Francesco Walker
Assistant Professor
- Name
- Dr. F. Walker
- Telephone
- +31 71 527 2727
- f.walker@fsw.leidenuniv.nl
Francesco Walker has a Masters Degree in cognitive neuropsychology from VU Amsterdam. In 2015, he developed a proposal to study the link between eye-movement behaviour and visitor perceptions of art in a museum setting. The resulting collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam produced the first ever analysis of the very different attentional strategies used by adults and children, when viewing paintings in an actual museum. Francesco conducted his PhD studies at University of Twente. Here, he investigated human interactions with automated vehicles, with a focus on how these interactions affect driver trust and how this can be measured objectively and improved. Francesco defended his PhD in 2021, with a dissertation titled “To trust or not to trust? Assessment and calibration of driver trust in automated vehicles”. Before joining the Cognitive Psychology Unit of Leiden University in 2021, Francesco worked briefly as a lecturer in the department of Cognitive Psychology and Ergonomics of the University of Twente.
More information about Francesco Walker
Research
Francesco’s research focuses on Human Factors challenges in the design of automated vehicles. Key themes include trust in automation, vehicle interactions with vulnerable road users and new solutions for Human-Machine-Interfaces. In parallel with this work, he maintains a deep interest in art perception and neuroaesthetics.
Teaching
In the Cognitive Psychology Unit of Leiden University, Francesco coordinates the Applied Cognitive Psychology Master track, and the Bachelor’s course in Applied Cognitive Psychology. He also teaches several courses related to applied cognition and Human Factors, at the bachelor’s and master’s level.
Awards
- Award for Best Poster 2018 (6th BMW Summer School: Emotion Aware Vehicle Assistants, Raitenhaslach, Germany).
- Award for Best Presenter 2018 (6th Humanist Conference, Den Haag, The Netherlands).
- The Robert Francès Award: Most Outstanding Student Research Contribution 2016 (24th IAEA Congress of Empirical Aesthetics, Vienna, Austria).
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Research Fellowship 2014/2015, awarded by Prof. Jan Theeuwes: 10000 euro.
Working days
Monday to Friday.
Assistant Professor
- Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen
- Instituut Psychologie
- Cognitieve Psychologie
- Walker F., Favetta M., Hasker L. & Walker R. (2024), They prefer humans!: Experimental measurement of student trust in ChatGPT. CHI EA '24: Extended Abstracts of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 11 May 2024 - 16 May 2024. Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 1-7.
- Walker F., Forster Y., Hergeth S., Kraus J., Payre W., Wintersberger P. & Martens M. (2024), Trust in automated vehicles, Frontiers in Psychology: Cognitive Science 15: 1404200.
- Walker F., Forster Y.: Hergeth S., Kraus J.M., Payre W., Wintersberger P. & Martens M. (2023), Trust in automated vehicles: constructs, psychological processes and assessment, Frontiers in Developmental Psychology 14: 1279271.
- Dong J., Nadri C., Alvarez I., Diels C., Lee M., Li J., Jeon M., Liao P.H., Manger C., Sadeghian S., Schuß, Walker B.N., Walker F., Wang Y. & Jeon M. (2023), "Play your anger": a report on the empathic in-vehicle interface workshop. Adjunct Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications 18 September 2023 - 22 September 2023. Adjunct Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications.
- Walker F., Morgenstern O., Avila J.M., Martens M. & Verwey W. (2021), A Novel Technique for Faster Responses to Take Over Requests in an Automated Vehicle. 13th International Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applicaltions 9 September 2021 - 14 September 2021.
- Walker F., Wang J., Martens M.H. & Verwey W.B. (2019), Gaze behaviour and electrodermal activity: Objective measures of drivers' trust in automated vehicles, Transportation reserch part F: traffic psychology and behaviour 64: 401-412.
- Walker F., Boelhouwer A., Alkim T., Verwey W.B. & Martens M.H. (2018), Changes in trust after driving Level 2 automated cars, Journal of Advanced Transportation : .
- Walker F., Bucker B., Anderson N.C., Schreij D. & Theeuwes J. (2017), Looking at paintings in the Vincent Van Gogh museum: eye movement patterns of children and adults, PLoS ONE 12(6): e0178912.
- Dey* D., Walker* F., Martens M.H. & Terken J. * Co-first authors (2017), Gaze Behavior Patterns in Pedestrian Interaction with Vehicles, Proc. AutoUI : .