AHFE Open AccessAdvances in Cognitive Engineering and Neuroergonomics
Editors: Kay Stanney, Kelly S. Hale
Topics: Social & Occupational Ergonomics
Publication Date: 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4951-2101-2
DOI: 10.54941/ahfe100208
Articles
Tactile Displays for Cueing Self-Motion and Looming: What Would Gibson Think?
James J. Gibson pioneered an approach to perception that treats stimuli as rich in information and considers perception to be tightly coupled with action, based upon the possibilities for action encountered in the environment. The relation between whole-field optical flow and the visual control of self-motion towards or away from significant objects has been central to the development of ecological psychology. This paper considers recent developments in tactile research and conjectures what Gibson might have to say about employing tactile displays to convey self-motion and/or looming. The author considers the ecological functions of touch (versus vision and hearing), especially in regards to the perception of self-motion and looming. Self-motion and looming are then contrasted to develop general principles for specifying these two percepts via touch, partly using Gibson’s visual kinesthesis principles as a point of departure. A few initial studies (by the author and others) are highlighted which imply that appropriately-designed tactile displays may augment the perception of self-motion and looming. The most successful tactile display designs are likely to be analogous to the natural stimuli specifying self-motion or looming in the tactile, visual, and/or auditory domains.
Ben D. Lawson
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Tactile Displays: From the Cockpit to the Clinic
There is a great deal in common between a pilot maintaining controlled flight in aviation and a person maintaining balance while standing upright. Both activities require sufficient and accurate sensory information provided in a format permitting the central nervous system to respond quickly with appropriate corrective motor actions to prevent a fall or a mishap. Loss of control in either environment is a frequent occurrence when sensory information is compromised such as in degraded visual environments (DVE), or when a patient experiences loss of sensation. We developed an alternative sensory cueing device using the sense of touch, which can prevent loss of control in both the aviation and terrestrial environments. A single belt with tactile transducers provides touch cues concerning direction, velocity, and extent of movement. This continuous, intuitive, orientation information to pilots and patients reduces the likelihood of a loss of aircraft control or a fall. The algorithms providing tactile cues are similar for a pilot hovering a helicopter in DVE and a sensory-compromised patient performing balance tasks. The rapidity of learning correct responses to tactile cues reflects the intuitive nature of tactile cueing.
Braden McGratha, Angus Rupertb
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Tactile Displays for Soldier Systems: Progress and Issues
Multisensory tactile displays have enabled Soldiers to communicate covertly during strenuous movements and to navigate in low visibility conditions, while allowing Soldiers to keep their hands on their weapons and their eyes on their surroundings. The full potential of these multisensory systems to reduce Soldier cognitive load and enhance performance has yet to be determined, but shows great promise, particularly in situations where there is degraded visual acuity, high noise, and/or need for audio silence. Improvements in tactor technology include more distinctive and varied tactile sensations that are expected to allow recognition of a greater range of tactile cues and simultaneous presentation of two types of signals (e.g., navigation and alerts). The current study assessed the operational effectiveness of a tactile display integrated with a gesture recognition glove for automated detection of Soldier hand and arm signals, which were transmitted and displayed as tactile patterns on a haptic feedback vest. This study indicated that the integration of glove-based gesture recognition and a tactile display resulted in faster and more accurately perceived communications than traditional Army hand and arm signals. Given these recent technology developments and their potential, there is a corresponding opportunity for basic and applied research to address issues arising from these multisensory displays.
Linda R. Elliott, Bruce Mortimer, Anna Skinner
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Effectiveness of Vibrotactile and Spatial Audio Directional Cues for USAF Pararescue Jumpers (PJs)
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relative effectiveness of vibrotactile and 3-dimensional (3D) auditory cues. The vibrotactile display consisted of a belt of stimulators worn around the abdomen, and the 3D audio display consisted of synthesized binaural cues played through headphones. Seven participants were presented with two types of vibrotactile signals and four types of 3D audio signals in eight azimuthal directions: 0° (ventral midline), 45° left/right, 90° left/right, 135° left/right, and 180° (dorsal midline). Participants indicated the perceived direction by clicking on discrete virtual response buttons surrounding an isomorphic on-screen graphic. On average, localization accuracy was significantly better for vibrotactile signals (92%) than for 3D audio signals (65%) ( p= .004). One type of 3D audio signal, dubbed the alternate clicktrain, failed to yield a significant difference (p = .08), though this is likely due to the small sample size. The results suggest vibrotactile displays may provide a viable alternative to 3D audio for spatial cueing, which has implications for developing potential system for US Air Force Pararescue Jumpers (PJs).
