Prof. Crowell currently is a professor emeritus in the Department of Psychology at the University of Notre Dame. Along with his empirical and theoretical work on basic mechanisms of learning and motivation, Prof. Crowell has focused on applications of psychology and technology to learning, productivity, and performance improvement in organizations. Prof. Crowell has published, lectured and consulted widely on topics including improving human performance in the workplace; management and leadership development, organizational culture change, and applications of technology for learning and performance enhancement.
ocial media addiction is a growing problem throughout the world. It has been characterized as a t... more ocial media addiction is a growing problem throughout the world. It has been characterized as a type of behavioral addiction, which can be measured using standardized criteria based on six general properties of addiction criteria: salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, conflict and relapse. Several studies have found a prevalence of approximately 10% for social media addiction in individuals across the globe, indicating that this problem is common and widespread. Deleterious effects of this disorder include depressive symptoms, increased anxiety, and a lowered sense of personal well-being. Social media addiction also has been linked to neuroplastic changes that diminish attention and impede an individual’s ability to focus. There many dimensions of social media that can foster addiction, including the exploitation of evolutionarily old urges to communicate and socialize, as well as intentional design of the user interface to hook users into constant use. There ...
This study examines the effect of error augmentation of center of pressure (CoP) visual feedback ... more This study examines the effect of error augmentation of center of pressure (CoP) visual feedback on the performance of a lateral weight shifting task. Error augmentation emphasizes deviations from a standard CoP trajectory generated from existing data of over 2000 weight shifts collected with young, healthy subjects. Thirty-six subjects completed nine lateral weight shifting sessions, of which four were training sessions between each of the five testing sessions. Half of the subjects received error augmentation feedback during the training sessions, while the other half received the unaltered, control feedback. The change in visual feedback did not affect the final steady state weight shifting performance. Instead, error augmentation feedback was found to drive subjects to their steady-state performance sooner than unaltered visual feedback. The emphasis on deviations from the standard trajectory with error augmentation appears to lead to reduced variation in shifting. This finding ...
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 1979
Two experiments were designed to determine the influence of behavior dur- ing shock on subsequent... more Two experiments were designed to determine the influence of behavior dur- ing shock on subsequent impairment of conventional shuttle escape-avoidance learning in the rat. Amount of activity during shock was manipulated by an explicit negative reinforcement procedure for ...
An adjustable restraining device is described. It provides for rapid confinement and release, min... more An adjustable restraining device is described. It provides for rapid confinement and release, minimizes discomfort to the subject, and does not require removing the animal's hair or using special electrodes to present shock. The implementation of many experimental paradigms necessitates the immobilization of animal subjects. But rats, in particular, are notoriously difficult to restrain, and existing techniques are not without deficiencies. In an early classical-conditioning study, Schlosberg (1934) tied rats over a wooden block in a straddling position by means of leather thongs around the legs, neck, and body. More recently, Lykken and Rose (1959) have described a similar arrangement in which rats were strapped to a contoured plastic platform by means of crisscrossed elastic bandages. Whereas methods such as these can be made to work, after a fashion, the processes of confinement and release are neither quick nor effortless. The simultaneous efforts of two experimenters may be required and/or the animals may have to be lightly anesthetized. In addition, the tie-down thongs or strings, if tight enough to prevent escape, occlude peripheral blood flow and are probably painful. Finally, the administration of electric shock requires the application of separate electrodes to the feet or tail. In a somewhat different method, developed by the E and M Instrument Company of Houston, Texas, the rat is confined under a plastic half-cylinder, escape in either direction being prevented by guillotinelike partitions. Mobility is further discouraged by needles thrust through the plastic and into the supporting base through folds of the animal's skin. These needles can be used as electrodes for cardiographic and plethysmographic recording, but the accompanying pain and irritation may exert a confounding influence on experimental outcomes. Some of these difficulties have been circumvented in a restraining device described by Anderson and Herman (1972) for guinea pigs, since the walls of the 'squeeze cage' can be adjusted to fit animals of different
The purpose of this article is to comment briefly on some observations and trends we have noted w... more The purpose of this article is to comment briefly on some observations and trends we have noted within the OBM movement as a way to offer a preview of a paper we will present at the upcoming ABA conference in May. Various aspects of the project we will present are at least loosely related to the observations and trends we identify herein. From our perspective, one clear trend is that OBM appears to be undergoing a period of “secularism ” wherein some of its more “sacred ” interventions are being questioned. Numbered among these “sacred ” traditions are the regular use by OBM practitioners of
Mitchell Kajzer, Charles R. Crowell, Angela Ferreira Department of Psychology University of Notre... more Mitchell Kajzer, Charles R. Crowell, Angela Ferreira Department of Psychology University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN USA mkajzer1@nd.edu, ccrowell@nd.edu, aferreir@nd.edu John D’Arcy Alfred Lerner College of Business & Economics University of Delaware Newark, DE USA jdarcy@udel.edu Dirk VanBruggen, Aaron Striegel Department of Computer Science & Engineering University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN USA dvanbrug@nd.edu, striegel@nd.edu
Dirk Van Bruggen Department of Computer Science and Engineering University of Notre Dame Notre Da... more Dirk Van Bruggen Department of Computer Science and Engineering University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana dvanbrug@nd.edu Shu Liu Department of Computer Science and Engineering University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana sliu6@nd.edu Aaron Striegel Department of Computer Science and Engineering University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana striegel@nd.edu Chuck Crowell Department of Psychology University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana ccrowell@nd.edu John D’Arcy Department of Business University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana jdarcy@nd.edu
An easily constructed isometric startle-recording system is described. The animal enclosure is at... more An easily constructed isometric startle-recording system is described. The animal enclosure is attached to a plywood board which, in turn, is mounted in a "springboard" arrangement. Movement is detected by a phonocartridge mounted beneath the chamber, and a digital record of this movement is obtained through the use of a voltage-to-frequency converter. A brief experiment in which the system was used to assess the rat's reaction to electric footshock is also presented. The startle responses of animals to brief, intense stimuli have been studied both in their own right and as possible indicants of the energizing effects of primary and secondary motivational variables. Devices for recording such responses typically involve enclosures mounted on resilient supports coupled to movement transducers and graphic recording equipment. As an example, in one instance (Brown, Kalish, & Farber, 1951), a confinement cage was mounted on a postage scale and the movements due to the rat&...
