Contact Information:
Department of Psychology and Communication Studies
Student Health Building 008A
University of Idaho
Moscow, ID 83844-3043
phone: (208) 885-9241
fax: (208) 885-7710
swerner@uidaho.edu
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People >
Dr. Steffen Werner
Personal Background and Interests
Since I started studying psychology and mathematics in 1986 in Göttingen, Germany,
I have always been fascinated by questions on how the way the human mind works. My main
research interests currently focus on how humans experience, communicate and remember spatial information for
such varied tasks as spatial navigation and wayfinding, communicating spatial information in forms
of maps or language, and accessing stored spatial information from memory. From a human factors
perspective, I am particularly interested in ways to improve spatial displays and interfaces for
navigational tasks and situations requiring the remote spatial control of devices (e.g., surveillance,
tele-surgery). I also am interested
in the ways remembered spatial information can serve as a basis for spatially directed actions,
such as walking and grasping.
Since 1996 I have been Principle Investigator on a research project focussing on the
role of different reference systems in human spatial memory. This research, which was conducted
at my old lab at the University of
Göttingen, is part of the German Science Foundation's
ongoing spatial cognition research initiative.
Here at the University of Idaho my students and I are using
different virtual environments and head-mounted displays
to experimentally test the role of geometrical features of environments on the organization of spatial memory.
Together with students from the dept. of architecture we are
also investigating the implications of different floor plans and room-numbering systems
on wayfinding issues. More information about current research projects are available on my
lab's web site at http://www.uidaho.edu/~swerner/sclab
Selected Publications
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Trautwein, U. & Werner, S. (2001). Old Paintings, New Technology: Does Instructive Animation Make Sense in Art Education?
Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia. (in press)
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Werner, S. & Thies, B. (2000). Is "change blindness" attenuated by domain-specific expertise?
An expert-novices comparison of change detection in football images.
Visual Cognition, 7, 163-173.
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Werner, S., Krieg-Brückner, B., & Herrmann, T. (2000). Modelling spatial knowledge by route graphs.
In C. Freksa, W. Brauer, C. Habel, & K.F. Wender (Eds.),
Spatial Cognition II - Integrating Abstract Theories, Empirical Studies,
Formal Methods, and Practical Applications, LNAI 1849
(pp. 295-316). Berlin: Springer.
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Werner, S. & Schmidt, K. (1999). Environmental reference systems for large-scale spaces.
Spatial Cognition and Computation, 1(4), 447-473.
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For a full list of research publications go to my publications page
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Courses I teach
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Technology, Design, and the Human User [PSYC 204|404]
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Human-Computer Interaction [PSYC 562|404]
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Advanced Research Methods [PSYC 585]
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Research Methods in the Behavioral Sciences [PSYC 218]
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DS: Visuo-Spatial Cognition [PSYC 499]
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DS: Virtual Environments [PSYC 499]
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DS: Cognitive Principles of Architectural Research [PSYC 499]
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Important links
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