J. Christopher Brill, Veronica E. Scerra
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Do you feel... like I do? Individual Differences and Military Multi-Modal Displays
The design and implementation of multi-modal information displays can be affected by individual differences within the target user population. These differences manifest themselves at a number of sensory, perceptual, and cognitive levels. In general, such differences and their ranges are rarely taken into account in system design. Instances of significant differences among “normal” individuals will be considered particularly in the visual, auditory, and tactile sensory modalities. As will be discussed in this review of some of the pertinent literature, there can be substantial variation in sensation, perception, and cognition both within an age group as well as over the age span of the target population. For example, because the ages of military personnel can range over five or six decades, device designers have to account for the fact that levels of sensory sensitivity and acuity deteriorate significantly with age. This paper will survey a number of these individual differences, particularly those that have the potential for complicating the design and general application of informational displays for the military. Subtle variations in individual sensitivity and even perceptual “style” can undermine the “one-size-fits-all” philosophy of display design. These have the potential to affect the utility of the system under battlefield stress conditions.
Roger W. Cholewiak
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Is Ignorance Bliss? Role of Credibility Information and System Reliability on User Trust in Emergent Technologies
Understanding the relationship between the credibility of an emergent system and users’ perceptions would improve our knowledge of human interaction with emergent technologies in the present day. The purpose of this research was to examine how much background information about an emergent system must be given to naïve users to engender appropriate trust and utilization. Participants performed a simulated airline luggage-screening task with the assistance of an emergent system that was 70% reliable on one half of the task and 90% reliable on the other half. Participants were assigned to one of two groups: (1) no information (participants were merely told they would receive the assistance of an automated system with no additional details), and (2) information (participants were provided with background information about the system’s functions, including the fact that it was a recently developed emergent system whose credibility had yet to be established). Results revealed that background information led to higher trust and better utilization than no information, even when the system was portrayed as emergent without established credibility. Regardless of the actual level of system expertise, information about system functions engendered more appropriate utilization.
Poornima Madhavan
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Impact of Device Reliability and Route Exposure on Navigational Performance
Some researchers now suggest that the relationship between signal reliability and behavior may not be mediated by trust in all circumstances. Driving is an ideal task domain for investigating the reliability-trust relationship because drivers increasingly rely on automated navigational systems for guidance. The primary goal of this investigation was to evaluate participant performance in a simulated navigational task while using a navigational aid with a specified level of reliability (75% or 95%). We predicted that drivers would choose to comply with an aid more often when the expected reliability was high than when it was low. Participants were provided cursory exposure to a target route to provide route familiarity. Performance measures included speed, duration, distance, time stopped, time moving, time out, and task success. We found no significant effect of reliability on any of the driving performance measures; however, performance significantly improved for repeated task presentation. We contend that route exposure and navigational aid experience influenced driver performance more than the stated aid reliability. These results yield further information about the limitations of evaluating automation trust using behavioral measures.
Kellie D. Kennedya, James P. Blissa, Isabel L. Nunesb
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Neuroergonomics of Skill Acquisition: Genetic and Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation Studies
The present experiments examined the effects of two neuroergonomic methods—molecular genetics and transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS)—on skill acquisition in complex multitasking environments. The results of the first experiment showed that a variant of a common dopamine gene, COMT, interacted with training in supervisory control of unmanned vehicles. Individuals with the Met allele of the COMT gene showed greater trained-related gains in performance than those with the Val allele, consistent with the role of COMT in regulating dopamine availability and executive function. In the second experiment, stimulation of dorsal and ventral frontoparietal attention networks with tDCS accelerated acquisition of multitasking skill on the Space Fortress game. These findings indicate that novel neuroergonomic methods can supplement more traditional training methods for the development of expertise in complex tasks.
