Education

• Ph.D. 2000, Arizona State University
• M.S. 1996, Wright State University
• B.A. 1988, University of Colorado, Boulder

• Specialty Areas: Dynamic systems approach to problems relating to hand-eye coordination in endoscopic (video) surgery, reading and elementary decision making.

Courses Taught

• Psy 320/L - Statistical Methods in Psychological Research & Lab
• Psy 420/L - Advanced Statistical Methods & Lab
• Psy 656 - Human Factors Seminar - Ecological Psychology
• Psy 678 A-B - Human Performance Research in Psychology

Selected Publications and Presentations

Holden, J. G. (2002). Fractal characteristics of response time variability. Ecological Psychology,14, 53-86.

Van Orden, G. C. & Holden, J. G. (2002). Intentional contents and self control. Ecological Psychology,14, 87-109.

Holden, J. G., Flach, J. M., & Donchin, Y. (1999). Perceptual-motor coordination in an endoscopic surgery simulation. Surgical Endoscopy-Ultrasound and Intervention Techniques, 13, 127-132.

 

Research and Interests

My research is concerned with learning how to evaluate and design work environments so that they can be used most effectively by people. I do research in two areas: hand-eye coordination in motor control, and the cognitive psychology of word recognition. 

Hand-eye coordination: I conduct laboratory research on people’s ability to learn new, unusual patterns of hand-eye coordination. For example, try to turn your computer mouse sideways and click an icon. It is difficult, the cursor goes in the wrong direction at first, but you can learn to do it with practice.  By understanding how people learn these simple tasks, we can understand how to train people to work effectively when their job requires them to work under similar conditions.  For example, you may be surprised to learn that endoscopic (video) sugreons must perform surgery under very similar circumstances! Research assistants in my lab are trained to help me collect data by running planned experiments, to do library research, and to help me analyze data. 

Word recognition: I am also interested in the psychology of word recognition, and I do research directed at understanding how people read.  Learning how skilled readers read helps us learn about what kinds of things get in the way when children have problems learning to read.  Research assistants in my lab are trained to help me collect data by running planned experiments, to do library research, and to help me analyze data.