Erin Harley, Ph.D.

Principal Human Factors Scientist

Dr. Erin Harley is a Principal Human Factors Scientist at Guidance Engineering and Applied Research. Dr. Harley’s work focuses on the perceptual, cognitive, and performance human factors issues relating to safety, accidents, and injuries. She applies her specialized knowledge of human perceptual and cognitive processes to the analysis of visibility and lighting, reaction time, the effects of attention and distraction on performance, driver perception and response, gait and loss of balance, performance in sports and recreational activities, and warning design and compliance. She has analyzed human factors issues in product liability, transportation (e.g., automobile, bicycle, pedestrian, and maritime accidents), recreational sports, and premises liability cases including driver gearshift errors, auto/pedestrian accidents, ski accidents, slips/trips and falls, among others. In addition, Dr. Harley applies her expertise in perception, cognitive biases, and memory to issues surrounding the evaluation of eyewitness memory.

Dr. Harley has published scientific research related to driver gear-shifting behaviors and errors, snow sport safety, warning compliance, visual perception and memory, hindsight bias (the “knew-it-all-along” effect), and analyses of store-related injuries. In addition, Dr. Harley has evaluated labeling, manuals, and safety guides for consumer products and activities. As a certified English XL Tribometrist, she also assesses the slip resistance of walkway surfaces.

Dr. Harley completed a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology at the University of Washington and worked as a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles. During that time, she used both behavioral and neuroimaging techniques to conduct research on how people process, interpret, and remember the visual environment, and how such interpretations affect performance on real-world tasks. In 2005, Dr. Harley’s unique research on hindsight bias earned her an invitation to speak at the International Hindsight Workshop in Leipzig, Germany with other leading researchers in the field.

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