Raja Parasuraman, Pamela Greenwood, Melissa Scheldrup, Brian Falcone, Brian Kidwell, Ryan McKendrick
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Effect of fNIRS on Physiological Index and Performance Under Vibratory Stimulus
Many traffic accidents are caused by human error. In order to help prevent human such error, we investigated brain hemodynamics in both the frontal and the somatosensory areas by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), electrocardiogram (ECG), and the following two types of task performance with vibratory stimulation: a Tracking task and the Stroop test. To evaluate changes in oxygenated hemoglobin concentration (oxyHb), we used δoxyHb as previously defined (H. Iwasaki: Availability and future prospects of functional near-infrared spectroscopy in usability evaluation, Human Factors and Ergonomics). Briefly, the waveform data of oxyHb are passed through a differential filter. A sum of more than zero is defined as a positive component, whereas a sum of less than zero is defined as a negative component. δoxyHb is defined as a positive component minus a negative component. δoxyHb > 0 indicates an increasing trend of oxyHb and δoxyHb < 0 indicates a decreasing trend of oxyHb. Our results show that tracking error and the variance of tracking error were reduced when vibratory stimulation was present. Marginally statistically significant (p < 0.1) differences for both tracking and Stroop indices were observed when comparing measures with and without vibratory stimulation. These results suggest that subjects were able to track targets more stably with than without vibratory stimulation. On the other hand, performance on the Stroop test (reaction time, variance of Stroop test, and percentage of correct answers) was not affected by vibratory stimulation. ECG HF (high frequency) in both tasks was lower with than without vibratory stimuli. ECG LF (low frequency)/HF in both tasks was higher with than without vibratory stimuli. The results of HF and LF/HF stimulation imply the predominance of both the sympathetic nervous system during vibratory stimulation and the parasympathetic nervous system with no stimulus. δoxyHb showed differences in the somatosensory area during the Tracking task between vibratory stimulation and no stimulation. In summary, presentation of vibratory stimuli improved performance in the Tracking task. Therefore, use of vibratory stimulation during driving may decrease traffic accidents caused by human error.
Junya Sugimoto a, Hiroshi Hagiwara b
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Brain Activity During a Visual Stimulation Task Performed Alone and with an Auditory Task
Dual processing of visual and auditory stimuli has been reported to reduce performance. However, assessment of brain activity during tasks that use both visual and auditory senses has seldom been reported. The purpose of this study was to compare brain activity during a visual reaction task performed alone and at the same time as an auditory task. Near-infrared spectroscopy was used to measure hemodynamic changes in the prefrontal cortex during task performance. Probes were placed on the surface of the scalp over the prefrontal cortex and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (Brodmann area 46). Brain activation patterns were measured during performance of a visual reaction task with and without concurrent performance of an auditory task. Oxygenated hemoglobin concentration was larger when the visual reaction task was performed alone than when the visual reaction task was performed with an auditory task. These results suggest that dual performance of visual and auditory tasks affected brain activity and that dual performance of visual and auditory tasks may reduce brain activity and performance.
Noritaka Komiyamaa, Hiroshi Hagiwarab
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Inattentional Deafness in Simulated Air Traffic Control Tasks: A Behavioral and P300 Analysis
The acoustic environment is critical in Air Traffic Control (ATC), as operators exchange information with planes and must also be aware of the occurrence of auditory alarms. In such situations, observing inattentional deafness is likely. In this study, we aimed to identify the physiological indicators of inattentional deafness through the analysis of the P300 evoked potential, known to be an indicator of attention allocation, an important step to a stimulus reaching consciousness. Based on the assumption that the high mental load generated by an ATC task may reduce the alarm detection rate, we wished to test whether this effect would be reflected in the alarm-evoked P300 amplitude. Participants had to perform simulated ATC tasks within the LABY microworld while electroencephalographic (EEG) activity was recorded. Simultaneously to the LABY tasks, participants were asked to respond to target tones (the “alarm”) and to ignore standard tones. Behavioral results showed that 4.6% of alarms were not reported. For these alarm detection failures, the EEG analysis showed a diminution of the P300 amplitude in comparison to a control condition in which participants only focused on the tones. These results suggest that the P300 amplitude seems to be a valid physiological indicator of vulnerability to inattentional deafness in complex environments. Relevant applications include the prevention of alarm omission and the assessment of warning designs.