Robotics and human-robot interaction (HRI) are growing fields that may benefit from an expanded p... more Robotics and human-robot interaction (HRI) are growing fields that may benefit from an expanded perspective stimulated by more interdisciplinary contributions. One way to achieve this goal is to attract non-traditional students from the social sciences and humanities into these fields. This present paper describes two educational initiatives that focused on teaching non-engineering students about robotics and HRI. In one initiative, a group of younger students, including those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), received hands-on experience with robotics in a context that was not overly technical, while in the other initiative, college students in the social sciences and humanities learned about basic HRI concepts and developed robotics applications. Themes common to both initiatives were to reach non-technical students who are not traditional targets for robotics education and to focus their learning on creating interactive sequences for robots based on key HRI design considerations rather than on the underlying mechanical and electrical details related to how those sequences are enacted inside the robot. Both initiatives were successful in terms of producing desired learning outcomes and fostering participant enjoyment.
ocial media addiction is a growing problem throughout the world. It has been characterized as a t... more ocial media addiction is a growing problem throughout the world. It has been characterized as a type of behavioral addiction, which can be measured using standardized criteria based on six general properties of addiction criteria: salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, conflict and relapse. Several studies have found a prevalence of approximately 10% for social media addiction in individuals across the globe, indicating that this problem is common and widespread. Deleterious effects of this disorder include depressive symptoms, increased anxiety, and a lowered sense of personal well-being. Social media addiction also has been linked to neuroplastic changes that diminish attention and impede an individual’s ability to focus. There many dimensions of social media that can foster addiction, including the exploitation of evolutionarily old urges to communicate and socialize, as well as intentional design of the user interface to hook users into constant use. There ...
This study examines the effect of error augmentation of center of pressure (CoP) visual feedback ... more This study examines the effect of error augmentation of center of pressure (CoP) visual feedback on the performance of a lateral weight shifting task. Error augmentation emphasizes deviations from a standard CoP trajectory generated from existing data of over 2000 weight shifts collected with young, healthy subjects. Thirty-six subjects completed nine lateral weight shifting sessions, of which four were training sessions between each of the five testing sessions. Half of the subjects received error augmentation feedback during the training sessions, while the other half received the unaltered, control feedback. The change in visual feedback did not affect the final steady state weight shifting performance. Instead, error augmentation feedback was found to drive subjects to their steady-state performance sooner than unaltered visual feedback. The emphasis on deviations from the standard trajectory with error augmentation appears to lead to reduced variation in shifting. This finding ...
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 1979
Two experiments were designed to determine the influence of behavior dur- ing shock on subsequent... more Two experiments were designed to determine the influence of behavior dur- ing shock on subsequent impairment of conventional shuttle escape-avoidance learning in the rat. Amount of activity during shock was manipulated by an explicit negative reinforcement procedure for ...
