bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Synthetic Vision CFIT Experiments for GA and Commercial Aircraft: “A Picture is Worth a Thousand Lives”
Authors: Prinzel Lawrence J. , Hughes Monica F. , Arthur Jarvis J. , Kramer Lynda J. , Glaab Louis J. , Bailey Randy E. , Parrish Russell V. , Uenking Michael D.
Published: January 2012

Because restricted visibility has been implicated in the majority of commercial and general aviation accidents, solutions will need to focus on how to enhance safety during instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). The NASA Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS) project is developing technologies to help achieve these goals through the synthetic presentation of how the outside world would look to the pilot if vision were not reduced. The potential safety outcome would be a significant reduction in several accident categories, such as controlled-flight-into-terrain (CFIT), that have restricted visibility as a causal factor. The paper describes two experiments that demonstrated the efficacy of synthetic vision technology to prevent CFIT accidents for both general aviation and commercial aircraft.
Pilot Interactions with Alarm Systems in the Cockpit
Authors: Mouloua Mustapha , Gilson Richard D. , Deaton John , Brill J. Christopher
Published: January 2012

Aircraft systems are becoming increasingly automated to handle routine tasks, while pilots assume a supervisory role until something fails. Typically, when a subsystem experiences a fault or failure, the pilot receives a warning light or an auditory alarm. The goal of this study is to formulate new training guidelines and principles that will assist instructional developers in designing methods to help pilots deal more effectively with discriminating and prioritizing an array of diverse multi-channel alarms. Six studies were conducted to examine pilot interaction with alerting systems in the cockpit, using both accident/incident reports and empirical research. The findings provide an initial database for training alarm/alert response strategies in current and future systems. It is anticipated that this research will reveal alarm system performance benefits, and associated costs with modified training procedures, display techniques, and automation strategies. Further implications for effective pilot-alerting systems interaction are also outlined.
Calibration of Confidence in Situation Awareness Queries
Authors: Lichacz Frederick M. J. , Cain Brad , Patel Sejal
Published: January 2012

Two experiments using a simulated Air Traffic Control task were conducted to examine the relationship between situation awareness and confidence under conditions of high and low temporal and perceptual demand. In the first experiment, participants were required to actively manipulate the aircraft on the radar screen. In the second experiment, the participants were required to passively observe the simulated air traffic. In both experiments, Endsley's SAGAT was used to query the subjects' SA and confidence in their responses. The results of this study revealed that whereas SA was affected primarily by perceptual demand, confidence was affected by both time pressure and workload. Moreover, the participants' under/overconfidence was affected primarily by perceptual demand. However, the participants were clearly overconfident in response to difficult SA queries and predominantly underconfident to easy SA queries. These results have implications for our understanding of the relationship between SA and performance in aviation research.
Medication Adherence Strategies for Older Adults
Authors: Sanchez Julian , Nichols Timothy A. , Mitzner Tracy L. , Rogers Wendy A. , Fisk Arthur D.
Published: January 2012

Much research has examined medication non-adherence from several perspectives such as the cognitive and social predictors of adherence and the effectiveness of physician recommended strategies for medication-taking. The purpose of this study was to capture and understand the medication adherence strategies used by older adults as well as to gather the source and self-reported success of these strategies. A structured interview methodology was used and nine older adults participated. Several medication adherence methods were reported and classified into six types of strategies by three judges. The strategies were association, location, visibility, planning, retrospective reminder, and using physical changes as a cue. These strategies were self-reported as highly effective. The results also indicated that older adults are likely to generate their own strategies as opposed to receiving them from their physician or reading them from a medications label. An understanding of these strategies can be valuable when designing medication-adherence devices for older adults.
Age-Related Differences in Reading Text Presented with Degraded Contrast
Authors: Mitzner Tracy L. , Rogers Wendy A.
Published: January 2012

Reading is a daily activity for most individuals. Unfortunately, people frequently read in sub-optimal conditions (Charness & Dijkstra, 1999), which can degrade the perceptual quality of the text, such as reading a book in inadequate lighting or reading an electronic display in direct sunlight. Degraded text may affect older adults to a greater extent than younger adults because of age-related vision declines. However, readers may be able to compensate for text that is difficult to perceive by taking advantage of contextual information contained in language. This study examined age differences in this reading strategy, by comparing words that were highly predictable from their sentence context to words that were less predictable. In addition, text was presented in three levels of text/background contrast (high, medium, low) to explore the effects of contrast reduction. The findings of this study have implications for designing printed materials that facilitate reading for older adults.
Improving Visual Attention in Older Drivers
Authors: Sifrit Kathy J. , Chaparro Alex , Stumpfhauser Laszlo
Published: January 2012

