Recent and Ongoing Projects

Below are some of my ongoing and recent research projects in collaboration with both academic and industrial partners.

Human cognition in cybersecurity

I am collaborating with the cyber-range team of FRUIT (Université de Poitiers, IRIAF) on studying how to improve the training of multiple actors involved in managing cybersecurity crises. I supervised (starting 2023) a two-year post-doc in cognitive ergonomics / HCI, with the purpose of defining the best immersive and effective learning scenarios to foster multi-expert collaboration.

See also:

Cognitive processes of reading comics

Comics are a popular and ubiquitous medium in many countries. One might assume that reading comics must be easy, given their widespread use as a form of graphic communication. However, recent research in cognitive psychology and linguistics has revealed that the cognitive processes behind comics are complex. Specifically, our findings demonstrate that reading comics is significantly influenced not only by the reader’s expertise but also by the type of comics and their presentation layout.

See also:

  • Kérouel, L. & Louveton, N. (2023). Does full-page view when reading comics improve understanding?: Studying the effect of panels’ visibility and reader’s expertise on reading time and understanding of two comic books excerpts. The 33rd Annual Meeting of the Society for Text and Discourse, Oslo, Norway. Abstract PDF Poster PDF

Virtual reality in the industry

The INTEROPS project is a collaboration with the robotic team (RoBioSS) of the Pprime Institute at the University of Poitiers. We are studying and evaluating a human-robot collaboration interface in an industrial context. This interface utilizes virtual or mixed reality and haptic feedback. The goal is to design interaction situations that facilitate task sharing with the robot, reducing the user’s mental efforts (cognitive load) without compromising task control or the overall user experience.

See also:

  • Desvergnes, M., Louveton, N., Scotto, C., Belhassein, K., Vulliez, M., Laguillaumie, P., Preault, c., Pylouster, J., Gazeau, J.-P., Le Bigot, L. (2023). Développement d’un scénario de maintenance industriel, écologique et reproductible pour l’évaluation ergonomique des interfaces humain-machine et de la charge mentale.Conférence Ergo’IA 2023, Biarritz, France.
  • A press article on the project (in French).

AI embodiment in the autonomous car

Autonomous driving offers the promise of reducing the driver’s workload by taking over certain driving tasks, though achieving full automation will require considerable time and development. An important aspect is to enhance the AI’s perception and understanding of human users. I contributed to the CMI project in collaboration with the IRT SystemX and the University of Bordeaux Montaigne. In this project, our focus was to explore the optimal embodiment that fosters acceptability, trust, and safety in a virtual driving assistant.

See also:

  • Lawson-Guidigbe, C., Louveton, N., Amokrane-Ferka, K., LeBlanc, B., & Andre, J. M. (2023). Embodying a Virtual Agent in a Self-Driving Car: A Survey-Based Study on User Perception of Trust, Likeability, and Anthropomorphism. International Journal of Mobile Human Computer Interaction. 15(1). DOI: 10.4018/IJMHCI.330542 Download: HTML PDF
  • Lawson-Guidigbe, C., Louveton, N., Amokrane-Ferka, K., LeBlanc, B., & Andre, J. M. (2020). Impact of visual embodiment on trust for a self-driving car virtual agent: a survey study and design recommendations. In HCI International 2020-Posters: 22nd International Conference, HCII 2020, Copenhagen, Denmark, July 19–24, 2020, Proceedings, Part III 22 (pp. 382-389). Springer International Publishing.