Stephanie Balters

Stanford University | SU · School of Medicine

Gender-based microaggressions have been associated with persistent disparities between women and men in academia. Little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying those often subtle and unintentional yet detrimental behaviors. Here, we assessed the neural responses to gender-based microaggressions in 28 early career faculty in medicine (N = 1...

Expressing appreciation is essential for establishing interpersonal closeness, but virtual interactions are increasingly common and create social distance. Little is known about the neural and inter-brain correlates of expressing appreciation and the potential effects of virtual videoconferencing on this kind of interaction. Here, we assess inter-b...

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is an optical imaging technique for assessing human brain activity by noninvasively measuring the fluctuation of cerebral oxygenated- and deoxygenated-hemoglobin concentrations associated with neuronal activity. Owing to its superior mobility, low cost, and good tolerance for motion, the past few decade...

Organizational research demonstrates that team interpersonal closeness enhances team performance and creativity. Design thinking practitioners and educators have adopted the concepts of interpersonal closeness and developed priming activities to propel subsequent creative-innovation tasks. In recent years it has become paramount that these activiti...

A growing number of social interactions are taking place virtually on videoconferencing platforms. Here, we explore potential effects of virtual interactions on observed behavior, subjective experience, and neural “single-brain” and “interbrain” activity via functional near-infrared spectroscopy neuroimaging. We scanned a total of 36 human dyads (7...

Making a successful pitch to investors is vital to the success of startups. Improving pitch performance in women entrepreneurs might be an effective mechanism to close gender disparity in entrepreneurship. Drawing on social neuroscience studies, we present our scientific approach to shedding light on the role of "inter-brain synchrony" between wome...

Design Neurocognition is an emerging research field that aims to elucidate the "black-box" of a designer's mind through the use of brain imaging tools such as electroencephalography (EEG), functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). More than a decade worth of study has led to many interesting research findin...

Background Identifying neural activation patterns that predict youths' treatment response may aid in the development of imaging-based assessment of emotion dysregulation following trauma and foster tailored intervention. Changes in cortical hemodynamic activity measured with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) may provide a time and cost-...

Organizational research demonstrates that team interpersonal trust enhances team performance and creativity. Design thinking offers many interactive team events such as warm-up games that are aimed at increasing team trust and collaboration. While effective in practice, little is understood about the underlying brain mechanisms that facilitate inte...

contributed equally to this work. Assessment of brain function with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is limited to the outer regions of the cortex. Previously, we demonstrated the feasibility of inferring activity in subcortical "deep brain" regions using cortical functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and fNIRS activity in healt...

The purpose of this study is to extend the small number of applied research studies in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) sensor control to a more ecologically valid human performance application set (i.e., airborne object tracking). In this study, United States Naval Aviators and Aircrew (N = 8) assumed the role of a sensor operator for a simulated unm...

In-car passive stress sensing could enable the monitoring of stress biomarkers while driving and reach millions of commuters daily (i.e., 123 million daily commuters in the US alone). Here, we present a nonintrusive method to detect stress solely from steering angle data of a regular car. The method uses inverse filtering to convert angular movemen...

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a non-invasive neuroimaging technique with the potential to enable the assessment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) brain biomarkers in an affordable and portable manner. Consistent with biological models of PTSD, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and fNIRS studies of adults with tra...

Hyperscanning with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is an emerging neuroimaging application that measures the nuanced neural signatures underlying social interactions. Researchers have assessed the effect of sex and task type (e.g., cooperation versus competition) on inter-brain coherence during human-to-human interactions. However, no...

The ubiquity of technology in today’s world is exemplified by our ability to connect with each other instantly all around the globe. Advances in video conferencing capabilities combined with dramatic socio-dynamic shifts brought about by COVID-19 have redefined the ways in which humans interact in modern society. Human reliance on effective virtual...

How two brains communicate with each other during social interaction is highly dynamic and complex. Multi-person (i.e., hyperscanning) studies to date have focused on analyzing the entire time series of brain signals to reveal an overall pattern of inter-brain synchrony (IBS). However, this approach does not account for the dynamic nature of social...

In this book chapter, we present our scientific approach for applying the methods of fNIRS hyperscanning to decode distinct qualities of team interaction. Specifically, we are interested in detecting states of inter-brain synchrony that correlate with the behavioral states of cooperation and collaboration—terminologies which have been previously in...

As automobile manufacturers have begun to design, engineer, and test autonomous driving systems of the future, brain imaging with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) can provide unique insights about cognitive processes associated with evolving levels of autonomy implemented in the automobile. Modern fNIRS devices provide a portable, rela...

Many producers of automated vehicle systems have begun testing autonomous vehicles on the road. In order to ensure safety and prevent crashes, human drivers are enlisted to monitor autonomous vehicles. However, operators of autonomous systems exhibit negative behavior adaptations in response to prolonged supervision of automation. To prevent the on...

Flying an aircraft is a complex task that requires orchestrated contributions from distributed brain regions to accomplish the wide array of sensory, motor, and cognitive processes associated with successful aircraft operations. Visual processes include peripheral processing of optic flow from passing scenery upon takeoff and landing, foveal proces...

Advances in video conferencing capabilities combined with dramatic socio-dynamic shifts brought about by COVID-19, have redefined the ways in which humans interact in modern society. From business meetings to medical exams, or from classroom instruction to yoga class, virtual interfacing has permeated nearly every aspect of our daily lives. A seemi...