Changes in visual attention which occur with normal aging have been shown to be predictive of crash risk in older drivers (Ball, Owsley, Sloane, Roenker, & Bruni, 1993; Owsley et al., 1998). The purpose of this study was to determine whether visual attention skills of older drivers were amenable to training. Participants were 40 volunteers aged 60 to 81. Following an initial visual attention assessment, 20 participants assigned to the training group completed five 30-minute visual attention training sessions. The remaining 20 participants were assigned to a control group. Following the training interval all participants once again completed a visual attention assessment. Results: At postesting, participants whose initial scores were poorest, and who received visual attention training achieved scores similar to those of participants with the best initial scores, while the control group members showed significantly smaller improvements.
Cognitive Processes and the Movement of Combat Rifle Teams in Urban Terrain
Authors: Sampson James B. , Statkus Michael J. , Woods Robert J.
Published: January 2012

Four combat training scenarios were executed to investigate cognitive factors that influence squad movement and tactical performance in urban terrain. Participants varied in levels of training and experience in urban warfare. Two fire teams and a squad leader (nine men) played Blue Force (BLUFOR) against an Opposition Force (OPFOR) of varying size. BLUFOR's mission was to enter the city then clear and secure a building of OPFOR and retrieve a POW or piece of equipment. Data collection involved after-action interviews with team leaders, overhead videos, questionnaires, and group discussions. Walking interviews were used to reconstruct leader awareness of cues, perceptions, decisions and actions during the exercise. Results are discussed and interpreted in terms of Situation Awareness, Activity Theory and Recognition Primed Decision model frameworks. Implications for computer simulation modeling of individual soldier and small unit performance are addressed as well as the potential impact of new advanced technologies.
Similarity and Priority of the Submarine Officer of the Deck: Assessing Knowledge Structures
Authors: Shobe Katharine K. , Fiore Stephen M.
Published: January 2012

It is increasingly being recognized that understanding expert knowledge structures associated with critical decision processes may facilitate Naval personnel performance. Toward this, system developers and training researchers attempt to identify critical components of expert operator assessment and knowledge. Differing domains of practice rely to varying degrees on perceptual and conceptual knowledge. Perceptual knowledge is relied upon for recognizing critical cues in the environment whereas conceptual knowledge is used to interpret the meaning and importance of these cues. We focus on conceptual knowledge given its importance in the submariner environment. Via analyses of submariner knowledge for concepts related to responsibilities for the Officer of the Deck (OOD) watchstander we examined how training may alter knowledge representation and priority of conceptual importance and how overlap in mental models may be due to amount of experience.
Non-Intrusive Real Time Human Fatigue Modelling and Monitoring
Authors: Lan Peilin , Ji Qiang , Looney Carl G.
Published: January 2012

In this paper, we introduce a probabilistic model based on the Dynamic Bayesian Networks (DBNs) for dynamically modelling and detecting human fatigue. We first present a static fatigue model that captures the static relationships between fatigue, significant factors that cause fatigue, and various visual cues that are typically resulted from fatigue. The static fatigue model allows to spatially integrate fatigue evidences from different sources. It, however, fails to capture the dynamic aspect of fatigue. Fatigue is a cognitive state that is developed over time. To account for the temporal aspect of human fatigue, the static fatigue model is extended based on the DBNs. The dynamic fatigue model allows to integrate fatigue evidences not only spatially but also temporally, therefore leading to a more robust fatigue modelling and inference. The evaluation of the fatigue model with simulated data reveals the satisfactory performance of the proposed fatigue model. The dynamic fatigue model is then integrated with our computer vision module to perform non-intrusive real-time fatigue monitoring and detection.
Operations Automation: A Concept and Design Methodology for Human-Centered Automation
Authors: Mitchell Christine M.
Published: January 2012

Operations automation is a concept and design methodology for human-centered automation. Operations automation is automation that carries out, in whole or part, activities currently performed by operations personnel. Humans, however, remain essential components of the system, but perform a significantly different role. When autonomous systems reach their inevitable limits, operations personnel troubleshoot, diagnose, and repair the automation.

