bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Eye Tracking of Evaluators Viewing Usability Videos: Opacity and Experience Differences
Authors: Andre Terence S. , Graham Hudson D. , Coker Jenny L. , Schurig Margaret A.
Published: January 2012

Usability evaluation recording technology provides the usability practitioner with the capability to record audio, video of the user, and desktop screen activity in a “picture-in-picture” (PIP) format, allowing the evaluator to observe the interface screen and the human user simultaneously. This study is the second in a series of studies to examine how best to present usability evaluation video so that evaluators reliably find usability problems. The research objective of this study focused on the opacity of the PIP video that is often displayed along with the desktop screen capture. A total of 16 undergraduate evaluators were used, with 8 having no experience and 8 having 20 hours of experience from an advanced human-computer interaction course. In addition, 6 usability practitioners were used to compare to undergraduate experiences. Eye tracking was used to determine the attentional focus of evaluators. Results showed that opacity levels of the PIP video did not influence the number of usability problems found for all three groups. All evaluators did focus more on the higher opacity PIP video, but this did not appear to influence their evaluation.
The Range of Tactile & Haptic Interaction Techniques
Authors: Andrew Ian , Fourney David
Published: January 2012

Tactile/haptic interactions make use of a far wider set of interaction techniques than other forms of human-computer interaction including traditional direct manipulation of screen objects by pointing devices. This paper explores the relationships between interaction tasks within applications and the interaction devices used for those interactions, both current and future. The attributes of those devices, and their various combinations within a device, are also discussed. It introduces and discusses existing techniques, together with developments in research and guidance relating to various tactile/haptic interaction techniques.
Supporting the Expert and Novice in a Single User Interface
Authors: Bachmann Scott , Kancler David E. , Curtis Christopher
Published: January 2012

The Aircraft Maintenance and Intuitive Troubleshooting (AMIT) project is sponsored by the United States Air Force Research Lab's Human Effectiveness Directorate Logistics Readiness Branch (AFRL/HEAL) to investigate how to create a software tool to improve flight line maintenance troubleshooting. The AMIT project is a three year project that can be loosely divided into three stages: 1) research - determining expertise and defining the constraints of the task; 2) design - turning the findings into a tool; and 3) test - placing the tool in a constrained field test to assess its impact on performance in a naturalistic setting. This paper focuses on the recently completed design stage, as a case study.
Human Systems Integration (HSI) Education and Training: It'S not Just Human Factors on Steroids!
Authors: Shattuck Lawrence G. , Drillings Michael , Foxx Jacqueline , Lindberg Robert , Miller Nita Lewis
Published: January 2012

This panel builds on the work of a Human Systems Integration (HSI) panel convened at the 49th Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. The present panel brings together leaders of the HSI community from the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Army, and the U.S. Navy. These experts discuss the challenges in educating and training HSI practitioners. Among the HSI education and training challenges are developing student expertise in numerous HSI stove-pipe domains while equipping students with the tools, processes, and skills requisite for reconciling conflicts among the domains.
Recommendations for Teaching Team Behavior to Human Factors/Ergonomics Students
Authors: Stone Nancy J. , Moroney William F. , Wortham Tracey B.
Published: January 2012

Many Human Factors/Ergonomics specialists are members of work teams. To prepare students for teamwork, the students' education should include team building exercises and experiences. During both the 2004 and 2005 HFES meetings panel sessions were held on teaching team behavior to human factors/ergonomics students. The first panel identified general approaches and areas requiring study, whereas the second panel focused on how to form and develop effective teams and how to collect and use peer ratings. This document integrates the information obtained from these panels, teaching resources, and audience input. Teaching outcomes, various forms used to effectively teach with teams, and additional references are provided. These complete recommendations are posted at: http://etg.hfes.org .
Revisiting Sitting Cross-Cultural Aspects of Seating
Authors: Noro Kageyu , Lueder Rani , Yamada Shunji , Fujimaki Goroh , Oyama Hideki , Hashidate Yuki
Published: January 2012

This chairperson's paper summarizes the background and objectives of a panel session on cross-cultural postures. The panel session will present research findings that exemplify the implications of regional and cultural assumptions and perspectives on seating comfort and design.
Canine Models of Occupational Expertise
Authors: Helton William S.
Published: January 2012

The role of inherent talents or biological predispositions in the acquisition of expertise is controversial. Because the genetics and early life experiences of humans are not open to direct manipulation, human experimental studies are of limited utility in resolving this issue. Studies employing non-humans as expert models may prove more useful. In order for non-humans to be considered proper models of human experts, there needs to be evidence supporting a shared expertise-acquisition mechanism. A candidate mechanism is deliberate practice. The deliberate practice theory of expertise acquisition was investigated in dogs competing in agility. The relationships between amounts of accumulated deliberate practice and agility performance measures were examined in this study, controlling for sex, breed, age, and height. There was a statistically significant relationship between the amount of deliberate practice and measured performance in agility dogs.
Integrating Instructional Strategies and Haptic Technologies to Enhance the Training Efficacy of an Army 91W (Combat Medic) Medical Skills Training Simulation
Authors: Riddle Dawn L. , Fowlkes Jennifer , Lazarus Todd , Daly Jason , Martin Glenn
Published: January 2012

