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Qiyuan Zhang

Dr Qiyuan Zhang

Lecturer in Human Factors

School of Psychology

Overview

My research interests lie generally in people's intuitive judgments of probability, risk and causality and the application of theories of cognitive psychology to real-life situations involving human-machine interactions, particularly in safety-critical contexts such as transportation, emergency services and cyber security. I'm also interested in the detrimental effects of noises on human performance in cognitive tasks.

Publication

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2015

2014

Articles

Conferences

Research

Research Topics

Higher-order cognition: intuitive thinking, heurisitcs, probabilistic judgment, risk perception, causal reasoning, blame

Human factors and ergonomics: human error, human-machine interaction, automation, security and trust

Research Group

Cognitive Science

Human Factors Excellence (HuFEx) Research Group (www.HuFEx.co.uk)

Research Projects

Rule of Law in the Age of AI: Distributive Principles of Legal Liability for Multi-Agent Societies – Funded by ESRC-JST (2020 - 2013)

Explainability and Interpretability of Artificial Intelligence (2019) – Commissioned by Airbus

FlourishIntelligent Mobility for Older Adults (2018) - Funded by Innovate UK

Security Perception when Interacting with a Machine (2018) – Commissioned by SOS Alarm (Sweden)

Centre of Excellence (2013-2018) - Funded by Durham City Council

Counterfactual-based Persuasive Messages in Risk Communications (2012) - Funded by the Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience (IHRR) of Durham

Uncertainties in Counterfactuals (2008 - 2012) - PhD Project - Funded by Durham Academic Scholarship

Publications

Zhang, Q., Wallbridge, C., Jones, D., Morgan, P. (2021) The Blame Game: Double Standards Apply to Autonomous Vehicle Accidents. Full paper accepted at AHFE 2021 International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics, New York USA

Williams, C., Hodgetts, H., Morey, C., Macken, W., Jones, D., Zhang, Q., Morgan, P. (2020) Human Error in Information Security: Exploring the Role of Interruptions and Multitasking in Action Slips. In: Stephanidis C., Antona M. (eds) HCI International 2020 - Posters. HCII 2020. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1226. Springer, Cham.

Jones, D. M., Morgan, P. L., Macken, W. J., Zhang, Q., Van Der Shalck, J., Johansen, M., & Asquith, P. (2019) Explainable Artificial Intelligence—XAI—The Affordance of Understanding. Internal research report to Airbus UK

Morgan, P., Zhang, Q., Macken, W., Williams, C., Asquith, P. & Jones, D. (2019) Security Perception when Interacting with a Machine: Final Report. Internal research report to SOS Alarm, Sweden

Morgan, P., Soteriou, R., Williams, C. & Zhang, Q. (2019) Attempting to Reduce Susceptibility to Fraudulent Computer Pop-Ups using Malevolence Cue Identification Training. In: Ahram T., Karwowski W. (eds) Advances in Human Factors in Cybersecurity. AHFE 2019. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 960. Springer, Cham.

Zhang, Q. and Covey, J. (2014) Past and future implications of near-misses and their emotional consequences. Experimental Psychology., 61 (2). pp. 118-126.

Covey, J. and Zhang, Q. (2014) The effect of dynamic proximity cues on counterfactual probability. Judgment and Decision Making., Vol 9, No.6. pp. 586-592

Zhang., Q. (2012) Uncertainties in Counterfactuals: The Determinants and Emotional Consequences of Counterfactual Probability Judgments. Doctoral thesis, Durham University

Biography

I did my PhD in Cognitive Psychology at Durham University (2008-2013) on the topic of counterfactual reasoning – e.g., exploring how and why people mentally construct possible alternatives to events that have already occurred and how do they assess the plausibility of these imaginations. A follow-up project was on counterfactual-based persuasive messages in risk communications.

I then spent five years working as a R&D manager/trainer in the sport industry, before joining the School of Psychology and HuFEx Research Group in 2018. Since then I've continued researching intuitive judgments of probability, risk and causality and the application of theories of cognitive psychology to real-life situations involving human-machine interactions, particularly in safety-critical contexts such as transportation, emergency services and cyber security. 

I'm now a Research Associate in an ESRC-JST funded UK-Japan joint research project investigating blame and liability distribution and human-machine trust after road accidents involving autonomous vehicles.