Research & Development

Research & Development

Scientific expertise, the foundation of our activity

Research and innovation is something we grew up with, and love. Nearly half of the team decided to extend the pleasure of their studies up to the PhD level. So we launched our own R&D activity: Flowtide.

What for ? To test new methods, discover new tools or open new markets... To offer you the best solution to your needs, using our research capacity, our knowledge in neurosciences, neuroergonomics, and more generally in scientific experimentation.

CII certification

Our certification as "innovation organization" also enables us to help our clients improve the ergonomic design of their products and services, which qualifies for Innovation Tax Credit (CII).

Our area of expertise is to evaluate cognition through a psychophysiological approach: neuroergonomics. For instance, we measure cardiac activity by electrocardiogram, perspiration by electrodermal activity, or visual attention by eye tracking (oculometry), to have a better understanding of human cognition.

Right now, we are working on taking our user tests further, improving the performances of professional athletes, or carrying out a more advanced analysis of our user feedbacks (not necessarily in that order).

The Ministry of Industry also recognizes our capacity to lead research and innovation actions, by granting us the status of innovation private organization and therefore enabling our clients to benefit from the tax credit for innovation expenditure (when applicable).

We are published in major international conferences and journals.

Our research work is only valuable if presented to the greatest researchers of the field. Here are a few examples of our publications.

Pierre Gilfriche, Laurent Arsac, Yannick Daviaux, Jaime Diaz-Pineda, Brice Miard, Olivier Morellec, and Jean-Marc André. 2018.
American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology
Frequency-domain indices of heart rate variability (HRV) have been used as markers of sympathovagal balance. However, they have been shown to be degraded by interindividual or task-dependent variability, and especially variations in breathing frequency. The study introduces a method to analyze respiration-(vagally) mediated HRV, to better assess subtle variations in sympathovagal balance using ECG recordings.

Thierry Bellet, Jean-Christophe Paris, & Claude Marin-Lamellet. 2018.
Transportation research part F: traffic psychology and behaviour
The aim of this study was to analyse the difficulties experienced by older drivers during their regular driving, and to identify their needs and their expectations regarding Advanced Driving Aid Systems (ADAS) and vehicle automation.

Margot Beugniot, Sami Lini & Christophe Bey. 2017
EPIQUE Symposium
The difference of performance between beginners and experts in tennis is measured during an experimental task. The use of eye-tracker and video on about 40 players with various levels of experience has permitted to establish visual strategies used while serving. Comparing the performance and the induced load between the groups reveals the importance of information relating to space and time, and the possibility to reduce the induced load of beginners through training.

Margot Beugniot, Sami Lini, & Christophe Bey. 2016.
Conference on Eye tracking, Look, Interaction, Substitution.
The use of neuroergonomics to evaluate the cognitive state of an operator has already proven effective ; would it be possible to use it for operational training? In dynamic situations with a high time constraint, many studies have already evidenced a link between expertise, anticipation and understanding of the situation. We wonder about the possibility to use this expertise to train beginners, and more specifically their visual perception while returning a serve in tennis.

Sami Lini, Lise Hannotte, and Margot Beugniot. 2016. 
3rd International Conference on Physiological Computing Systems
What is the impact of a real time psychophysiological feedback on users’ performance and cognitive workload? Does the display format of this feedback have an influence over subjects? What if the feedback provides erroneous data? We designed a protocol to compare the influence of providing a cognitive load assessment gauge versus raw data versus no feedback in a Multiple Objects Tracking task
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Science Breakfasts

We are organizing what we call "Science Breakfasts" on a regular basis, to discuss research topics with the whole team, and see how they could help us improve our service.

jul. 2022

"Liminal Thinking" by Dave Gray

apr. 2021

Let's talk about Dark mode : theoretical knowledge and practical application

jan. 2021

Best practice for video capture during user interviews

may. 2020

Stress management strategy: a few tips to handle public speaking

apr. 2020

Design Fiction : back to the future

mar. 2020

Our project of developing an UX-o-meter: progress report

jul. 2019

Measurement of the users' perception and expectations in the field: application to pedestrian planning

jan. 2019

Treejack and Optimalsort : AI evaluation tools (to tidy your room, and more)

dec. 2018

Data-driven personas : factor analysis approach and debate on the benefits and drawbacks

dec. 2018

Focus group applied to storybranding

nov. 2018

Book presentation on "Building a storybrand": what is it about and how to use it?

jun. 2018

VR training and strengthening of heart-brain interactions in professional female rugby players

jun. 2018

UX stats for dummies (don't run away screaming!)

oct. 2018

Electrodermal activity: How to cheat a lie detector? (and other more serious uses)

sep. 2018

Eyetracking: How does it work, what is it for?

may. 2018

Developing autonomous vehicles through a user-centered approach

jan. 2018

Flowtide R&D: Humans at the heart of innovation

nov. 2017

Ethics in neurosciences, for a UX design respectful of users

oct. 2017

Let's defuse beliefs of emotional measurements in UX Research

sep. 2017

Data collection : just as simple as that.