a subfield of human factors psychology concerned with identifying the psychological principles that govern human interaction with environments, systems, and products and applying these principles to issues of engineering and design. Engineering psychologists may consult with architects and designers of various industrial and consumer products (e.g., airplanes, automobiles, home appliances, electronics and software applications) while specializing in such areas as ergonomics, human–computer interaction, or usability engineering. Engineering psychology is often used synonymously with human factors engineering. See also equipment design; human engineering; tool design; workspace design.
an experimental design used to research incidental learning. Groups of participants are shown the same stimuli (e.g., a list of 20 words) but asked to perform different tasks with them (e.g., picture associated words, determine the average number of letters in each word). Afterward, the participants unexpectedly are asked to recall as many of the presented items as possible.