This paper describes research exploring requirements for effective operations automation. First, it describes two field studies of conventional automation. Second, it proposes operations automation as an extension of the operator function model (OFM) and its computational implementation, OFMspert. The OFM is a normative behavioral model; OFMspert predicts and interprets operation actions. As such, the OFM and OFMspert offer potential computational architectures with which to implement operations automation. Finally, the paper describes an empirical study comparing conventional and operations automation. Results suggest operations automation dramatically enhances the ability of operations personnel to identify and diagnose failures.
Through the Lens: A New Approach to Decision Modeling under Free Flight
Authors: Jha Pratik D , Bisantz Ann M , Parasuraman Raja
Published: January 2012

Air traffic management (ATM) concepts of the future are committed towards significantly enhancing the capacity and making flying even safer. Since, these new ATM concepts will change the roles and responsibilities of pilots and the air traffic controllers, it is important that their impact on safety be evaluated. Many proposed schemes includes shifting the separation assurance function (maintaining safe distances between aircraft) to the cockpit from ground based air traffic control, and to assign a supervisory role to the air traffic controller, who would make decisions in exceptional cases. Some initial research in this direction has shown that controllers cannot intervene effectively without decision support tools like “conflict probes”. Furthermore controllers and pilots have different strategies for resolving conflicts about separation and airspace. Accordingly, there is a need to better understand and classify the decision-making behavior of different agents in the future proposed ATM system.

This paper presents a theoretical discussion outlining the application of the Lens Model of Brunswik to provide insight into some of the research questions posed in conflict detection and resolution by future ATM concepts. We illustrate the approach through an example case study.
Design Concepts for Distributed Work Systems: An Empirical Investigation Into Distributed Teams in Complex Domains
Authors: Obradovich Jodi Heintz , Smith Philip J.
Published: January 2012

Coordination and collaboration across distributed teams during planning and execution activities present many challenges to organizations and operations, including military command and control. With the increase in spatially and temporally distributed work teams, it is essential to achieve an understanding of how distributed work can be effectively supported. In this paper, we discuss issues surrounding distributed work systems that were gained through a series of investigations, including (a) field studies, (b) structured interviews, (c) critical incident reports, (d) participation in concept experiments, and (e) literature reviews. Characteristics held in common by the domains explored include the following: high cognitive complexity, distribution of the work (and associated responsibilities) among many people, distribution of data and knowledge among many people, uncertainty about how scenarios will actually play out, and geographic and temporal distribution of the participants. The results of these investigations presented in the form of case studies, and design concepts to support distributed work systems are suggested.
Beyond Milgram: An Experimental Study of Leader Presence
Authors: Pangburn Keith , Freund Steven , Pangburn Holly , Smith Kip
Published: January 2012

The US Army is changing the organizational structure of the combat strike unit to cover more distance and inflict greater damage with fewer soldiers. These changes involve a shift in the modes of command and control between soldiers and their leaders: leader presence on the battlefield will no longer be necessary. Initial experiences with this concept have raised a concern about the effectiveness and efficiency of remote command and control. In the experiments discussed here, we address this concern in an ecologically realistic simulation of a battlefield environment. We test the impact of leader presence at two levels (present and remote) on combat task performance. Participants' task was to shoot, move, and communicate with a leader. We found that participants were faster to move and shoot in the leader-present condition than in the leader-remote condition.
Why are They not Responding to our Alarms? Another Analysis of Problems with Alarms
Authors: Xiao Yan , Seagull F. Jacob , Nieves-Khouw Fe , Barczak Nancy , Perkins Sherry
Published: January 2012

Large healthcare organizations are complex socio-technical systems in many senses. Understanding how such complex systems adapt to their internal and external environment may help us devise effective strategies in building robust, high reliability organizations. In this paper we report findings of an in-depth study of auditory alarms in acute care settings as an attempt to study complex organizations. Investigations into incidents with adverse outcomes often lead to blames of not responding to auditory alarms which in most cases sound at audible levels. We interviewed a number of clinicians and stakeholders to understand the reasons why in some circumstances alarms are not responded to. The findings illustrate a spectrum of reasons that predispose care providers in certain responding patterns, such as large numbers of alarms, confusion of alarms, temporary episodes of high workload, external economic pressures, and proactive interventions at unit and organizational levels at improving quality of care.
Evaluation of Latent Semantic Analysis-Based Measures of Team Communications Content
Authors: Gorman Jamie C. , Foltz Peter W. , Kiekel Preston A. , Martin Melanie J. , Cooke Nancy J.
Published: January 2012

Team process is thought to mediate team member inputs and team performance. Among the team behaviors identified as process variables, team communications have been widely studied. We view team communications as a team behavior and also as team information processing, or team cognition. Within the context of a Predator Uninhabited Air Vehicle (UAV) synthetic task, we have developed several methods of communications content assessment based on Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA). These methods include: Communications Density (CD) which is the average task relevance of a team's communications, Lag Coherence (LC) which measures task-relevant topic shifting over UAV missions, and Automatic Tagging (AT) which categorizes team communications. Each method is described in detail. CD and LC are related to UAV team performance. AT-human is comparable to human-human agreement on content coding. The results are promising for the assessment of teams based on LSA applied to communication content.
Toward Developing Situation Awareness Evaluation Strategies for Command and Control Environments
Authors: Militello Laura G. , Quill Laurie L. , Vinson Kelly M. , Stilson Mona T. , Gorman Megan E.
Published: January 2012

