Current projects in my lab

  • Creation, prototyping, and usability testing of an auditory assistive device that amplifies sounds coming from the direction of the user’s eye gaze
  • Development and evaluation of a sound source separation algorithm
  • Using eye gaze as an indicator of auditory spatial attention
  • Adaptive auditory warnings for smart vehicle interfaces
  • Using haptic systems to complement auditory perception
  • Using trans-Cranial Direct Stimulation (tDCS) to enhance auditory perception

Peer-reviewed journal articles

Sabic, E., Henning, D., Myuz, H., Morrow, A., Hout, M.H., & MacDonald, J. A. (2020). Examining the role of eye movements during conversational listening in noise. Frontiers in Psychology, doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00200.

MacDonald, J. A., Hout, M. C., & Schmidt, J. (2019). An algorithm to minimize the number of blocks in incomplete block designs. Behavior Research Methods. doi: 10.3758/s13428-019-01326-x. Click here for downloads related to this paper.

Sabic, E., Chen, J., & MacDonald, J. A. (2019). Toward a better understanding of in-vehicle auditory warnings and background noise. Human Factors. doi: 10.1177/0018720819879311.

Coburn, A., Kardan, O., Kotabe, H., Steinberg, J., Hout, M. C., Robbins, A., MacDonald, J., Hayn-Leichsenring, G., & Berman, M. G. (2019). Psychological responses to natural patterns in architecture. Journal of Environmental Psychology. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2019.02.007.

Hout, M. C., Cunningham, C., Robbins, A., & MacDonald, J. (2018). Simulating the fidelity of data for large stimulus set sizes and variable dimension estimation in multidimensional scaling. Sage Open. doi: 10.1177/2158244018773143.

Madson, L., Klug, B., Madson, L., Stimatze, T., Eness-Potter, K. A., and MacDonald, J. (2018). Effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction in a community sample over two years. Annals of Clinical Psychiatry, 30, 52-60.

Trafimow, D., & MacDonald, J. A. (2016). Performing inferential statistics prior to data collection. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 77, 204-219.

Hunter, K. N., Rice, S., MacDonald, J. A., & Madrid, J. (2014). What are the best predictors of opinions of mental illness in the Indian population? International Journal of Mental Health, 43, 35-51. PDF.

Sandry, J., Schwark, J. S., & MacDonald, J. A. (2014). Flexibility within working memory and the focus of attention for sequential verbal information does not depend on active maintenance. Memory & Cognition, 42, 1130-1142. PDF.

Schwark, J., MacDonald, J. A., Sandry, J., & Dolgov, I. (2013). Prevalence-based decisions undermine visual search. Visual Cognition. DOI:10.1080/13506285.2013.811135. PDF.

MacDonald, J. A. & Trafimow, D. (2013). A measure of within-participant response consistency. Behavior Research Methods. DOI 10.3758/s13428-013-0318-1. PDF.

Schwark, J., Sandry, J, MacDonald, J. A., & Dolgov, I. (2012). False feedback increases detection of low prevalence targets in visual search. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 74, 1583-1589. PDF.

MacDonald, J. A., Sandry, J., & Rice, S. (2012). Self-construal priming affects speed of retrieval from short-term memory. PLoS ONE, 7(11): e50007. Link to article.

Trafimow, D., MacDonald, J. A., & Rice, S. (2012). Using PPT to account for randomness in perception. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 74, 1355-1365. PDF. For the mathematical proof that accompanies this paper please click here.

Balakrishnan, J. D. & MacDonald, J. A. (2011). Performance measures for dynamic signal detection. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 55, 290-301. PDF.

MacDonald, J. A. (2011). Using the ideal observer to predict performance in perceptual tasks: An example from the auditory temporal masking domain. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 73, 2639 – 2648. PDF.

Trafimow, D., Rice, S., & MacDonald, J. A. (2011). An investigation of the accuracy of standardized path coefficients. Journal of General Psychology, 138, 201 – 214. PDF.