Louise Giraudet a, Marie Berenger a, Jean-Paul Imbert b, Sébastien Tremblay c, Mickaël Causse a
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Neurocognitive Design Methods for Plastic Model Kit
A plastic model is provided as a kit to be assembled by hobbyists, and intended for static display. Although numerous products are designed and provided by many firms, the blue prints tend to be drawn empirically by engineers. Then, modelers sometimes get tired when they make the same parts repetitively. Electroencephalogram (EEG) is an attractive measure for neurocognitive functions. Especially, frontal midline theta brain wave activity (Fm theta) has been reported to be a good sign for such brain functions. Fm theta is a paradoxical phenomenon that slow brain wave is activated under high arousal condition. Many studies have reported that Fm theta can be recorded during some mental workload task performances: mental calculation, working memory tasks, and TV games. We have already discovered that plastic model building can can evoke a more sustained and higher amplitude Fm theta, compared with mental calculation, the original and standard task for Fm theta activation (Takao et al., 2010). There is no other study on brain function for plastic model buildings. In this paper, we discuss the possibility of Fm theta as a neurocognitive method to evaluate blue print.
Motoharu Takao, Masato Matsushima, Shintaro Koretake, Hiroyo Shimizu, Takafumi Kamei
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Effects of Depth Perception Cues and Display Types on Presence in the Elderly within a 3D Virtual Store
Many of the increasing elderly population have problems performing daily tasks due to restricted mobility, inconvenience, and/or fear of crime. Computers at home with an Internet connection can provide this relatively immobile population with a new channel to access information and services, including the ability to shop. Virtual environments (VEs) technology applied in web shops is its ability to provide a 3D perspective to customers for more real sense on goods and shopping environment. A sense of presence is one of the critical components required by any effective VE. In contrast, when the quality of depth perception cues is poor, whether the cybersickness for the elderly will be easily caused to influence the feeling of presence and performance of goods-searching or not? An experiment addressed associations between presence and cybersickness, and performance of 3D virtual store in the elderly participation with autostereoscopic, stereoscopic and monocular display in good/poor depth perception cues. Results showed that the virtual store via autostereoscopic display with high quality depth perception cues will produce good sense and realism in stereopsis. However, if the depth perception cues are poor, don’t use 3D displays especially stereoscopic display; otherwise the elderly may lose the interest in 3D virtual store because of cybersickness being serious even more than monocular display.
Cheng-Li Liu, Shiaw-Tsyr Uang
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
The Role of Three-dimensional Immersive Environments in Assessment and Training of Spatial Skills
Recently, increasingly realistic three-dimensional (3D) visual displays have been designed to serve as new, more ecologically valid alternatives to conventional two-dimensional (2D) displays. However, research has thus far provided inconsistent evidence regarding the effectiveness of 3D displays in facilitating training and task performance. Here we investigated how individuals generate and transform mental images within 3D immersive environments, in which the viewers perceive themselves as being surrounded by a 3D world. In Experiment 1, we compared participants’ performance on the mental rotation task across the following types of visual presentation environments: traditional 2D non-immersive (2DNI), 3D non-immersive (3DNI – anaglyphic glasses), and two 3D immersive (3DI) environments: 3DI/HMD - head mounted display with position and head orientation tracking, and 3DI/A –augmented virtual reality technology implementing “see-though” head mounted display. In Experiment 2, we compared electroencephalogram (EEG) data recorded while participants were mentally rotating spatial images presented in 3DI/HMD vs. 2DNI environments. The findings suggest that in a non-immersive environment, participants may utilize more “artificial” encoding, during which the 3D images are encoded with respect to a scene-based frame of reference (i.e. the computer screen). On the other hand, in an immersive environment, participants use egocentric encoding strategy, during which the 3D images are encoded in relation to the observer, the same strategy they would use in a real-world. Overall, the results of both experiments indicate that immersivity aspect of an environment might be one of the most important aspects to be considered for assessment and training in domains that rely on visual-spatial performance (e.g., robotics, navigation, medical surgery).
