David B. Boles, Professor of Psychology

I am working to identify the full set of mental processes that are predominantly lateralized to one hemisphere or the other of the brain, and to explore their impact on human performance. This work brings together my interests in the areas of neuroscience, cognition, and human factors.

A number of years ago I began the search for structure within hemispheric processes by administering moderately large sets of lateralized tasks to the same subjects and factor analyzing the results. To date 14 such processes have been identified, some of which can be related to neuropsychological literature indicating approximate localizations in the cerebral cortex.

The tasks essentially constitute a test battery of lateralized function, and Lindsey Adair used it in her Masters thesis research to find that middle school children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) show specific problems with attentional processes in the frontal and parietal lobes. Yet Anne-Marie Joubert showed in her Honors thesis research that the parietal lobe problem disappears by early adulthood. Similarly, Tanya Turan and I applied the battery to a sample of adult developmental dyslexics. Counterintuitively, we found that dyslexic readers show normal lateralization where one might expect unusual results (i.e., in visual lexical processing), but lateralization the reverse of that in normal readers in spatial quantitative processing. The result has some potentially important implications for understanding cortical development, and particularly the influence of one brain area on another during development.

Spatial quantitative processing is interesting, because the same process appears to underlie our understanding of bargraphs and our understanding of the numbers represented by dot clusters like those on dice. Research I've published with Jeff Phillips and Somer Givens shows that a kind of fast counting is involved in spatial quantitative processing, either "stepwise" in bargraphs or of dots in dot clusters.

At the same time we have been examining the impact of the lateralized processes we've identified, on human performance. Processes possess resources, and tasks using similar resources interfere more than those that don't. This enabled development of an instrument called the Multiple Resources Questionnaire (MRQ) to measure the resources used by tasks. With other students, Lindsey Adair, Jeff Phillips, and I have confirmed that the questionnaire approach works: Overlap in resources as quantified by the MRQ predicts the amount of interference between simultaneously performed tasks, whether the tasks are simple laboratory exercises or more complex video games.

Finally, my work indicates that practice can occur within resources, so that training a target task can partially proceed by practicing a different task with the same resource profile. In practical terms, this "resource training" suggests that the danger or expense of training a target task on-line or using high- fidelity simulation can be substantially reduced by substituting a simpler task with a similar resource structure.  In his thesis work, Michael Dillard has shown that alternating tasks that use shared resources results in cross-transfer of training between them.

Boles, D.B., & Penn, C.E. (2010). Resource training using alternating tasks. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 54, 2357-2360.

Boles, D.B., Adair, L.P., & Joubert, A.-M. (2009). A preliminary study of lateralized processing in Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder.  Journal of General Psychology, 136, 243-258.

Dillard, M., & Boles, D.B. (2009). Interference between visuospatial dual tasks and the effects of training. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 53, 1888-1892.

Finomore, V.S., Shaw, T.H., Warm, J.S., Matthews, G., Weldon, D., & Boles, D.B. (2009). On the workload of vigilance: Comparison of the NASA-TLX and the MRQ. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 53,

Boles, D.B., Barth, J.M., & Merrill, E.C. (2008). Asymmetry and performance: Toward a neurodevelopmental theory.

Brain & Cognition, 66, 124-139.

Finomore, V.S., Shaw, T.H., Warm, J.S., Matthews, G., Riley, M.A., Boles, D.B., & Weldon, D. (2008). Measuring the workload of sustained attention: Further validation of the Multiple Resources Questionnaire.  Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 52, 1209-1213.

Boles, D.B., Phillips, J.B., & Givens, S.M. (2007). What dot clusters and bargraphs reveal: Subitizing is fast counting and subtraction.  Perception & Psychophysics, 69, 913-922.

Voyer, D., & Boles, D.B. (2007). Fixation and attention control in lateralized target detection and free recall with words. Laterality, 12, 428-448.

Boles, D.B., Bursk, J.H., Phillips, J.B., & Perdelwitz, J.R. (2007). Predicting dual-task performance with The Multiple Resources Questionnaire (MRQ).  Human Factors, 49, 32-45.

Boles, D.B., & Phillips, J.B. (2007). A reply to the methodological and theoretical concerns of Vidulich and Tsang.  Human Factors, 49, 50-52.

Boles, D.B. (2006).  Multiple resources. In W. Karwowski (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Ergonomics and Human Factors. Taylor & Francis, 2nd edition, v. 1, 442-448.