This paper describes an initial effort to measure Situation Awareness (SA) in the context of logistics command and control (C2). Logistics Control and Information Support (LOCIS) is a prototype decision aid intended to allow a maintenance supervisor to perform his/her job more quickly without loss of SA. A literature review revealed that existing measures devised to assess SA in the context of aviation do not transfer well to C2 tasks. Therefore, existing measures of SA were adapted, and then piloted. Findings indicate that LOCIS provides support for building SA in the context of two specific tasks key to the maintenance supervisor job: preparing for the Daily Aircraft Maintenance Morning meeting and planning for a deployment. This small-scale study represents a first step toward assessing SA in C2 tasks.
Shared Mental Models at the Intra- and Inter-Team Level: Applications to Counter-Terrorism and Crisis Response for Homeland Security
Authors: Fiore Stephen M. , Jentsch Florian , Bowers Clint A. , Salas Eduardo
Published: January 2012

Critical to meeting the needs arising from an increasing emphasis on homeland security is a fuller understanding of how to maximize the interactions among a diverse group of people and organizations. The complicating issue is the need to coordinate experts and teams of experts from differing disciplines. From a practical standpoint, because of the multidisciplinary requirements for effective homeland security, it is imperative that methodologies that can foster inter-individual (i.e., within team) and inter-organizational coordination (i.e., across departments or organizations) be investigated. From a theoretical standpoint, the operational concepts that drive the investigation and development of such methodologies must be identified. We suggest that the concept of shared mental models, arising out of research in the cognitive and organizational sciences, can be utilized in a program of research that explores the methods and tools to facilitate coordination in homeland security. Shared mental models can be applied to help our understanding of coordinated behavior at both the team level and the organizational level and, in this paper, we illustrate the relevance of this construct to both counter-terrorism operations and crisis response. We first discuss the shared mental model construct and follow this with a brief description of sample applications.
Hydro Scheme Control in a Deregulated Environment: Cognitive Work Models and Design Implications
Authors: Sanderson Penelope , Wong William , Choudhury Sanjib , Memisevic Rizah
Published: January 2012

Most studies of the human supervisor in the power industry have focused on how the reactor operator monitors the energy source and the containment of radiation and controls thermodynamic cycles, while serving base electricity loads. In contrast, the human supervisor of hydroelectric generation in a dynamic, deregulated, market environment, where control activity is motivated increasingly by market forces, has a surprisingly different role. Our goal in this paper is to note the particularly challenging features of the hydro power plant controller's world, particularly when dealing with a multi-site, multi-storage facility, with complex hydraulic arrangements, large generating units, and a focus on serving peak rather than base loads. We present results of cognitive work analyses that are informing investigations into more effective interface design for hydro scheme control and note challenges in formulating a framework for design.
Converging on Error Management: A Review of Current Findings and Future Needs
Authors: Nikolic Mark I. , Sarter Nadine B.
Published: January 2012

For many years, the focus of research in the area of human error was the prevention of erroneous actions and assessments through training and design. However, errors are a fundamental aspect of human adaptation in complex systems and will never be eliminated completely. More recent approaches to error stress the need to minimize its negative consequences through support for error management, i.e., the detection, explanation, and recovery from erroneous actions. For the most part, these efforts have examined the first step in this sequence — error detection. However, there continue to be gaps in our understanding of how operators explain and recover from errors. This paper reviews the current state of error management research and methods. Findings are presented from an ongoing converging operations approach to error management research. Finally, promising areas in which to make further advances in this field are identified.
Chex (Change History Explicit): New HCI Concepts for Change Awareness
Authors: Smallman Harvey S. , John Mark St.
Published: January 2012

Current display technologies do not support users in the critical task of recovering their situation awareness by determining whether situations have changed in meaningful ways. By simply representing the current state of a situation, displays force users to rely on their own ability to extract changes by cognitively integrating events over time. A flood of recent experiments have demonstrated dramatic limitations in these cognitive processes, with humans unable to spot changes in simple scenes, even under optimal monitoring conditions (they show “change blindness”). Here, we develop and empirically evaluate a set of new HCI concepts, collectively called CHEX (Change History Explicit), for supporting improved change awareness in a naval air warfare domain in which users monitor an airspace. CHEX augments the human attentional system with a set of intelligent change detectors whose output is logged in a re-configurable table format that is linked back to the situation display. We show that CHEX is extremely effective both for maintaining situation awareness when monitoring a situation as well as when recovering situation awareness following an interruption. CHEX shows great promise for use in other domains as well.
Effects of Situation-Specific Reliability on Trust and Usage of Automated Air Traffic Control Decision Aids
Authors: Masalonis Anthony J. , Parasuraman Raja
Published: January 2012