An adjustable restraining device is described. It provides for rapid confinement and release, min... more An adjustable restraining device is described. It provides for rapid confinement and release, minimizes discomfort to the subject, and does not require removing the animal's hair or using special electrodes to present shock. The implementation of many experimental paradigms necessitates the immobilization of animal subjects. But rats, in particular, are notoriously difficult to restrain, and existing techniques are not without deficiencies. In an early classical-conditioning study, Schlosberg (1934) tied rats over a wooden block in a straddling position by means of leather thongs around the legs, neck, and body. More recently, Lykken and Rose (1959) have described a similar arrangement in which rats were strapped to a contoured plastic platform by means of crisscrossed elastic bandages. Whereas methods such as these can be made to work, after a fashion, the processes of confinement and release are neither quick nor effortless. The simultaneous efforts of two experimenters may be required and/or the animals may have to be lightly anesthetized. In addition, the tie-down thongs or strings, if tight enough to prevent escape, occlude peripheral blood flow and are probably painful. Finally, the administration of electric shock requires the application of separate electrodes to the feet or tail. In a somewhat different method, developed by the E and M Instrument Company of Houston, Texas, the rat is confined under a plastic half-cylinder, escape in either direction being prevented by guillotinelike partitions. Mobility is further discouraged by needles thrust through the plastic and into the supporting base through folds of the animal's skin. These needles can be used as electrodes for cardiographic and plethysmographic recording, but the accompanying pain and irritation may exert a confounding influence on experimental outcomes. Some of these difficulties have been circumvented in a restraining device described by Anderson and Herman (1972) for guinea pigs, since the walls of the 'squeeze cage' can be adjusted to fit animals of different
The purpose of this article is to comment briefly on some observations and trends we have noted w... more The purpose of this article is to comment briefly on some observations and trends we have noted within the OBM movement as a way to offer a preview of a paper we will present at the upcoming ABA conference in May. Various aspects of the project we will present are at least loosely related to the observations and trends we identify herein. From our perspective, one clear trend is that OBM appears to be undergoing a period of “secularism ” wherein some of its more “sacred ” interventions are being questioned. Numbered among these “sacred ” traditions are the regular use by OBM practitioners of
Mitchell Kajzer, Charles R. Crowell, Angela Ferreira Department of Psychology University of Notre... more Mitchell Kajzer, Charles R. Crowell, Angela Ferreira Department of Psychology University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN USA mkajzer1@nd.edu, ccrowell@nd.edu, aferreir@nd.edu John D’Arcy Alfred Lerner College of Business & Economics University of Delaware Newark, DE USA jdarcy@udel.edu Dirk VanBruggen, Aaron Striegel Department of Computer Science & Engineering University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN USA dvanbrug@nd.edu, striegel@nd.edu
Dirk Van Bruggen Department of Computer Science and Engineering University of Notre Dame Notre Da... more Dirk Van Bruggen Department of Computer Science and Engineering University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana dvanbrug@nd.edu Shu Liu Department of Computer Science and Engineering University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana sliu6@nd.edu Aaron Striegel Department of Computer Science and Engineering University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana striegel@nd.edu Chuck Crowell Department of Psychology University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana ccrowell@nd.edu John D’Arcy Department of Business University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana jdarcy@nd.edu
An easily constructed isometric startle-recording system is described. The animal enclosure is at... more An easily constructed isometric startle-recording system is described. The animal enclosure is attached to a plywood board which, in turn, is mounted in a "springboard" arrangement. Movement is detected by a phonocartridge mounted beneath the chamber, and a digital record of this movement is obtained through the use of a voltage-to-frequency converter. A brief experiment in which the system was used to assess the rat's reaction to electric footshock is also presented. The startle responses of animals to brief, intense stimuli have been studied both in their own right and as possible indicants of the energizing effects of primary and secondary motivational variables. Devices for recording such responses typically involve enclosures mounted on resilient supports coupled to movement transducers and graphic recording equipment. As an example, in one instance (Brown, Kalish, & Farber, 1951), a confinement cage was mounted on a postage scale and the movements due to the rat&...
Robotics and human-robot interaction (HRI) are growing fields that may benefit from an expanded p... more Robotics and human-robot interaction (HRI) are growing fields that may benefit from an expanded perspective stimulated by more interdisciplinary contributions. One way to achieve this goal is to attract non-traditional students from the social sciences and humanities into these fields. This present paper describes two educational initiatives that focused on teaching non-engineering students about robotics and HRI. In one initiative, a group of younger students, including those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), received hands-on experience with robotics in a context that was not overly technical, while in the other initiative, college students in the social sciences and humanities learned about basic HRI concepts and developed robotics applications. Themes common to both initiatives were to reach non-technical students who are not traditional targets for robotics education and to focus their learning on creating interactive sequences for robots based on key HRI design considerations rather than on the underlying mechanical and electrical details related to how those sequences are enacted inside the robot. Both initiatives were successful in terms of producing desired learning outcomes and fostering participant enjoyment.
There is a crisis of trust in our society today involving many professions, like policing, that o... more There is a crisis of trust in our society today involving many professions, like policing, that once were highly respected. Steps must be take to address this crisis in a definitive and effective way. This article describes two initiatives that have been implemented within the Michigan State Police that may serve as a model for how other policing agencies can respond effectively to this crisis. At least one of these initiatives also may have relevance for other public and private sector organizations and institutions. … Read more
Trust is increasingly eroded in our society today with devastating consequences. Now is the time ... more Trust is increasingly eroded in our society today with devastating consequences. Now is the time for us to reconsider what it means to trust, as well as to rethink the ways we can build trust to renew our faith in one another and in our institutions/agencies. In this paper, we first consider what trust is, then examine some impediments to trust, review the ways trust can be earned, and finally describe the methods and benefits of building trust using an effective method we believe is the X-factor in trust.
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