Maria Kozhevnikov a, Ido Amihai a, Michael Kozhevnikov b
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Features of Collaboration in the VirCA Immersive 3D Environment
Real time, synchronous collaborative work mostly happens in real world situations. There are applications that allow computer-mediated synchronous collaboration, but they are far from the experience of a real life meeting. The Virtual Collaboration Arena allows multiple people to work in real time in a virtual space collaboratively. Relatively little is known about how collaboration in virtual reality compares to physically co-located activities. In order to investigate these differences and to reveal any usability issues the system has, we studied 20 pairs of participants working together on a simple cooperative task that required planning. One of the participants was in an immersive 3D cave and the other participant carried out the task from a desktop computer. They communicated over an audio channel in addition to seeing each other as avatars in the space. The cooperative communication was recorded and the conversation was transcribed. The transcripts were coded into three categories of communicative acts: 1) utterance related to coordination; 2) utterances related to information sharing for the task; and 3) usability-related communication. The sessions were divided into three stages of the task and the ratio of the three types of communicative acts were compared across the three stages. According to the Cochran’s tests there were significant differences between the temporal sections of the task for coordination (Q(2)=72,13; p < 0.001), information sharing for the task (Q(2)=77,06; p < 0.001), and usability (Q(2)=15,14; p < 0.001). Coordination utterances were frequent in the beginning and the ending sections of the collaboration. Information sharing utterances appeared in a higher ratio in the middle section. Thus, in the beginning and at the end of the sessions our participants were focused on explicitly coordinating their tasks (“What shall we do?” and “What has been done?”), while in the middle of the session they were focused on sharing the content for the schedule accompanied by less explicit coordination.The amount of usability-related comments goes down after the first section. The decrease of usability-related interactions along the progression of time is showing a possible learning effect or the effect of practice that grows through the task. The pattern of variation in communicative actions along the three phases of task completion indicates that the virtual 3D environment is usable; the participants are able to learn to use it. These findings show that this 3D virtual environment can appropriately enable collaborative information interpretation and sharing activities.
Balázs Péter Hámornik a, Máté Köles a, Anita Komlódi b Károly Hercegfi a, Lajos Izsóa
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
The Effect of Knowledge of Results during Computerized System Training
The proliferation of commercial computerized systems to improve cognitive functions has helped many people, yet several key issues remain open. The current research focuses on the effect of feedback given to trainees in a computerized training system for visual attention. The visual attention skill was trained specifically to control temporal integration: a process in which a series of stimuli with a short break between them is combined together into one stimulus. Two training groups were compared: one with complete feedback during the training (Feedback group) and one without (No Feedback group), with 15 trainees in each group. The results demonstrated that the Feedback group’s performance was significantly poorer compared to the No Feedback group as assessed by the number of errors in new sets (measured during training). The deterioration observed in performance during training is not a common phenomenon. We explain these results by the theory of overconfidence. Based on the research results, we assert that giving feedback during cognitive computerized training can lead to undesirable consequences also in training, and should be re-considered.
Nirit Gavish, Hagit Krisher
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Using Near Infrared Spectroscopy to Detect Mental Overload in Flight Simulator
Piloting requires high level of cognitive control, especially in demanding situations. When cognitive functions are overloaded, no more sufficient resources are available to manage the situation. As a consequence, it is important to have a valid measurement tool of pilots’ online workload. In this research, we used a BIOPAC 16 channel fNIRS to monitor prefrontal activity of eleven airline student pilots during two landing scenarios (easy and difficult) in a flight simulator. As expected, results from subjective measurements revealed that the perceived cognitive mental effort was higher during the difficult landing. The right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) demonstrated the highest concentration changes of oxy-hemoglobin (O2Hb) during both scenarios, with the difficult landing inducing higher concentration changes than the easy landing. These results demonstrate the sensitivity of fNIRS to detect mental overload in complex and ecological scenarios. The findings of this study may be applied to real-time monitoring of the pilot mental workload as well as the evaluation and the certification of new cockpit designs.
Mickaël Causse, Nadine Matton
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
What Eye Tracking Can Reveal about Dynamic Decision-Making
While eye tracking can provide invaluable information on visual cognition, it is uncertain whether the pattern of one’s ocular behavior could reflect mental processes beyond the mere visual encoding of task-relevant information. The present study is concerned with the use of eye-movement measures as indicators of the cognitive processing involved in situation monitoring and dynamic decision-making tasks. In the context of a computer-controlled simulation of radar-based risk assessment, we monitored eye movements and extracted metrics relative to 1) scanpath, 2) eye fixations, and 3) pupillary response in order to predict the quality of decisions and time taken to classify aircraft displayed on a radar screen according to their threat level. Based on multiple regressions performed on almost 10,000 classifications, eye-tracking data can explain 77.9% of the variance in decision time but failed to predict classification accuracy. However, when regressions were applied to individual differences, eye movements can predict both classification time (69.2%) and accuracy (45.9%). While the analysis of scanpath and fixation duration is a good indicator of information seeking and can predict the time taken to make a decision, pupil dilation appears to be informative on the quality of that decision. These findings show how dynamic, event-based measures of eye movements could serve as an assessment method that goes beyond traditional usability testing and provide insights in the design of user interface and decision support systems.