Automation trust was explored in a human-in-the-loop Air Traffic Control simulation. Controllers were asked to detect closely approaching aircraft pairs, assisted by an automated tool whose reliability varied according to whether the scenario contained Free Flight (aircraft deviating from flight plans at will). Training on the causes of variable reliability, given to half the controllers, enabled them to appropriately trust the automation less (assessed subjectively) during Free Flight. The trained group also had higher Hit and False Alarm rates than the other group, and were more likely overall to unquestioningly accept the tool's judgments; this behavior sometimes aided task performance, but the training did not affect overall performance. A new System Confidence rating scale showed promise as a supplement to established Trust and Self Confidence ratings, as did a scale enabling participant reports of the degree of automation information use in making each decision. Implications for decision support design and training are discussed.
How are we doing?: Presenting System Confidence Information to Support Trust Calibration and Adaptive Function Allocation
Authors: McGuirl John M. , Sarter Nadine B.
Published: January 2012

The “strong but silent” design of many decision support systems (DSS) has contributed to problems such as automation bias and trust miscalibration. The present study examined whether these difficulties can be overcome by providing continually updated information regarding a system's confidence in its own ability to perform its task(s) accurately and reliably. The application domain for this research was in-flight icing. Two groups of pilots flew a motion-based simulator in simulated icing conditions and were assisted by a neural net-based DSS that detected, and identified the location of, ice accretion. One group of pilots received information about overall system reliability only, whereas a second group was presented with a trend display of system confidence. Pilots in the latter group were better calibrated in terms of when to follow the system's advice. They were also more likely to reverse their actions when system-recommended actions were unsuccessful. Consequently, they experienced fewer icing-induced stalls. The findings from this research will be discussed in terms of their implications for the design of decision aids and for adaptive function allocation in human-machine teams.
Team Coordination and Strategies Under Automation
Authors: Wright Melanie C. , Kaber David B.
Published: January 2012

This study evaluated the effects of different forms of automation on team communication and coordination in a complex decision making task. Two person teams performed a Theatre Defense task in which they defended a home base from enemy aircraft attack using two networked computer workstations. Four automation conditions were simulated with computer assistance applied to information acquisition, information analysis, and decision making functions across two levels of task difficulty. Dependent measures for the experiment included team performance, counts of different types of verbal communication, team coordination ratings by external observers, and team member subjective workload ratings. Results on coordination ratings, communication counts, and correlations between communication and team effectiveness measures agreed with historical research showing that high performing teams exhibit efficient communication and frequent planning and situation assessments. In general, it was observed that automation conditions that support these behaviors by removing or reducing requirements for continuous verbal information transfer allow more time for sharing of a wider range of situation assessment information and development of more effective team strategies.
Multimodal, Multitask Interaction Design: Challenging Long-Standing Unimodal Design Assumptions
Authors: Hale Kelly S. , Samman Shatha N. , Buff Wendi L. , Stanney Kay M. , Reeves Leah , Bowers Clint A. , Martin Glenn
Published: January 2012

As the technology that supports interactive systems advances, the possibility of leveraging a multitude of sensory systems becomes possible. By using multiple sensory processors, substantial gains in the information management capacity of the human-computer integral should be realized, and those with sensory losses can be better accommodated. The question becomes when multimodal information is presented, how should these multiple sources of information be coordinated, particularly when two or more tasks are performed simultaneously? While current design theories developed primarily for unimodal interaction can be drawn on, additional research is required to fully guide multimodal multitask interaction design. The current study seeks to extend unimodal design theories to multimodal systems and identifies some interesting differences in unimodal vs multimodal multitask interaction.
Comparison of the P300 and Other Workload Assessment Techniques in a Simulated Flight Task
Authors: Coyne Joseph T.
Published: January 2012

Emerging cockpit technologies, such as graphical weather information systems, frequently shift perceptual demands from auditory to visual channels. Establishing methods of comparing the mental workload required by visual versus auditory displays within multitask environments is critical to maintaining aviation safety. Toward this end, the current investigation used a secondary task paradigm to compare physiological (i.e. peak amplitude and peak latency of the P300 ERP component), subjective and behavioral performance measures of mental workload required by a visual and auditory flight task. Participants flew a simulated flight path scenario while responding to either single or multiple auditory and text-based ATC commands and performing a visual or auditory detection task. Results indicate the P300 component, detection accuracy, response time and TLX ratings were sensitive to the presence or absence of the primary flight task. Accuracy and response time distinguished between single and multiple task command conditions. Results provide support for the suitability of this dual task technique for comparing displays of different modalities.
I See What You're Thinking: Using Cognitive Models to Represent Working Memory Usage for Traffic Flow Management Decision Support Prototypes
Authors: Estes Steven , Masalonis Anthony J.
Published: January 2012

