Professor John Flach began graduate school in psychology at Ohio State seeking reasons why things that seemed to come so easily to others were difficult for him. He completed his Ph.D. in 1984 under the guidance of Rich Jagacinski. Since 2004, he has been the Chair of the Psychology Department at Wright State University. His research spans perceptual-motor skill, manual control, decision-making, cognitive systems engineering, human-machine interface design (particularly in the domains of aviation, medicine, highway safety, learning with disabilities, and virtual reality), and ecological psychology.

Abstract
In this talk I will present a series of research studies on visual control of collisions. The studies include both ball hitting and vehicular control. The research challenges conventional approaches to space and time perception where space and time are specified using extrinsic measures (meters and/or sec). In contrast, it will be shown that the results from these studies can best be described in terms of intrinsic constraints of the perception/action system (i.e. optical flow and motion constraints). In this context, it will be suggested that a system that is lousy at perceiving distance and time can nevertheless exquisitely manage the control of motion.

This event is sponsored by HFES-UQ (The University of Queensland Student Chapter of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society)

Light catering will be provided.