Laboratory for Automation Psychology

It was housed in the University of Maryland, College Park's Department of Psychology and was devoted to the study of the cognitive side of the human/computer interface with an emphasis on the processes of judgment and decision making.

Research has covered a wide range of topics from menu selection to direct manipulation and from user satisfaction to computer rage.

Facilities included usability testing stations with dual monitor computers and video cameras as well as web servers hosting experimental materials and providing data collection.

The full range of video game consoles were added including the Sony PlayStation, Nintendo Wii, and Xbox.

Research in the LAP has been supported by corporations such as AT&T, Sperry, and IBM and by U.S. federal agencies such as NASA, NSF, NRL, and the U.S. Census Bureau.