A unique method was developed for explicitly and quantitatively representing working memory in an NGOMSL model (Estes, 2001). Applying this method, MITRE CAASD evaluated alternative designs of a research prototype for TFM ((Air) Traffic Flow Management). The NGOMSL modeling made it possible to quantify the physical workload and working memory benefits of an interface which integrates multiple steps into one window and one thread of interaction, as compared to the prototype's original design. It was found that the integrated design places little burden on working memory, more readily provides information about the task, and allows for less interaction with the interface. This design is planned for use in future TFM research, and some aspects of the design are already planned to be incorporated into operational TFM software.
Understanding Distributed Cognition in Moderated Chat Rooms: A Preliminary Analysis
Authors: Glantz Edward J. , McNeese Michael D.
Published: January 2012

This study evaluates higher order perception, cognition, and individual-cultural differences under which moderated chat rooms may provide an effective alternative for students reviewing business information system course material in preparation for examination. Chat rooms comprise a form of groupware that can facilitate distributed cognition among higher education participants in the form of information-sharing. This study continues previous research (McNeese, et. al., 2002) that indicated problem solving and constructivist learning are socially constructed, situated in practice and context specific. The premise of this paper is that with proper design a cognitive task, such as students reviewing for exams, can be effectively supported even within the possible constraints of simple chat rooms. A potential benefit to students, based on previous research, is that groupware such as chat rooms can provide a constructivist learning environment and an equality of participation in group discussions (Benbasat and Lim 1993). Initial results indicate the possibility to create social constructs whereby students with limited individual problem solving capabilities can be trained in a naturalistic setting to successfully acquire and transfer knowledge.
Using Cognitive Feedback to Detect Changes in a Task Environment
Authors: Gattie Gordon J. , Mazaeva Natalia , Bisantz Ann M.
Published: January 2012

The focus of decision making research has been shifting from static to dynamic environments during the last twenty years. Dynamic environments include not only changes in environmental cue values, but in relationships between cues and environmental states. Previous research has demonstrated decision makers are insensitive to statistical properties of the environment, and may encounter difficulty in determining changes in the underlying probabilistic structure of the environment. This research uses cognitive feedback based on the Lens Model to assist detection of environmental changes. Eighty participants attempted to predict the price of a single share of common stock for 150 fictitious companies using four financial indicators. Initial results suggest groups receiving some form of cognitive feedback adapted to changing environments better than groups not receiving cognitive feedback.
Modeling Automation Within an Abstraction Hierarchy
Authors: Mazaeva Natalia , Bisantz Ann M.
Published: January 2012

Work Domain Analysis (WDA) has been used within cognitive engineering as an analytic framework for developing systems design recommendations. The current research examines different treatments of automation by developing and comparing illustrative abstraction hierarchy models of a relatively simple automated system, a camera. A multi-part AH model (system, environment, and automation) was constructed to represent the camera in order to examine the benefits and disadvantages of integrating automation in the system model as opposed to representing it separately, as applied to implications for automation design recommendations. Comparison of the two models revealed that integrating automation was more descriptive of the interaction between the automation and other functions of the camera, whereas using a separate model clarified important relationships between the three domains. Thus, the single model approach may prove more useful for the management of automation while the dual modeling approach provides more opportunity for new design solutions.
Evaluating Interface Usability Based on Eye Movement and Hand Movement Behavioral Parameters
Authors: Lin Y. , Zhang W. J.
Published: January 2012

Evaluation of interface usability in terms of functionality and ease of use remains a challenging task. This paper presents a study on evaluation techniques using two measures: the eye fixation and the hand action. The eye fixation reflects the operator's cognitive processes, while the hand action reflects the operator's physical action or doing. Combination of these two kinds of measures may provide an important measuring technique to give more detailed information about the uses of the information displayed. Two different interfaces for the same task are used to show the sensitivity of this combination.
“Please Hold for the Next Available Agent:” The Effect of Hold Queue Content on Apparent Hold duration
Authors: Knott Benjamin A. , Pasquale Theodore , Miller Jim , Mills Scott H. , Joseph Kurt M.
Published: January 2012