Trafimow, D., MacDonald, J. A., Rice, S., & Clason, D. (2010). How often is prep close to the true replication probability? Psychological Methods, 15, 300-307. PDF. For the expended versions of Figures 2 – 4 please click here.

Balakrishnan, J. D. & MacDonald, J. A. (2008). Decision criteria do not shift: Commentary on Mueller and Weidemann (2008). Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 15, 1022-1030. PDF.

MacDonald, J. A. (2008). A localization algorithm based on head-related transfer functions. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 123, 4290-4296. PDF.

MacDonald, J. A. & Tran, P. K. (2008). The effect of head-related transfer function measurement methodology on localization performance in spatial audio interfaces. Human Factors, 50, 256-263. PDF.

MacDonald, J. A., & Tran, P. K. (2007). Loudspeaker equalization for auditory research. Behavior Research Methods, 39, 133-136. PDF. For the SPEQ software that accompanies this paper please click here.

Scharine, A., Mermagen, T., MacDonald, J. A., & Binseel, M. (2007). Effects of ear coverage and reflected sound on the localization of sound. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 121, 3094.

MacDonald, J. A., Henry, P. P., & Letowski, T. R. (2006). Spatial audio through a bone conduction interface. International Journal of Audiology,45, 595-599. PDF.

Balakrishnan, J. D., MacDonald, J. A., & Kohen, H. S. (2003). Is the area measure a historical anomaly? Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 57, 238-256. PDF.

Balakrishnan, J. D. & MacDonald, J. A. (2002). Decision criteria do not shift: Reply to Treisman. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 9, 858-865. PDF.

MacDonald, J. A., Balakrishnan, J. D., Orosz, M., & Karplus, W. (2002). The intelligibility of speech in a virtual 3D environment. Human Factors, 44, 272-286. PDF.

Balakrishnan, J.D., & MacDonald, J.A. (2001). Misrepresentations of signal detection theory and a model-free approach to human image classification. Journal of Electronic Imaging, 10, 376-384. PDF.

Proceedings Papers

Sabic, E., Henning, D., & MacDonald, J. (2019). Adaptive auditory alerts for smart in-vehicle interfaces. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting. doi:10.1177/1071181319631404.

MacDonald, J. A. & Tran, P. K. (2006). A sound localization algorithm for use in unmanned vehicles. Proceedings of the 2006 AAAI Fall Symposium on Aurally Informed Performance.

MacDonald, J. A. (2005). An algorithm for the accurate localization of sounds. Proceedings from the NATO RTO Symposium on New Directions for Auditory Effectiveness (HFM-123), 1 – 10. PDF.

Balakrishnan, J.D., & MacDonald, J.A. (2000). Recalibrating subjective confidence: Implications for scaling and measurement. Proceedings of Fechner Day 2000, 16th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Psychophysics, Strasbourg, France.

Book Chapters

MacDonald, J. A. (in press). Machine learning methods. In D. Trafimow (Ed.), Statistics and Storytelling.

Kohen, H. S., MacDonald, J. A., & Balakrishnan, J. D. (2003). Intelligent human-computer interfaces for mission-critical systems. In G. Bekey (Ed.), Modeling and Simulation: Theory and Practice. San Antonio, TX: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

MacDonald, J. A. & Balakrishnan, J. D. (2002). Signal detection theory. In Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science. New York, NY: Nature Publishing. PDF.

Balakrishnan, J. D., & MacDonald, J.A. (2001). Signal detection theory. In: International Encyclopedia of Ergonomics and Human Factors, W. Karwowski (Ed). London: Taylor & Francis. PDF.

Balakrishnan, J. D., & MacDonald, J. A. (2001). Signal detection theory – Alternatives. In: International Encyclopedia of Ergonomics and Human Factors, W. Karwowski (Ed). London: Taylor & Francis. PDF.