University of Minnesota - Human Factors Research Laboratory

• Country - United States
• Town - Minneapolis
• Web site - http://www.hfrl.umn.edu

The Human Factors Research Laboratory at the University of Minnesota is part of the School of Kinesiology, in the College of Education and Human Development. The laboratory director, Thomas Stoffregen, is a member of the graduate faculty in both Kinesiology and Psychology. Thus, graduate students can do their research in the HFRL while pursuing the PhD in Kinesiology or in Psychology.

Human factors is a multidisciplinary field directed to the design and evaluation of human-machine systems. The HFRL supports research relating to a diverse array of human factors issues. The general theme of the HFRL is Perception and Action in Virtual Environments. The majority of research in the HFRL is motivated by the Ecological Approach to Human-Machine Systems, a theoretical perspective derived from the† Ecological Approach to Perception and Action.

The HFRL comprises a multidisciplinary team of researchers with extensive academic and industrial research and design experience. The mission of the HFRL is to be an open center of excellence for human factors research into the ecology of human-machine systems. The HFRL supports both general (i.e. "basic") and specific (i.e. "applied") research relating to perception and performance in virtual environments. The HFRL is affiliated with GRAVEL, the University of Minnesota's Game Research and Virtual Environment Lab.