Bio
Dr. Anna Madison is a research psychologist with over 15 years of experience spanning academia, industry, and government. Her work lies at the intersection of cognitive science and emerging technology, with a focus on attention, perception, and decision-making in high-stakes environments. She has led multidisciplinary teams integrating eye tracking, EEG, VR, and behavioral analysis to understand human performance and design adaptive systems—particularly in the context of human-AI collaboration. Her recent work with the US DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory and the U.S. Air Force Academy explores how cognitive signals and user behavior can inform real-time interface adaptation and machine learning systems. A lead innovator on multiple patents, Dr. Madison brings a unique perspective on applying rigorous psychological science to solve practical problems in defense, training, and user experience design.
Her research explores how humans perceive and act in complex environments—from visual search in virtual reality to trust in human-AI systems. She is especially interested in how cognitive and neural signals can be harnessed to support adaptive decision-making systems, enhance training transfer, and support human-machine teaming. Dr. Madison’s approach is both applied and exploratory, contributing to basic research in vision science while building tools that directly impact end users. She has mentored cadets and early-career researchers, contributed to multiple cross-agency initiatives, and played a pivotal role in shaping next-generation of human-AI technology for future command and control systems.
Outside of work, Anna finds balance and inspiration in nature. She enjoys hiking the mountains around Colorado and weight training. A passionate home cook, she loves experimenting with new recipes and sharing meals with friends. She also shares her adventures with her two leash-trained cats, who accompany her on outdoor walks and are never far from her side.
Education
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Ph.D. | Psychology (2016-2020)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Masters | Psychology (2013-2016)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | B.S. | Psychology (2007-2011)
Professional Experience
US DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory | Research Psychologist (2023-present)
ORUA Postdoctoral Research Fellow | Warfighter Effectiveness Research Center | USAFA (2020-2023)
Honors & Awards
Best presentation Award at ARL Postdoc & Early Career Research Symposium (2022-2023)
USAFA Research Team of the Year Award 2022: Human-Agent Teaming
(2022-2023)
Research and Scholarly Interests
Attention, perception, and human performance in complex environments
Trust in automation and human-machine teaming
Future Command and Control Processes and Systems
Publications
Peer Review Publications
Madison, A., Callahan-Flintoff C., Thurman, S., Cohen-Hoffing, R., Touryan, J., & Ries., A. J. (2025). Fixation-related Potentials During a Virtual Navigation Task: The Influence of Scene Statistics on Early Cortical Processing. Attention, Perception & Psychophysics, 87, 261-283.
Callahan-Flintoft, C., Jensen, E., Naeem, J., Nonte, M. W., Madison, A. M., & Ries, A. J. (2024). A comparison of head movement classification methods. Sensors, 24(4), 1260.
Momen, A., de Visser, E. J., Fraune, M. R., Madison, A., Rueben, M., Cooley, K., & Tossell, C. C. (2023). Group trust dynamics during a risky driving experience in a Tesla Model X. Frontiers in psychology, 14, 1129369.
Conference Proceedings
Madison, A., McDowell, K., Goecks, V. G., Hansberger, J., Olney, C. M.*, Ahern, C.*, Marathe, A., Waytowich, N., Kenney, C., & Kelshaw, C. (2024, Oct). “New” Challenges for Future C2: Commanding Soldier-Machine Partnerships. In Meaningful Human Control of Future Military Operations: Spanning Across Warfare Domains with Advanced AI (pp. 1-24). IEEE.
Madison, A., Novoseller, E., Goecks, V. G., Files, B. T., Waytowich, N., Yu, A., … & McDowell, K. (2024, April). Scalable interactive machine learning for future command and control. In 2024 International Conference on Military Communication and Information Systems (ICMCIS) (pp. 1-10). IEEE.
McDowell, K., Novoseller, E., Madison, A., Goecks, V. G., & Kelshaw, C. (2024, April). Re-envisioning command and control. In 2024 International Conference on Military Communication and Information Systems (ICMCIS) (pp. 1-7). IEEE.
Long, R. J.*, Ariyo, A. G.*, Iwu, Z. I.*, Azari, D. P., Madison, A. M., Aroca-Ouellette, S., … & Ries, A. J. (2024, May). Towards an Adaptive System for Investigating Human-Agent Teaming: Let’s get Cooking!. In 2024 Systems and Information Engineering Design Symposium (SIEDS) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.
Conference Posters
Dunn, T.*, Beale, E.*, Jones, A.*, Schuhl, S.*, Callahan-Flintoft, C., Madison, A., & Ries, A. (2024, November). Extending the Functional Viewing Field framework to include head movements using a virtual reality foraging task. Object Perception, Attention and Memory (OPAM32). New York, New York.
Madison, A., Callahan-Flintoft, C., & Ries, A. (2024, May). Exploring Dynamics of Attention in a Virtual Reality Foraging Task: Effects of Target Similarity, Inter-Target Spacing, and Time Pressure. Vision Sciences Society. St. Pete, Florida.
Wilson, G.*, Madison, A., Callahan-Flintoft, C., & Ries, A. J. (2023, November). Visual Search in Virtual Reality: Using co-recording of EEG, eye tracking, and head movements to explore the movement-related potentials associated with participant responses. Society for Neuroscience, Washington, D.C., United States.
Madison, A., Callahan-Flintoff, C., Nevling, K.*, Weidenbach, A.*, Moody, H.*, & Ries, A. (2023, May) Free Gaze: co-recording of eye and head tracking with EEG to understand unconstrained vision. Vision Sciences Society. St. Pete, Florida.
Callahan-Flintoff, C., Madison, A., & Ries, A. J. (2022, September). Towards understanding vision in the real world: Data analytical approaches to working with ocular, head and neural data in 3D space. Department of Defense 6.1 Basic Research Conference. (Hybrid).
Patents
U.S. Patent 11501657B2, “Systems and methods for virtual reality based driver training,” 11/11/22.