This paper describes a study of the effects of four types of content presentation for consumers waiting on-hold to speak to a call center agent. Of particular interest was the interactive voice portal (IVP) condition in which callers used a voice portal to retrieve news and other information while they waited on hold in a queue. An experiment explored the effect of four content types (Silence, Music, Advertisements, and Interactive Voice Portal) on callers' estimates of on-hold duration across four hold intervals (60, 120, 240, and 480 seconds) and for three customer tasks. The dependent measures were hold-time estimation error and customer satisfaction ratings. Each participant placed four calls to a simulated call center in which they were presented with one of the four content types and hold durations. Both Content and Hold Time had a significant effect on estimation error and customer satisfaction. The interactive voice portal yielded the best results overall, suggesting an interesting new approach to call center hold queues.
Whose Turn is it?: Designing for Overlapping Grammar between Applications and the Voice Browser
Authors: Balaji T. S. , Roche Elizabeth
Published: January 2012

Voice applications commonly share grammar elements with a supporting voice browser. This overlap creates the need for a rule set to determine whether a given instance should be handled by the browser or the application. Further, the browser grammar may interfere with the recognition of the application grammar and the application developer must be able to mitigate for this potential problem. This paper describes an approach which allows the browser administrator to specify instances which must be handled by the browser and also gives the application developer the ability to weight the application grammar relative to the Global Grammar. The solution described here is consistent with the theory that usability professionals should be involved not only in application user interface design, but also in platform design.
The Effects of Trust, Communication and Proximity on Team Problem Solving
Authors: Pruitt Nicole , Bolton Jessica , Kearney Andy , Swan Benjamin , Smith Kip
Published: January 2012

This paper discusses an experiment on the interaction of trust, communication, and proximity on team problem solving. The research is motivated by the US Army's plan to change the organizational structure of the combat infantry from a close-knit brotherhood to an alliance of high-tech autonomous individuals. We are interested in ascertaining the possible consequences this transition may have on teamwork in a context that generalizes to the Army's mission. In our experiment, communication and proximity were fully crossed in a 2×2 design. Trust at three levels — trust, distrust, and betrayal — was a subject variable revealed by play of an economic game. We find a significant main effect for mode of communication: teams that communicate freely work more effectively. Further, we find a significant main effect for trust. When team members trust each other, they work more efficiently. The lack of a significant interaction between proximity and communication reveals that the quality of team problem solving is not sensitive to the mode of communication. Teams that coordinated their activity using a radio performed no worse than teams that worked face-to-face. This finding bodes well for organizations that rely on remote command and control.
The Human Factors Issues in Data Mining
Authors: Ma Jiao , Drury Colin G.
Published: January 2012

In our information age, with wide use of computers and the Internet, data is not only more accessible than ever, but also accumulating rapidly every day. Rather than having difficulty in finding data, people now encounter more problems in understanding and digesting useful information from the plethora of data out there. Correspondingly, traditional manual methods of accessing and analyzing data have been losing their power to deal with such enormous amounts of data. Data mining (DM) has become part of the technological response to this data flood since early 1990s. The DM literature has shown little interest in the human role in the DM process, because of an over emphasis on its “automatic and semiautomatic” aspects. Based on a literature review, a detailed function/task analysis, and a preliminary cognitive task analysis, we agree with Romanowski (2002) that the amount of human involvement in DM tasks tends to be significant. This study is based on a combination of analyses of past DM cases, interviews, and field observations. The purpose is to investigate how people actually apply DM techniques in their work, and hence to discover any crucial roles played by humans in the data mining process from a function allocation viewpoint.
User Requirements for Information Technology to Support Alternative Transportation in the National Parks
Authors: Kelly Michael J. , Moore Joann L.
Published: January 2012

Because of crowding, overuse, and pollution, the National Park Service is conducting a major effort to develop alternative forms of transportation in the national parks. A new generation of busses and trams will provide features that motivate visitors to leave their private automobiles in favor of public transportation. One such feature might be an interactive computer-based information system that would provide riders with various kinds of interpretive and visit planning information. A series of surveys and focus groups explored visitors' motivations and expectations when visiting Yellowstone National Park. They also documented the features and the kinds of information visitors would like to have available during a trip through the park using an alternative vehicle system. These studies culminated in the functional design of a prototype visit enhancement system. This paper presents the results and implications of these user requirements studies.
Gain and Target Size Effects on Cursor-Positioning Time with a Mouse
Authors: Bohan Michael , Thompson Shelby , Scarlett Deborah , Chaparro Alex
Published: January 2012