Boles, D.B. (2005). A large-sample study of sex differences in functional cerebral lateralization. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 27, 759-768.

Boles, D.B., Phillips, J.B., Bursk, J.H., & Perdelwitz, J.R. (2004).  Application of the Multiple Resources Questionnaire (MRQ) to a complex gaming environment. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 48, 1968-1972.

Phillips, J.B., & Boles, D.B. (2004). Multiple Resources Questionnaire and Workload Profile: Application of competing models to subjective workload measurement. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 48, 1963-1967.

Rilea, S.L., Roskos-Ewoldsen, B., & Boles, D.B. (2004). Sex differences in spatial ability: A lateralization of function approach.  Brain and Cognition, 56, 332-343.

Boles, D.B. & Turan, T.N. (2003). Multiprocess lateralization in dyslexia. Laterality, 8, 155-167.

Boles, D.B. (2002). Lateralized spatial processes and their lexical implications. Neuropsychologia, 40, 2125-2135.

Boles, D.B., & Adair, L.P. (2001). The Multiple Resources Questionnaire (MRQ). Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 45, 1790-1794.

Boles, D.B., & Adair, L.P. (2001). Validity of the Multiple Resources Questionnaire (MRQ). Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 45, 1795-1799.

Boles, D.B. (2001). Multiple resources. In W. Karwowski (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Ergonomics and Human Factors. Taylor & Francis, 271-275.

Boles, D.B. (2000). The "lumping" and "splitting" of function and brain. Brain and Cognition, 42, 23-25.

Boles, D.B. (1999). The role of target task pre-exposure in resource training. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 43rd Annual Meeting, 1166-1170.

Boles, D.B. (1998). Relationships among multiple task asymmetries: I. A critical review. Brain and Cognition, 36, 253-267.

Boles, D.B. (1998). Relationships among multiple task asymmetries: II. A large-sample factor analysis. Brain and Cognition, 36, 268-289.

Boles, D.B. & Law, M.B. (1998). A simultaneous task comparison of differentiated and undifferentiated hemispheric resource theories. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 24, 204-215.

Boles, D.B. (1997). Multiple resource contributions to training.  Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 41st Annual Meeting, 1176-1179.

Boles, D.B. (1996). Factor analysis and the cerebral hemispheres: "Unlocalized" functions.  Neuropsychologia, 34, 723-736.

Boles, D.B., & Karner, T.A. (1996). Hemispheric differences in global versus local processing: Still unclear.  Brain and Cognition, 30, 232-243.

Boles, D.B., & Pasquarette, S.J. (1996). Correlated auditory asymmetries in lexical and nonlexical tasks.  Cortex, 32, 537-545.

Boles, D.B. (1995). Parameters of the bilateral effect.  In F.L. Kitterle (Ed.) Hemispheric Communication: Mechanisms and Models, pp. 211-230.  Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Boles, D.B. (1994). An experimental comparison of stimulus type, display type, and input variable contributions to visual field asymmetry. Brain and Cognition, 24, 184-197.

Boles, D.B. (1993). Visual field effects of classical migraine. Brain and Cognition,  21, 181-191.

Boles, D.B., & Rashid, R. (1993). Spatial frequency masking of lateralized word recognition. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 31, 563-565.

Boles, D.B. (1992). Factor analysis and the cerebral hemispheres: Temporal, occipital, and frontal functions. Neuropsychologia, 30, 963-988.

Boles, D.B. (1992). Fast visual generation: Its nature and chronometrics. Perception & Psychophysics, 51, 239-246.

Boles, D.B. (1991). Factor analysis and the cerebral hemispheres: Pilot study and parietal functions. Neuropsychologia, 29, 59-91.

Boles, D.B. (1990). What bilateral displays do. Brain and Cognition, 12, 205-228.

Dayton, T., & Boles, D.B. (1990). No difference in cerebral hemispheric asymmetry of meditators versus nonmeditators. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 28, 211-214.

Jaynes, L.S., & Boles, D.B. (1990). The effect of symbols on warning compliance. Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, 34th Annual Meeting,  984-987.

Boles, D.B. (1989). Do visual field asymmetries intercorrelate? Neuropsychologia, 27, 697-704.

Boles, D.B. (1989). Word attributes and lateralization revisited: Implications for dual coding and discrete versus continuous processing. Memory & Cognition, 17, 106-114.