François Vachon, Sébastien Tremblay
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Learning and Recognition of Facial Images Without Awareness
Bombardment with concurrent information while completing a complex task often leads to cognitive overload. We develop an approach to provide information in a way that requires extremely low demands on attention and cognition. Brief exposure evaluative conditioning is used as a workable method for improving facial recognition performance, with learning occurring during a baggage screening task and identification occurring through skin conductance response (SCR). Here we determine the efficacy of our approach as well as effects with primary task performance. Results show that our methodology is effective at producing measurable SCR upon later exposure to the images. Specifically, we demonstrate that 1) SCRs to previously primed faces begin significantly later, 2) will be significantly slower to peak 3) produce significantly higher peaks than SCRs to non-primed faces and 4) primed faces can be liked more than non-primed faces. Furthermore, our priming methodology was successfully performed during the completion of the baggage screening task without affecting priming or significantly affecting the screening task. We demonstrate the ability of people to unconsciously react to a previously conditioned facial image (presented and paired according to our paradigm) without detracting from other ongoing tasks (at least for the situation tested here).
Tammy Ott, Sonja Schmer-Galunder
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Eye Tracking Study: Overhead Menu Board and Its Effect on Consumer Purchase Decision
Overhead menu boards are intended to aid the business in its operation. Aside from informing the customers on what the store has to offer, it could also be used as marketing tool to influence the decision of the customer and increase sales. Up until now, there has been no concrete data on how people examine menu boards and how it actually affects their purchase decision.To help maximize the use of these menu boards, a survey was conducted on their effectiveness in the tea shop business. Students and young professionals were asked to assess these menu boards based on their experience. At the same time, an eye tracking study was also conducted to give clear explanation on how consumers look and process the pieces of information presented on these boards.From these, it has been found out that indeed overhead menu boards affect the purchase decision of customers especially those who are not frequent buyers. Guidelines such as the number of boards consisting the menu, emphasis on the best sellers, font style and color to be used, text spacing and format, placement of the menu board in the shop, and the how these pieces of information should be presented/arranged on the menu board were suggested.To further improve the study, it was suggested that a study on menu boards used in another type of business could be done. Major differences with the optimal design derived for tea shop menu boards, if any, could then be assessed. Also, a more general set of samples/subjects could be used to further strengthen or validate the results obtained in this study.
Aleli Abegail Magadia, Krichelle Bernadette Medel, Stella Maris Reyes, Lorelie Grepo
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Resource Allocation Strategies in Multitasking after Switch in Task Priorities
People often have to manage multiple tasks simultaneously or, more precisely, concurrently. In such situations, one has to allocate efficiently ones resources in order to attend to each subtask in a relevant order and proportion. Moreover, such resource repartition is usually not rigid. Indeed, people should ideally adapt their resource allocation flexibly to each particular context. For example, a pilot has to adapt his resource allocation strategy among the different cockpit instruments depending on the flight phase (e.g., take-off, cruise or landing). The present paper investigated the adaptation of resource allocation strategies to changing priorities. More precisely, 20 participants took the priority management test of the current ENAC pilot selection process with an eye tracking technology. In this test, four subtasks have to be performed concurrently with two conditions of assigned priorities: equal-priority and differential-priority (with two “low-priority” and two “high-priority subtasks). Results highlighted large individual differences of performance in the differential priority stage that could be related to a strategy of abandoning specifically one low-priority subtask. So, designating one subtask as being less important involves the risk that people neglect it completely, especially for those who have the most difficulties in multitasking.
