- Cognitive and physical modeling of crowds -

Crowds are pervasive and typically begin as a heterogeneous set of individuals.
However, even a relatively undifferentiated heterogeneous set of individuals
will rapidly form a cohesive unit and perceive themselves as part of the larger
group when faced with an external threat. It is important to understand the
factors that drive the behavior of such crowds from a physical as well as
psychological perspective. This talk presents research in the area of crowd
modeling, and in particular a real-time agent-based approach to modeling crowd
behavior that is based on complementary psychological and engineering
principles.  The cognitive model utilizes a closed loop feedback system that
uses stimuli as a means to affect future cognitive state; current cognitive
state affects actions which in turn affect the agent as well as surrounding
agents in the environment.  A physical model is responsible for implementing
actions.  The presentation will include results from using an enhanced social
forces model for implementing movement actions driven by different cognitive
levels.  Future research and plans will be discussed.

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Speaker bio.
Yiannis Papelis is an Associate research Professor at Virginia Modeling
Analysis and Simulation Center.  Dr. Papelis has over 18 years experience in
modeling and simulation, including immersive person-in-the-loop driving and
flight simulation.  His research interests include virtual environment
representation and simulation and agent-based modeling.