Georgia Tech School of Psychology
Richard Catrambone

Ph.D. (1988) Experimental Psychology
University of Michigan

Professor of Psychology

Member of the Graphics, Visualization, and Usability (GVU) Center

I received my BA from Grinnell College in 1982 and my Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Michigan in 1988.

My research interests include:

  • Creating examples to help learners form meaningful and generalizable solution procedures. I and the students in my lab have explored this issue in domains ranging from probability and physics to ballet.

  • The use of task analysis techniques for identifying what a person needs to learn in order to solve problems or carry out procedures in some domain.

  • Using information from task analyses to guide the construction of teaching and training materials including computer-based (multimedia) instructional environments.

  • Exploring technology such as animations and embodied conversational agents (ECAs) for improving interfaces and helping people learn and carry out tasks more easily.

  • Analogical Reasoning

Affiliations

Association for Psychological Science, Cognitive Science Society, Psychonomic Society

Click here for selected publications

Consulting

  • Human Factors
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Instructional Design
  • Educational Technology

    • Examples:

  • Analysis of complex computer-based Army digital system. Purpose was to develop subgoal-oriented task analysis that could be used to guide trainers and instructional designers for the system.

  • Retained in connection with federal criminal prosecution and regulatory enforcement actions against former New York Stock Exchange specialists in order to identify the cognitive errors likely to occur in a complex trading environment. Prepared report and provided expert testimony in SEC regulatory proceeding.

  • Design and testing of materials for a Head Start program. Conducted task analysis on the materials and recommended changes based on the analysis.

  • Evaluation of a computer-based advice system for design tasks. Evaluated interface for ease of use and evaluated advice for clarity and correctness based on task analysis.
Human Factors
Expert Witness

Frequently Taught Courses

Psyc 1101 General Psychology
Psyc 3011 Cognitive Psychology
Psyc 7011 Graduate Seminar in Problem Solving

Click here for sample questions for Psyc 1101.

Click here for sample questions for Psyc 3011.

If you want pictures:

Me
Belle
Bear
FriendlyCat
Floyd the rat & me (during our college days)

Lab Information

Problem Solving and Educational Technology (PSET) Lab

Contact Information

Office Location : 125 Coon Building
Phone Number : 404-894-2682
E-mail : rc7@prism.gatech.edu
Richard Catrambone
School of Psychology
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0170
(404) 894-2682 Fax: (404) 894-8905
rc7@prism.gatech.edu