Nadine Matton, Pierre Paubel, Julien Cegarra, Eric Raufaste
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Effects of Inhaling Essential Oil on Decreasing Mental Fatigue:
Essential oil inhalation is one of the important aromatherapy. Essential oils are always used to dispel fatigue by officer workers. Owing to lack of objective measured data of the effect on decreasing fatigue for essential oil, the reliability of subjective experiment from questionnaire has always been challenged. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect on decreasing mental fatigue for inhaling essential oil by using physiological indices including Electroencephalogram (EEG) and heart rate variability (HRV). The basic and ratio indices of EEG power reflecting the drowsiness and relaxation levels, and the variety of HRV reflecting the condition of mental workload were used to evaluate the effect on decreasing mental fatigue substantially for inhaling essential oil. Twenty college students aged from twenty to twenty-five years old recruited for subjects participated the experimental test. Before experimental test, the subjects must fill in NASA-TLX self-evaluation inventory and measured their EEGs and heart rate variability (HRV) for five minutes. The subjects undertook their school courses about four hours and then inhaled essential oil. The study found that EEG power ratio indices (+)/ decreased and / increased after inhaling essential oil. It demonstrated that the subjects inhaled essential oil would facilitate their relaxation obviously. The result of heart rate variability showed that low-frequency component LF decreased, high-frequency component HF increased and LH/HF decreased obviously after inhaling essential oil. For NASA-TLX rating scales measurement, the participants subjectively felt more relaxed. It revealed that the subjects had remarkable effect to decreasing mental fatigue after inhaling essential oil. To summarize as mentioned above, our study found that essential oil had obvious effect on decreasing mental fatigue and facilitating relaxation.
A Physiological Indices Study
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Article
Conference Proceedings
Ergonomics and Teaching: An Investigation About Brazilian Teacher’s Stress
This article is an investigation on stress of teachers from lower Elementary School in the public educational system of Natal/ Rio Grande de Norte/ Brazil under the perspective of Ergonomics, which means to map the occurrence of stress and the main stressors present in the work place of the studied group. To reach that, a field survey was conducted with a qualitative and quantitative approach. The sample of the survey is made of 52 teaches from lower Elementary in schools of the municipal public educational system in Natal/RN/BR. The tools used in the collection of this data were the Inventory of Stress Symptoms – ISSL, to measure the level of stress in teachers and a questionnaire with direct multiple choice questions as well as indirect questions, in order to get to know the social-professional profile of the research subjects and to identify and analyze the stressors agents present in the teachers’ work activities, relating them to their causes. Results show that 73,08% of teachers participating in the reach are stressed. The mains stressor agents are the problems in their relationship with students, students’ parents and school administration plus the inadequate school environment (excessive noise, heat, poor light, etc.).
Izanete de Medeiros Costa, Ricardo José Matos de Carvalho
Open Access
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Conference Proceedings
Identifying Automation Opportunities in Life Science Processes through Operator Task Modeling and Workload Assessment
In an effort to automate manual life science processes for high throughput and accuracy, we previously observed that perceived operator workload could be used to identify taxing tasks as targets for robotics. However, we also observed that other factors, including task time and step count, might influence workload. The objective of the present research was to determine whether technician perceptions of workload were driven by process method characteristics, specifically duration, number of steps, and numbers of motor and cognitive operations. Confirmation of influence of these characteristics on perceived workload was expected to provide further direction for automation development for specific methods. A hierarchical task analysis was prepared for a mercury analysis process and revealed various methods for accomplishing goals. Methods included sequences of operations, which were subsequently classified as perceptual, motor or cognitive in nature by using GOMS methodology (Goals, Operators, Methods, and Selection rules). A field study was conducted with three lab technicians completing the mercury analysis process in three replications. Perceived workload for each method was collected using the NASA-Task Load index (TLX). Significant positive correlations were found between method times and operation counts determined based on GOMS models with technician overall TLX ratings. Motor, cognitive and combinations of both operator counts were also correlated with TLX physical, mental demand and effort ratings, accordingly. In general, longer duration methods, including weighing, tuning and pipetting steps, appear to pose high workload for technicians and represent priority targets for automation. Furthermore, a sequence of recollection and planning operations as part of a pipetting task posed the greatest sustained cognitive load for technicians and may represent an opportunity for use of advanced robotic technology with capacity to act as an assistant to technicians.
Manida Swangnetrab, David Kaberc, Ellen Vorberga, Heidi Fleischera, Kerstin Thurowa
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Initial Development of a Cognitive Load Assessment Tool
Interest in cognitive or mental workload has over the last couple of years increased drastically from a manufacturing application perspective. More and more, people are becoming aware of the cognitive limitations that may have great impact on production outcome. The more easily observable area of physical ergonomics has been successfully investigated for a long time and it would seem as though focus has broadened to also include cognitive ergonomics. Considering the effects that a large cognitive load has on human performance, knowledge regarding the role of the cognizing human in a manufacturing environment could potentially have significant effect on production outcome (i.e. quality and productivity). With this in mind, developing and using methods and tools for assessment of the cognitive burden associated with particular tasks or workstations should be and is of substantial interest to the manufacturing industry. Whatever assessment methods exist in the scientific literature today are almost exclusively expert tools where significant expertise in the area of cognitive ergonomics/psychology/science is required. This paper reports parts of the development process and initial version of a non-expert tool for assessment of cognitive load in manual production environments, primarily manual assembly.