Boles, D.B., & Clifford, J.E. (1989). An upper- and lower-case alphabetic similarity matrix. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 21, 579-586.

Boles, D.B. (1988). Voice recognition with the Apple-Psych system. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 20, 158-163.

Boles, D.B. & Morelli, M.L. (1988). Hemispheric sensitivity to spatial frequencies. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 26, 552-555.

Boles, D.B. (1987). Reaction time asymmetry through bilateral versus unilateral stimulus presentation. Brain and Cognition, 6, 321-333.

Boles, D.B. & Ruffles, J.W. (1987). Multiple resources theory and  correlated displays. Proceedings of the 2nd Annual Conference on User System Interfaces, 27-35.

Boles, D.B. & Wickens, C.D. (1987). Display formatting in information integration and nonintegration tasks. Human Factors, 29, 395-406.

Boles, D.B. (1986). Confusion and visual field effects in rhyme and name letter matching. Perception & Psychophysics, 39, 123-128.

Boles, D.B. (1986). Hemispheric differences in the judgment of number. Neuropsychologia, 24, 511-519.

Boles, D.B. & Bagnara, S. (1986). Proximity grouping and information processing of visual displays. Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, 30th Annual Meeting, 781-785.

Boles, D.B. & Dewar, R. (1986). Nationality and handedness differences  in stereotypes for control movements. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Human Factors Association of Canada.

Boles, D.B. (1985). The effects of display and report order asymmetries on lateralized word recognition. Brain and Language, 26, 106-116.

Boles, D.B. (1984). Global versus local processing: Is there a hemispheric dichotomy? Neuropsychologia, 22, 445-455.

Boles, D.B. (1984). Sex in lateralized tachistoscopic word recognition. Brain and Language, 23, 307-317.

Boles, D.B., Bagnara, S., Simion, F., & Umilta, C. (1984). Hemispheric mediation of same-different judgments: A reply. Perception & Psychophysics, 35, 596-600.

Boles, D.B. & Hellige, J.B. (1984). Case effects in letter-name matching: A partial replication. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 22, 23-25

Wickens, C.D., Goettl, B., & Boles, D. (1984). Multiple resources and display formatting: The implications of task integration in a simulated air traffic control task. University of Illinois Psychology Laboratory Technical Report EPL-84-5/ONR-84-4.

Bagnara, S., Boles, D.B., Simion, F. & Umilta, C. (1983). Symmetry and similarity effects in the comparison of visual patterns. Perception & Psychophysics, 34, 578-584.

Boles, D.B. (1983). Dissociated imageability, concreteness, and familiarity in lateralized word recognition. Memory & Cognition, 11, 511-519.

Boles, D.B. (1983). Hemispheric interaction in visual field asymmetry. Cortex, 19, 99-114.

Boles, D.B. (1983). Memory by any other name? Contemporary Psychology, 28, 755-756.

Boles, D.B. & Eveland, D.C. (1983). Visual and phonetic codes, and the process of generation in letter matching. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 9, 657-674.

Boles, D.B. & Wickens, C.D. (1983). A comparison of homogeneous and heterogeneous display formats in information integration and nonintegration tasks. University of Illinois Engineering Psychology Laboratory Technical Report EPL-83-6/ONR-83-6.

Wickens, C.D. & Boles, D.B. (1983). The limits of multiple resource theory: The role of task correlation/integration in optimal display formatting. University of Illinois Psychology Laboratory Technical Report EPL-83-5/ONR-83-5.

Bagnara, S., Boles, D.B., Simion, F., & Umilta, C. (1982). Can an analytic/holistic dichotomy explain hemispheric asymmetries? Cortex, 18, 67-78.

Bagnara, S., Boles, D., Simion, F., & Umilta, C. (1982). Intraitem and interitem symmetries in same responses to pairs of letters. The 8th Congress of the International Ergonomics Association Proceedings, 667-668.

Boles, D.B., Rogers, S., & Wymer, W. (1982). Age of acquisition and visual field asymmetry in word recognition. Perception & Psychophysics, 32, 486-490.

Boles, D.B. (1981). Variability in letter-matching asymmetry. Perception & Psychophysics, 29, 285-288.

Boles, D.B. (1980). X-linkage of spatial ability: A critical review. Child Development, 51, 625-635.

Boles, D.B. (1979). Laterally biased attention with concurrent verbal load: Multiple failures to replicate. Neuropsychologia, 17, 353-361.