LEVI Engagment Hub
The ACC Lab supports several teams, including Rising Academy Network, Carnegie Learning, Eedi, Carnegie Mellon University, Khan Academy, University of Colorado Boulder, and University of Florida, as part of the Learning Engineering Virtual Institute (LEVI) engagement hub. We lead initiatives to understand key elements driving student engagement and to develop effective interventions for various educational contexts. We work with teams to improve math learning for middle school students, especially from low-income families.
Eye MindWander Database
The Eye MindWander database consists of data collected from studies examining the relationship between eye movements and mind wandering. This data has been collected from a diverse population in terms of age, gender, and race. It is open source to increase accessibility for researchers who do not have access to data or who are unfamiliar with eye-tracking to further research aimed at understanding the relationship between eye movements and mind wandering.
Study of Spontaneous Thought
While trying to concentrate on something, you often might catch yourself thinking about something completely different. Maybe your mind was wandering from topic to topic, or it could be getting pulled towards a Halloween party you are excited about next week! Even if two people have the same exact thought, the way they feel about it and how that thought influences them can be completely different. We study these subjective experiences, also called as phenomenology of thought, using experimental methods that involve affect, mental health, memory recalls, and virtual reality.
Reward Devaluation Study
We look at how reward devaluation theory (RDT) influences the behavior of individuals with depressive symptoms in everyday contexts. By innovating new research methods, we investigate how these individuals may avoid positive information, which can significantly impact their daily experiences. Our findings highlight the relevance of RDT in understanding cognitive biases and suggest potential applications for accommodating individuals experiencing depressive symptoms in clinical and educational settings.