Understanding Teamwork Research Report

Lily Gullion, Exercise Science, Dr. Roger Newman-Norlund, Exercise Science Department
Background
The ability to cooperate, which we know as teamwork, is at the heart of all social interactions. While most people
exhibit proficient teamwork skills, some populations, such as those diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, show
significant impairments in cooperative teamwork abilities. Based on previous work studying teamwork in adults, my
mentor, Dr. Roger Newman-Norlund, created 12 theory-driven computer games which were designed to quantify
teamwork skills. These computer games generate numerical data that represent each players performance. The games
needed improvement and further validation, so I consulted with experts in the field of social motor control with the project
Understanding Teamwork.
My Role
This study aimed to validate and improve the computer games which Dr. Newman- Norlund created, making them
more efficient at quantifying teamwork skills. To do this, I travelled to Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands,
and met daily with psychology professors and PhD lab groups. I presented the games to researchers of multiple
concentrations and created a comprehensive list of all suggested improvements. I worked especially close with Dr. Hein
van Schie, a behavioral psychologist with an extensive research background in joint action motor skills, and we focused
on the core concepts that each game utilized. We discussed changing the games to reflect the psychological principles
more clearly, which would allow the games to be used more effectively as diagnostic tools. I also consulted weekly with
Dr. Ruud Meulenbroak, and our discussions revolved around potential problems that could arise with the games. We
worked on deciding which issues were important enough to change while still in the early stages of production. I also ran
a small (10 participants) pilot study with Radboud University undergraduate students, where I had them play the games
while I recorded their ability and their comments. This provided insight about what were good or bad elements of game
play and not so much about psychological theory.
Results
After playing the games with undergraduate students, PhD students, and professors, I was able to write an essay
detailing each games theories, strengths, weaknesses, and possible alterations. Many of the changes were simple to make,
and Dr. Newman- Norlund can implement these at his discretion. While in the Netherlands, I had a meeting with an
influential and recognized researcher, Dr. Isabela Granic. She introduced me (online) to a French colleague who is
currently compiling a list of psychology based computer games, and this researcher contacted me about my paper and the
games themselves. She read what I had written and expressed interest in adding the games to the international list and
running experiments with them. I relayed this information to Dr. Newman-Norlund, and he can choose to pursue this
when he is ready.
Impact
The trip to the Netherlands was a once in a lifetime experience, and I am so extremely grateful to have been given
the funds to go. For weeks before the trip, I was ridden with anxiety; what in the world was I doing, flying to a foreign
country by myself to ask esteemed researchers about my video games? However, thankfully, the nerves settled as soon as I
landed in the Amsterdam airport. Surrounded by Dutch words and mayonnaise covered food, I uncovered a new type of
confidence that I hadnt experienced before. It sounds clich, but I learned that I could do anything. I definitely faced
challenges, like scheduling issues, figuring out the train system, and avoiding getting lost, but I approached each bump in
the road with assuredness that this was where I was supposed to be, and this was what I was supposed to be doing.
Besides presenting at the university, I was able to attend lab meetings and learn about the students own projects. I was
invited to a symposium about new autism research and learned more than I could have hoped for. As for the future, I want
to go to graduate school in the states for Occupational Therapy, but I am not ruling out future possibilities of European

schooling or research. Dr. Granic studied in the states and raised her family while doing research in the Netherlands, and
my opportunity to meet such an inspirational figure was eye opening.
Project Experience
During one of the lab meetings I attended, I listened to a lecture about basic and applied science. I had heard these
terms before, but I hadnt really understood the big picture and overall concepts regarding the real importance. One of the
professors asked me if I thought my project was more basic or applied, and we all discussed the different aspects of the
games. We talked about how the games could be used in studies which compared the results of undiagnosed children to
those on the autism spectrum, which would be more basic. The games could also have therapeutic potential, which would
give us the ability to apply the games to real cases. The balance between applied and basic was emphasized in our
discussion, and I greatly enjoyed listening to the different opinions of the various researchers. This experience was one of
countless times where I learned something in a new way, deepening my understanding of what it means to be an
academic.
My classroom learning hasnt changed too dramatically, because Im not really studying what I learned with my
research, but I think the way that I approach learning as a whole has been altered. I used to be a little skeptical about soft
sciences, but now I have a much greater appreciation of the why one would study things that are more conceptual. I also
used to take every study for absolute truth; if it was published, it must be correct! Now I am more interested in learning
about the methods researchers used, the limitations of their studies, and the real results that were determined. I have
definitely improved in my ability to read scientific articles, and I think that is a significant outcome of undergraduate
research in general. Overall, the trip to the Netherlands put me in a situation to use all that I have learned at USC. My
academic knowledge of the subject combined with the communication, time management, and professional skills I have
been working on all came together when I was in the foreign country. The trip was the highlight of my time as an
undergrad, and it left me with inspiration and excitement about what the future holds.