Movement time to align a cursor with targets on a computer screen a mouse was examined across settings of gain and target size. Empirical evidence was sought in light of previous suggestions that performance declines observed at higher gains can be explained by decreased effective cursor resolution, not gain per se. We tested this hypothesis by holding the effective cursor resolution constant while systematically varying gain and target size. Analysis of movement times showed a significant gain effect as a function of target size. Specifically, movement time increased with gain at the smallest target size (i.e. 1.5 mm) but decreased with gain at the largest target size (i.e. 12 mm). These results do not support the no-effect of gain hypothesis and suggest that target size is an important factor in determining the effects of gain on mouse movement performance.
A Comparison of Cursor-Control Performance of the Rollermouse Station™ and the Standard Mouse
Authors: Bohan Michael , Slocum Jeremy , Shaikh Dawn , Chaparro Barbara
Published: January 2012

This study compared first-time usage and performance of the RollerMouse Station™ to the standard mouse. Participants completed serial-clicking and serial-dragging tasks using a variety of angles, distances, and sizes on both input devices. Movement time, homing time, and error rate per condition were examined as dependent variables. Results revealed faster point-and-click and click-and-drag performance for the standard mouse but no difference in error rate across the two devices. In addition, the RollerMouse was significantly faster for homing time. Although the standard mouse was faster in target acquisition, the increase in performance from the homing time for the RollerMouse resulted in only a slight advantage for the mouse in total movement time. These results are promising for the RollerMouse as an alternative input device to the mouse. Further studies investigating the effects of practice and hand configuration are discussed.
Redesign of a Technical Support Interactive Voice Response System: Applying Heuristics to Business Problems
Authors: Sherman Paul
Published: January 2012

The interactive voice response system (IVR) for the technical support line of an accounting software application was subjected to a heuristic evaluation, which is a type of usability inspection. The evaluation was undertaken as part of an effort to discover why over 13% of callers were choosing the wrong path through the system and routing themselves to the incorrect technical support team. It was hypothesized that callers were routing incorrectly because the IVR's prompts and call flows were difficult to understand and navigate. The system's prompts and call flows were redesigned and deployed, resulting in a significant cost savings for the organization.
System Delay and Navigational Structure for Web Applications and the Importance of Measuring Workload
Authors: Al-Safar Jennifer A. , Fulop Ann
Published: January 2012

Myriad research suggests that delays associated with downloading of pages from server to client can have serious and deleterious consequences for usability. This has understandably led to design guidance suggesting that page download times be kept to a minimum in order to assure an optimum user experience. We argue that there may be some caveats to this rule, particularly when designing long applications, such as those used for data collection by customer service representatives. A series of three studies was conducted to test this assumption. Within each study, download pattern, navigation pattern, and total download time were differentially manipulated. Overall, it was found that an application downloaded in its entirety, rendered as a single page and navigated by scrolling, was subjectively preferred and scored lower on certain subjective workload subscales than applications downloaded incrementally, rendered as multiple pages and navigated by clicking. These results call into question the validity of design guidance focused exclusively on system delay time.
A Human Factors Database for Matching Human Errors and Technological Interventions
Authors: Rantanen Esa M. , Wiegmann Douglas A. , Palmer Brent O. , Musiorski Kevin M.
Published: January 2012

One of the main factors in all aviation accidents is human error. The NASA Aviation Safety Program (AvSP), therefore, has identified several human-factors safety technologies to address this issue. Some technologies directly address human error either by attempting to reduce the occurrence of errors or by mitigating the negative consequences of errors. However, new technologies and system changes may also introduce new error opportunities or even induce different types of errors. Consequently, a thorough understanding of the relationship between error classes and technology “fixes” is crucial for the evaluation of intervention strategies outlined in the AvSP, so that resources can be effectively directed to maximize the benefit to flight safety. The purpose of the present project, therefore, was to examine the repositories of human factors data to identify the possible relationship between different error class and technology intervention strategies. The present paper summarizes our efforts to create a database to help map intervention technologies onto error categories.
Development of a Guidelines Tool for Mobile Phone Interfaces
Authors: Nam Chang S. , Kim Hyung N. , Tonya  , Smith-Jackson L. , Nussbaum Maury A.
Published: January 2012

The cellular phone market has advanced rapidly and consequently has produced a variety of functional capabilities and interface designs. However, this same rapid proliferation has led to problems with the diffusion and organization of design guidelines. Given the current market demands on usability that include addressing the needs of users with disabilities, cellular phone developers need easy-to-access and comprehensible design guidelines. This study was conducted to develop a guidelines tool to support the development of usable cellular phone interfaces. The tool was developed on the basis of knowledge elicitation techniques of experts, including card sorting and category evaluation. Cluster and content analyses were used to analyze the quantitative and qualitative data. Categories of guidelines and their meanings are provided.