The understanding of stress and its impact on human performance is crucial to mitigate human error in the face of a threat. This is especially the case for critical incidents on a ship bridge, where human error can easily lead to severe danger for crew, cargo, and other vessels. To overcome the current limitations of robust objective stress measure...

Commutes provide an opportune time and space for interventions that mitigate stress-particularly stress accumulated during the workday. In this study, we test the efficacy and safety of haptic guided slow breathing interventions of short duration while driving. We also present design and experimental implications for evolving these interventions fr...

This is the first on-road study testing the efficacy and safety of guided slow breathing interventions in a car. This paper presents design and experimental implications when evolving from prior simulator to on-road scenarios. We ran a controlled study (N=40) testing a haptic guided breathing system in a closed circuit under stress and not-stressed...

This paper focuses on the larger question of when to administer in-car just-in-time stress management interventions. We look at the influence of driving-related stress to find the right time to provide personalized and contextually-aware interventions. We address this challenge with a data driven approach that takes into consideration driving-induc...

We present the use of in-car virtual reality (VR) as a way to create calm, mindful experiences for passengers and, someday, autonomous vehicle occupants. Specifically, we describe a series of studies aimed at exploring appropriate VR content, understanding the influence of car movement, and determining the length and other parameters of the simulat...

In this paper, we explore the delivery of fast breathing interventions in a driving context, given the proven effects of high-paced breathing on autonomic arousal. Through in-lab simulator studies, we demonstrate the feasibility of using haptic guidance to increase breathing rate, intensity, and heart rate as well as subjective perceptions of alert...

In this paper, we explore the delivery of fast breathing interventions in a driving context, given the proven effects of high-paced breathing on autonomic arousal. Through in-lab simulator studies, we demonstrate the feasibility of using haptic guidance to increase breathing rate, intensity, and heart rate as well as subjective perceptions of alert...

Motivated by the idea that slow breathing practices could transform the automobile commute from a depleting, mindless activity into a calming, mindful experience, we introduce the first guided slow breathing intervention for drivers. We describe a controlled in-lab experiment (N=24) that contrasts the effectiveness and impact of haptic and voice gu...

Motivated by the idea that slow breathing practices could transform the automobile commute from a depleting, mindless activity into a calming, mindful experience, we introduce the first guided slow breathing intervention for drivers. We describe a controlled in-lab experiment (N =24) that contrasts the effectiveness and impact of haptic and voice g...

The advent of automated features in modern vehicles requires human factors researchers to find measures other than driving behavior to anticipate the response of drivers in various contexts. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is one research tool that allows us to quantify the driver's mental state. However, the underlying mechanisms of...

Information about drivers' mental states can be vital to the design of interfaces for highly automated vehicles. Functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a neuroimaging tool that is fast becoming popular to study the cortical activity of participants in HCI experiments and driving simulator studies in particular. The analysis methods of the...

Based on the data derived from a autonomous driving study in the high-end car simulator, we explore the sensitivity of task-induced motion artefacts on in situ (noisy) fNIRS data.

This work argues for the need to systematically include the olfactory dimension into product design/user centered design, notably during the pre-requirement fixation phase through early testing and prototyping.

This paper answers the design science's call for the systematical implementation of research methodology in order to empirically study the principles, practices and procedures of design. As a research methodology, experiments depend on robust study designs that quantify selected dependent variables, independent of time, location, or conducting rese...

This paper introduces a wayfaring process, previously deployed at early stage product development projects, in the exploration, design and piloting of experiments. The case example being an interaction experiment in a ship bridge context, targeting stress and affective response. It included a simulation task as primary and a cognitive load task as...

This paper presents the theoretical and practical fundamentals of using physiology sensors to capture human emotion reactivity in a products or systems engineering context. We aim to underline the complexity of regulating (internal and external) effects on the human body and highly individual physiological (emotion) responses and provide a starting...

This paper addresses the need to learn about the characteristics, functionalities, and intended purposes of prototypes by proposing a standardized framework to describe (1) the characteristics of prototypes and (2) their generated (intended) outcome in a quantified and generally applicable way. Text-analysis software enabled us to merge the diverse...

This paper addresses the need to quantify human-object interactions in order to get insights into the sensorial variables influencing the actual user-experiences in interaction and human centered design. The resulting framework is generally applicable and allows the exploration of more fundamental human-object interaction relationships, including b...

This paper describes and proposes a new method for conducting globally distributed design research. Instead of using e.g. a software we tried out a completely analogue approach: Five carefully prepared packages, containing all the necessary materials and instructions for a design challenge, were sent out to supervisors in Norway, Finland, Italy, an...

Owing to a reduction of energy consumption along with a decrease of pollutant gaseous and noise emissions, hybrid power train topologies have a high potential as eco-friendly and cost-efficient propulsion technology. The aim of this study is therefore to identify vehicle- and road-related parameters of hybrid city buses and to examine their impact...

Based on the work of Steven P. Dow & Scott R. Klemmer, "The efficacy of prototyping under time constraints " , a confirmatory experiment was conducted and two additional questions were investigated in a hypotheses generating, explorative way: How does iterating ideas affect the stress level of the participants while explaining their final design? A...

This paper counters the prevalent cognitive engineering decision-making paradigm by introducing fundamental and hitherto unaccounted results from neuroscience into the discussion: firstly decision-making is a process that is influenced by emotional (somatic marker) signals, secondly regulation of emotion is essential for rational decision-making, a...