Staff

Dr.Graham Edgar
BSc (Hons) (University of York), PhD (University of Keele), PGCFHE (University of Gloucestershire)

Position
Reader in Psychology

Contact
Email: gedgar@glos.ac.uk
Postal: University of Gloucestershire, Department of Natural and Social Sciences, Francis Close Hall Campus, Swindon Road, Cheltenham, GL50 4AZ
Phone: +44 (0)1242 714807

Biography
I work in the general area of cognitive psychology, with particular interests in the areas of perception and situation awareness (SA).  Current research includes studies of driver behaviour and the development of techniques for measuring SA.

Before joining the University of Gloucestershire, I led the BAE SYSTEMS work programme: 'Adaptive human-machine interfaces and functional state assessment'.  This programme aimed to provide unobtrusive, real time and predictive monitoring of human performance that could be used to drive adaptive automation and to optimise performance.

I have developed a new approach to measuring situation awareness known as QUASA (Quantitative Analysis of Situation Awareness) that has been adopted by BAE SYSTEMS. This allows the assessment of SA in a wide range of situations from military command and control to driving.  Both theoretical development and practical application of this tool are ongoing.

On a lighter note, my hobbies include collecting paperweights, playing tennis, and wine tasting (although not usually at the same time...).

Professional positions held (past 10 years).
1990 -2002.  Principal Scientist, Advanced Technology Centre Sowerby, BAE SYSTEMS.

Current Research
Founder member of the Centre for Research in Applied Cognition, Knowledge, Learning and Emotion (CRACKLE).

My main research area at present concerns ways of assessing situation awareness.  This work is conducted in collaboration with Dr Di Catherwood and is being funded by a grant of £247,000 awarded under the MoD’s Competition of Ideas.  The aim of the project is to develop methodology for measuring SA (mentioned above) and to link this to EEG measurements.

Other grants include a British Academy-Australian Academy of Social Sciences collaborative grant with Di Catherwood (University of Gloucestershire) and Dr. S. Loft (University of Queensland) assessing the effects of fatigue on components of visual attention important in the performance of pilots on long-haul flights.

Other collaborative projects are in the general area of information handling by individuals and teams, and involve collaborations with Bristol University, United Bristol Healthcare Trust, and GCHQ.

Further research is also being conducted into developing new methods to assess the effectiveness of active learning techniques. 

Other work includes links with the Gloucestershire police concerned with driver behaviour. 

Completed Research Projects (selection)
Study funded by the Transport Research Laboratory to examine driver behaviour.
Study funded by DERA (now QinetiQ) to examine human factors issues associated
with the use of a laser-scanned display.
Measurement of situation awareness in a command and control environment.
Measurement of situation awareness in computer-mediated interaction.
Investigating visual attention in infants.
Assessment of stereo workbench.
Studying training using fMRI.
Cognitive and visual accommodation issues with advanced displays (HUDs, HMDs).
Temporal aliasing in displays.

Honours/memberships of Societies, Institutions, committees
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society.
Chartered Psychologist.
Member of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
Member of the Applied Vision Association.
BAE SYSTEMS Chairman's Award for Innovation x 3
Member of NATO panel RTO HFM-056/TG-008 on Operator Functional State Assessment (2001-2003)
BBSRC/EPSRC collaborative initiative committee (2000-2002)
EPSRC. Member of human factors strategy review panel (1998 - 2000)

Other qualifications
Wine & Spirit Education Trust Certificate.
British Sign Language (stage 1).
NCFE Certificate in sign language (Level equivalence: NVQ level 2).

Publications since 2000

Edgar, G. K., Edgar, H. E., & Ward, P. A. (In press). The effect of viewing a laser-scanned display on colour perception and the visual accommodation response. Displays.

Edgar G. K. (2007). Accommodation, cognition, and virtual image displays: a review of the literature.  Displays.  28, 45-59.

Edgar, G. K., & Edgar, H. E. (2007). Using Signal Detection Theory to Measure Situation Awareness: The Technique, The Tool (QUASATM), the TEST, the Way Forward. In J. Noyes & M. Cook (Eds.), Decision making in complex environments. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.  373-385.

Edgar, G. K., Edgar, H. E., & Pike, G. (2006). Perception. In D. Groome (Ed.), An Introduction to Cognitive Psychology (2nd ed.). London, UK: Psychology Press. 21-64.

Pike, G., & Edgar, G. K. (2005). Perception. In N. Braisby & A. Gellatly (Eds.), Cognitive Psychology (pp. 71-112). Oxford: Oxford University Press. 71-112.

McGuinness B., & Edgar G. K. (2003). Measuring situation awareness.  In G. Wilson & R. Schlegel (Eds.), Operator functional state assessment: optimizing systems performance: NATO RTO AC/323 (HFM-104)TP/48.

Pike, G. and Edgar, G. K. (In press) Perception.  In:  Cognitive Psychology.  Course text for OU course DD303 (Cognitive psychology).

Edgar G. K. (2002) Perception and Attention. In: Mapping Psychology Vol. 2.  D. Miell, A. Phoenix and K. Thomas (eds). The Open University. 1-50. Course text for DSE 212, Exploring psychology.

Wolffsohn J. S., Edgar G. K. and McBrien N. A. (2001) Using diplopia as a warning of an inappropriate visual (ocular) accommodative response (WIVAR). Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine.  72, 652-658.

Wolffsohn J.S., Gilmartin B., Hunt O.A. and Edgar G.K. (2001) Using Photoretinoscopy to Measure the Binocular Oculomotor Response to Monocular Virtual Image Displays.  In: Vision in Vehicles IX. A.G. Gale (ed). Elsevier.

Edgar, G. K., Edgar, H. E., & Curry, M. B. (2003). Using signal detection theory to measure situation awareness in command and control. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 47th Annual Meeting, Denver, Colorado. 2019-2023

Edgar, G. K., Stone, H. E., Wolffsohn, J., Hunt, O., & Ward, P. (2001). Visual response to a laser-scanned display. Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Cognitive Science, Beijing, China. 245.

Edgar G.K., Smith A.J., Stone H.E., Beetham D.L., Pritchard C., (2000) QUASA: QUantifying and Analysing Situational Awareness. Proceedings of the IMCD People in Digitized Command and Control Symposium, RMCS Shrivenham, UK. 12-14 Dec, 2000. CD-ROM.

Edgar G. K. (2000) Cogno-sensory interaction in the closed cockpit.  In Countering the directed energy threat: are closed cockpits the ultimate answer?  NATO RTO Proceedings 30, RTO-MP-30, AC/323(HFM)TP/10. 25-1 - 25-5.