Robyn Brinkerhoff, Ph.D.

Senior Human Factors Scientist

Dr. Brinkerhoff has expertise in visual and auditory perception, cognition, decision-making and reaction time, and the effects of inattention, distraction, training, and experience on human information processing and performance. She analyzes human factors and human performance issues in a wide array of contexts including product warnings and safety information; pedestrian slips, trips, and falls; automobile, motorcycle, and bicycle accidents; use of consumer products; fitness facilities and exercise equipment; and eyewitness perception and memory. Dr. Brinkerhoff has conducted research in visual perception, effects of lighting/illuminance, auditory alarm perception, driver behavior, driver use of in-vehicle technologies, driver errors, pedal errors, fall risk, store-related injuries, the development of response capabilities in youths, and reaction time. She uses a variety of research methods, including quantitative injury and risk analyses,anthropometric analyses, human subjects testing, survey questionnaires and focus groups. In addition, Dr. Brinkerhoff has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in Human Factors and Human Motor Control (Kinesiology) at California State University Long Beach.

Dr. Brinkerhoff earned a Ph.D. in Psychology from UCLA, with a specialization in cognitive neuroscience. Her graduate research employed behavioral, psychophysical, and neuroimaging methods to investigate multisensory integration, particularly the effects of training with audiovisual stimuli on visual perception and associative learning. Dr. Brinkerhoff’s graduate work was supported by awards from the University of California, and the National Science Foundation. Her research also garnered awards from the Vision Sciences Society and the International Multisensory Research Forum. After earning her Ph.D., Dr. Brinkerhoff designed and piloted a novel multidisciplinary research program applying brain stimulation techniques to perceptual learning protocols, in order to study mechanisms of plasticity in visual motion perception.