Peter Thorvald, Jessica Lindblom
Open Access
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Conference Proceedings
Towards a Framework for Reducing Cognitive Load in Manufacturing Personnel
The interest in cognitive aspects of human performance has dramatically increased in recent years in manufacturing, complementing the area of physical ergonomics, and the expanded focus on cognitive aspects may offer significant insights and contributions to industrial domains. A considerably increased interest has been directed at the role and effects cognitive load has on human performance, and ultimately on production outcome. The main question addressed is: How can an understanding of cognitive load in manufacturing lead us to design better workplaces for the personnel at the shop floor? To answer this question, we have to consider how technology interacts with work environment and with human cognition from a systems perspective. Technology should be considered a resource in the design of a better working environment, aid those activities for which we are poorly suited cognitively, and enhance those cognitive skills for which we are ideally suited. This has resulted in a potential framework of factors that might have impact on high cognitive load, consisting of three levels; internal factors, external factors, and activity space. The initial framework focuses primarily on the former factors, identifying risks where a high cognitive load might lead to difficulty of work, negatively affecting production outcome.
Jessica Lindblom, Peter Thorvald
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Analysis of Operator Activity in the Control Room of the Production and Transfer of Oil and Natural Gas in a Brazilian Oil Company
This article presents the analysis of the activity of the operator in the control room for continuous systems. The control room is located in an industry that explores and produces oil and natural gas. The theoretical framework is the ergonomics, using the methodology of ergonomic analysis, referenced in human activity. The activity analysis studies the behavior (action, observation, communication) and is interested in the speech of employees that directly explain the action. This study is justified by the identification and analysis of organizational, technological and cognitive determinants of activity, and thus leads to an understanding of the operator's control room activity. The results presented are preliminary and show that the process of cognition and decision-making occurs in a dynamic, complex and collaborative context between operators in the control room and field.
Ana Dirce Cornetti Reis, Ricardo José Matos de Carvalho
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Mental Models of Eco-Driving: Comparison of Driving Styles in a Simulator
Passenger cars contribute 12% of the overall carbon dioxide emissions in the EU. Eco-driving skills such as avoiding excessive braking and accelerating could reduce passenger car fuel consumption by up to 10% and consequently reduce vehicular emissions. However, educational material and the prospect of saving a considerable amount of money in the long-term do not change the behaviour of the majority of drivers. Little is known about drivers' current understanding of eco-driving, how they make decisions to put this knowledge into practice and what motivates them to do so. For this research drivers’ knowledge, behavioural rules and skill were tested in an experiment. Sixteen participants drove the University of Leeds desktop driving simulator on a varied road layout. Each participant was asked to drive four times, having had different instructions. These instructions were ‘Drive normally’ for the first and the last run; ‘Drive safely’ and ‘Drive fuel-efficiently’ in the remaining two. Each time they were presented with an urban setting with traffic lights as well as with busy traffic on a motorway. By finding out more about drivers' mental models of eco-driving and how they put them into practice, it will be possible to design more targeted and effective support systems.
Sanna Pampel, Samantha Jamson, Daryl Hibberd, Yvonne Barnard
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Context aware interruptions: existing research and required research
Companies in various fields are developing information systems that are supposed to show information in a context sensitive manner. This involves modifying user interfaces based on the current activity and location of the user. The research that exists for context aware, task aware, and location aware systems come mostly from research in the office environment and using stationary work computers using standard mouse and keyboard-operated systems. Other environments, such as manufacturing environments, have not received the same research attention, and therefore research is required to see whether existing theories and frameworks apply to the manufacturing domain. Adding to this, context aware systems are now being created for new classes of devices such as mobile and wearable devices, to be used in multiple domains. All this requires an investigation and validation of older research, and shows how the research of the basic human factors surrounding new devices and domains has fallen behind the development of the devices themselves. This paper examines shortly how recent changes advances in technology affect what is required from the field of interruption research, as well as what is needed to support other domains than the office environment.
Ari Kolbeinsson, Peter Thorvald, Jessica Lindblom
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings