards on moving map
displays: A test of two formats. Proceedings of the 11th International Symposium
on Aviation Psychology.
McCann, R. S., Remington, R. W., & Van Selst, M (2000). A dual-task investigation
of automaticity in visual word-processing. Journal of Experimental Psychology:
Human Perception and Performance, 26, 1352-1370.
McCann, R. S., Foyle, D. C., Hooey, B. L., & Andre, A. D (2000). Pilot interactions
with an electronic display suite to support low-visibility taxi. In Countering
the Directed Energy Threat: Are Closed Cockpits the Ultimate Answer? NATO- Research
and Technology Organization Meeting Proceedings 30, pp. 17-1 – 17-13.
McCann, R. S., Hooey, B., Parke, B., Foyle, D. C., Andre, A. D., & Kanki,
B (1998). An evaluation of the Taxiway Navigation and Situation Awareness (T-NASA)
system in high-fidelity simulation. SAE Transactions: Journal of Aerospace,
107, 1612-1625.
McCann, R. S., Andre, A. D., Begault, D., Foyle, D. C., & Wenzel, E. (1997).
Enhancing taxi performance under low visibility: Are moving maps enough? Proceedings
of the 41st annual meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomic Society (pp. 37-41).
McCann, R.S., Foyle, D.C., Andre, A. D. and Battiste, V. (1996). Advanced navigation
aids in the flight deck: Effects on ground taxi performance under low-visibility
conditions. SAE Transactions: Journal of Aerospace, 105, 1419-1430.
McCann, R. S., & Foyle, D. C. (1996). Scene-linked symbology to enhance
situation awareness. in Situation Awareness: Limitations and Enhancement in
the Aviation Environment. AGARD CP # 575, 16:1-16:11.
McCann, R. S., & Foyle, D. C. (1995). Superimposed symbology: Attentional
problems and design solutions. SAE Transactions: Journal of Aerospace, 103,
2009-2016.
McCann, R. S., Lynch, J., Foyle, D. C., & Johnston, J. C. (1993). Modeling
attentional effects with Head-Up Displays. in Proceedings of the Human Factors
and Ergonomic Society 37th Annual Meeting, 2, 1345-1350.
McCann, R. S., Foyle, D. C., & Johnston, J. C. (1993). Attentional limitations
with Head-Up Displays. in R. Jensen & D. Neumeister (Eds.), Proceedings
of the Seventh International Symposium on Aviation Psychology , 1, 70-76.
McCann, R. S., Folk, C. L., & Johnston, J. C. (1992). The role of spatial
attention in visual word processing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human
Perception and Performance, 18, 1015-1029.
McCann, R. S., & Johnston, J. C. (1992). Locus of the single-channel bottleneck
in dual-task interference. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception
and Performance, 18, 471-484.
McCann, R. S., Besner, D., & Davelaar, E. (1988). Word recognition and identification:
Do word frequency effects reflect lexical access? Journal of Experimental Psychology:
Human Perception and Performance, 14, 693-706
McCann, R. S., & Besner, D. (1987). Reading Pseudohomophones: Implications
for models of pronunciation assembly and the locus of word-frequency effects
in naming. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance,
13, 14-24.
Allen, P.A., Lien, M.-C., Murphy, M. D., Sanders, R. E., Judge, K., & McCann,
R. S. (in press). Age differences in overlapping-task performance: Evidence
for efficient parallel processing in older adults. Psychology and Aging.
Atkins, M., Foyle, D. C., Hooey, B., & McCann, R. S. (1999). Head-up display
symbology for surface operations: Comparisons among scene-linked symbology sets
for optimum turn navigation. In R. S. Jensen, B. Cox, J. D. Callister, &
R. Lavis (Eds.), Proceedings of the Tenth International Symposium on Aviation
Psychology: Vol. 2 (pp. 784-790).
Andre, A. D., Hooey, B. L., Foyle, D. C., & McCann, R. S. (1998). Field
evaluation of T-NASA: Taxi navigation and situation awareness system. Proceedings
of the AIAA/IEEE/SAE 17th Digital Avionics System Conference, 47, pp. 1-8.
Andre, A. D., Heers, S. T., McCann, R. S, & Cashion, P. (1993). Preview
and practice: Effects on scheduling behavior in a simulated flight task. Proceedings
of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 37th annual meeting (pp. 132-136).
Battiste, V., Downs, M., & McCann, R. S. (1996, September). Advanced taxi
map display design for low-visibility operations. Proceedings of the Human Factors
and Ergonomics Society 40th annual meeting (pp. 997-1001).
Besner, D., & McCann, R. S. (1987). Word frequency effects and pattern distortion
in visual word identification and production: An examination of four classes
of models. in M. Coltheart (Ed.), Attention and Performance XII: The Psychology
of Reading. New Jersey: Erlbaum.
Besner, D., Twilley, L., McCann, R. S., & Seergobin, K. (1990). On the association
between connectionism and data: Are a few words necessary? Psychological Review,
97, 432-446.
Foyle, D.C., Andre, A. D., McCann, R.S., Wenzel, E., Begault, D. and Battiste,
V. (1996). Taxiway Navigation and Situation Awareness (T-NASA) System: Problem,
design philosophy and description of an integrated display suite for low-visibility
airport surface operations. SAE Transactions: Journal of Aerospace, 105, 1411-1418
Foyle, D. C., McCann, R. S., & Shelden, S. (1995). Attentional issues with
superimposed symbology: Formats for scene-linked displays. In R. S. Jensen &
L. A. Rakovan (Eds.), Proceedings of the Eighth International Symposium on Aviation
Psychology (pp. 98-103). Columbus: Ohio State University.
Foyle, D. C., McCann, R. S., Sanford, B. D., & Schwirzke, M. F. J. (1993).
Attentional effects with superimposed symbology: Implications for Head-Up Displays
(HUD). in Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 37th Annual
Meeting, 2, 1340-1345.
Foyle, D. C., Sanford, B. D., & McCann, R. S. (1991). Attentional issues
in superimposed flight symbology. in R. S. Jensen (Ed.), Proceedings of the
Sixth International Symposium on Aviation Psychology (pp. 577-582). Columbus:
Ohio State University.
Johnston, J. C., McCann, R. S., & Remington, R. W. (1996). Selective attention
operates at two processing loci. in A. Kramer (Ed.), Converging operations in
the study of visual attention (pp. 438-459).
Johnston, J. C., McCann, R. S., & Remington, R. W (1995). Chronometric evidence
for two types of attention. Psychological Science, 6, 365-369.
Levy, J., Foyle, D. C., & McCann, R. S. (1998). Performance benefits with
scene-linked symbology: An attentional phenomenon? in Proceedings of the Human
Factors and Ergonomics Society 42nd annual meeting.
McCandless, J. W., McCann, R. S., & Hilty, B. R. (2003, in press). Upgrades
to the caution and warning system of the space shuttle. in Proceedings of the
2003 meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, September.
Parke, B., Kanki, B., McCann, R. S., & Hooey, B. (1999). The effects of
advanced navigation aids on crew roles and communication in ground taxi. In
R. Jensen, B. Cox, J. D. Callister, & R. Lavis (Eds.), Proceedings of the
Tenth Symposium on Aviation Psychology: Vol. 2 (pp. 804-809). Columbus, Ohio:
Ohio State University.
Sanford, B., Foyle, D. C., McCann, R. S., & Jordan, K. (1993). Head-up displays:
Effect of information location on the processing of superimposed symbology.
In R. Jensen & D. Neumeister (Eds.), Proceedings of the Seventh International
Symposium on Aviation Psychology , 1, 81-88.
Shelden, S. G., Foyle, D. C., & McCann, R. S. (1997). Effects of scene-linked
symbology on flight performance. in Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics
Society 41st annual meeting (pp. 294-298).
Stolz, J., & McCann, R. S. (2000). Re-attending to the role of spatial attention
in visual word processing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception
and Performance, 26, 1320-1331.
Submitted for Publication:
Johnston, J. C., & McCann, R. S. On the locus of dual-task interference:
Is there a bottleneck at the stimulus identification stage? Accepted pending
revision, Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.
Lien, M. C., McCann, R. S., Allen, P. A., & Harrison, A. (2003). Not all
automaticities are created equal: Comparing Stroop and Simon Effects in the
Psychological Refractory Period Paradigm.
Lien, M. C., McCann, R. S., Ruthruff, E., & Proctor, R. Can ideomotor-compatible
tasks bypass the central bottleneck? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human
Perception and Performance (under revision).
Remington, R. W., McCann, R. S., & Folk, C. The effects of preparation on task processing: Retrieving task knowledge during on-line processing.
McCann, R. S., & McCandless,
J. (2001, June). Human factors challenges in the design of next generation spacecraft.
Presented at the 2001 Human.Systems Conference, Houston TX.
McCann, R. S., Remington, R. W. (2001, April). Task-switching interference and
PRP interference: Similarities and Differences. Invited presentation at the
Banff Annual Seminar in Cognitive Science, Banff, Alberta, Canada.
McCann, R. S., & Jones, K. M. (2001, March). Depicting wire hazards on moving
map displays: A test of two formats. Presented at the 11th international Symposium
on Aviation Psychology, Columbus Ohio.
McCann, R. S., Remington, R. W., & Folk, C. L (2000, November). Task expectancy
effects and task interference effects: Similarities and differences. Presented
at the annual meeting of the Psychonomics Society, New Orleans, LA.
McCann, R. S., Remington, & Folk, C. (1999, November). When Tasks Collide:
Effects of Task Preparation on Task Processing. Presented at the annual meeting
of the Psychonomics Society, Los Angeles, CA.
McCann, R. S., Foyle, D. C., & Hooey, B. (1999, April). Pilot interactions
with a display suite to support low-visibility taxi operations. Presented at
the RTA/HFM conference on directed energy threats, Tekirova, Turkey.
McCann, R. S., & Stolz, J. (1998, November) Re-attending to the role of
visual attention in visual word recognition. Presented at the annual meeting
of the Psychonomic Society, Dallas, TX.
McCann, R. S., Hooey, B., Parke, B., Foyle, D. C., Andre, A. D., & Kanki,
B (1998, Sept). An evaluation of the T-NASA system in full mission simulation.
Presented at the World Aviation Congress, Los Angeles, CA.
McCann, R. S., & Jordan, K. (1997, November) The distribution of attention
across the elements of complex visual displays. Presented at the 38th annual
meeting of the Psychonomics Society, Philadelphia PA.
McCann, R. S., Andre, A. D., Begault, D., Foyle, D. C., & Wenzel, E (1997,
September). Enhancing taxi performance under low visibility: Are moving maps
enough? Presented at the 41st annual meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics
Society, Albuquerque, NM.
McCann, R. S., Andre, A. D., & Battiste, V. (1996, October). Advanced navigation
aids in the flight deck. Presented at the World Aviation Congress, Los Angeles
CA.
McCann, R. S., & Foyle, D. C. (1995, May). Scene-linked symbology to enhance
situation awareness. Presented at the NATO-AGARD conference on Situation Awareness,
Brussels, Belgium.
McCann, R. S., Foyle, D. C., & Johnston, J.C. (1994, November). Is perceptual
grouping implicated in attentional selection? It depends. Presented at the 35th
annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society, St. Louis, Missouri.
McCann, R. S., & Foyle, D. C. (1994, October). Superimposed Symbology: Attentional
problems and design solutions. Presented at Aerotech 94, Los Angeles, CA.
McCann, R. S., Johnston, J. C., Foyle, D. C., & Lynch, J. (1993, November).
Shifting attention between visual domains: Evidence from Head-Up Displays. Presented
at the 34th annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Washington, D. C.
McCann, R. S., Lynch, J., Foyle, D. C., & Johnston, J. C. (1993, October).
Modeling attentional effects with Head-Up Displays. Presented at the 37th annual
meeting of the Human Factors and Engineering Society, Seattle, WA.
McCann, R. S., Foyle, D. C., & Johnston, J. C. (1993, April). Attentional
limits with Head-Up Displays. Presented at the Seventh international conference
on Aviation Psychology, Columbus, OH.
McCann, R. S., Johnston, J. C., & Remington, R. W. (1992, November). Dissociative
effects of two different attentional manipulations: Evidence for two attentional
bottlenecks. Presented at the annual meeting of the Psychonomics Society, St.
Louis, Missouri.
McCann, R. S., Folk, C. L, & Remington, R. (1991, November). When tasks
collide: How does preparing for one task affect performance on another? Presented
at the annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society, San Francisco, CA.
McCann, R. S., Folk, C. L., & Remington, R. (1991, June). Are the attentional
demands of word recognition modulated by word frequency? Presented to the annual
meeting of the Canadian Society for Brain, Behavior and Cognitive Science, Calgary
ALTA.
McCann, R. S., Folk, C. L., & Remington, R. W. (1991, June). Can task preparation
function as a single channel bottleneck? Presented at the second annual conference
on recent advances in the analysis of attention. University of California -
Davis, Davis, CA.
McCann, R. S., Folk, C. L., & Johnston, J. C. (1990, June). The role of
spatial attention in visual word recognition. Presented to the annual meeting
of the Canadian Psychological Association, Ottawa, Ontario.
McCann, R. S., & Johnston, J. C. (1989, November). The locus of processing
bottlenecks in the overlapping tasks paradigm. Presented at the annual meeting
of the Psychonomics Society, Atlanta GA.
McCann, R. S., Folk, C., L., & Johnston, J. C. (1989, April). Spatial attention
and word recognition. Presented at the annual meeting of the Western Psychological
Association, Reno, NV.
McCann, R. S., & Johnston, J. C. (1988, November). Parallel processing in
the overlapping tasks paradigm. Presented at the annual meeting of the Psychonomic
Society, Chicago, IL.
McCann, R. S., Besner, D., & Davelaar, E. (1987, June). Lexical access without
word frequency effects in lexical decision. Presented at the annual meeting
of the Canadian Psychological Association, Vancouver, B.C.
McCann, R. S., & Besner, D. (1986, June). On the locus of word frequency
effects in visual word recognition: A new interpretation. Presented at the annual
meeting of the Canadian Psychological Association, Toronto, ONT.
McCann, R. S., & Besner, D. (1985, November). The locus of word-frequency
effects in word naming and production: a new interpretation. Presented at the
annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Chicago, IL.