This paper describes the design of HapMed, a haptics-based simulation system for training US Army 91W10 combat medic tasks. Particular emphasis is placed on a cognitive engineering design methodology for integrating haptic technologies and instructional design strategies to enhance HapMed training effectiveness. The unique design of HapMed also addresses the Army's critical need for a modular, field deployable training system that bridges the gap between civilian first responder training and combat casualty care.
Understanding and Facilitating Collaboration in Healthcare
Authors: Dominguez Cynthia , Xiao Yan
Published: January 2012

Research of collaborative work in healthcare provides new insights into team performance, communication, coordination, and the role of information technology. These new insights may be translated into other domains where continuous operations by multi-disciplinary teams are essential. The symposium will provide a forum for a conceptual framework on shared information spaces (conversational and visual), the relational infrastructure and specific benefits inherent in effective collaboration across teams, interdisciplinary communication strategies in ICU settings, barriers to attaining common ground as well as strategies for facilitating common ground, and the nature of handoffs when pediatric ICU patients transfer to a step-down unit. All of these reports originated from empirical examinations of collaborative work in high stakes healthcare settings. As a whole, this symposium represents a snapshot of how human factors can contribute to healthcare by improving our understanding of how collaboration occurs and can be promoted in healthcare settings.
Barriers and Facilitators of Common Ground in Critical Care Teams
Authors: McHugh Anna , Crandall Beth , Miller Tom
Published: January 2012

Effective collaboration among multi-disciplinary clinical team members has been recognized as a critical component of safe and high quality patient care. There are a variety of systems and procedures in place; however that can impede collaboration by impairing the team's ability to develop and maintain common ground. The current study was an exploratory effort that included an investigation of collaboration in the critical care environment. Direct observations in two urban Intensive Care Units and Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA) interviews with members of the critical care teams highlighted several factors that can contribute to the breakdown of common ground within the critical care team, as well as strategies that can be used to facilitate and support maintenance of common ground.
Risk and Recovery in Complex Medical Domains: Computational and Graphical Models of Performance
Authors: Dierks Meghan M.
Published: January 2012

Medicine is a complex, safety-critical and highly interactive system. Despite efforts to provide safe, effective care, adverse events still occur — clinicians make diagnostic and therapeutic errors, system constraints impact the coordination and delivery of care and patients suffer unexpected complications and injuries. Our current understanding of the nature of medical adverse events, and our ability to develop durable preventative or mitigating strategies has been hampered by somewhat out-dated and inadequate models of clinical risk, which focus almost exclusively on patient factors, provider factors or the specific clinical procedure being performed. Absent from such models are the interactions and inter-dependencies between different system components ( staffing, instrumentation, protocols, procedures, access to and quality of information, communication modes, and scheduling cycles, system-wide volume and acuity, throughput pressures), an understanding of the reliability of such components under different operating conditions and the significance of failure during different phases of clinical care. This paper describes the use of computational and graphical models to improve our understanding of medical risk by modeling complex interactions between clinical subsystems and variations in risk across different phases of clinical care. Many of the submodels developed here are generalizable across a broad range of other healthcare settings.
Queuing Network Modeling of a Real-Time Psychophysiological Index of Mental Workload—P300 Amplitude in Event-Related Potential (ERP)
Authors: Wu Changxu , Liu Yili
Published: January 2012

The P300 amplitude of a secondary task is found to decrease in dual task situations compared with the corresponding single task situation of performing the secondary task alone, and is regarded as an effective real-time index of mental workload. In this article we describe a successful extension and application of the queueing network human performance model to quantify and model this major finding in P300, based on the neurophysiological mechanisms of P300. A comparison of the simulation results of the model with the corresponding experimental results in the literature indicates that the model quantifies human performance and the change of P300 amplitude in single and dual task conditions accurately. The model has not only a solid basis in its biological mechanism, but also potential value in real time workload prediction and application. Further developments of the model in simulating other dimensions of mental workload and its potential applications in adaptive system design are discussed.
A Software Tool for Estimating Driver Effectiveness during Evacuations
Authors: French J. , Green F. , Schunk D.
Published: January 2012

An Evacuation Software Prediction (ESP) tool is described which allows regional managers to rapidly evaluate numerous contingencies for the evacuation of large numbers of people from an affected area and to statistically compare response strategies. This discrete event computer simulation tool is further distinguished by considering varying degrees of human emotional responsiveness to emergency evacuation, ranging from orderly calm to confused panic. The ESP tool's predicted results compared well with the observed results from rush hour traffic. A linear regression model showed that both predicted and observed sample speeds correlated well with traffic number over the samples. If the traffic flow problem presented during a typical rush hour can be used to substantiate evacuation traffic flow days or hours before a hurricane landfall, then the ESP tool may prove useful in evaluating countermeasure effectiveness for the 2006 hurricane season.
Error Analysis and Threat Magnitude for Carry-on Bag Inspection
Authors: Drury Colin G. , Ghylin Kimberly M. , Holness Karen
Published: January 2012

A major part of aviation security research is prediction and improvement of systems performance to address different threat vectors. The current paper arises from the application of several ideas from the area of non-destructive inspection (NDI) to X-ray screening of carry-on baggage. The premise is that if findings from the security domain are similar to those in the NDI domain, then much prior research on inspection becomes directly applicable to security applications. Simulated threats were presented to 22 experts and 24 novices using 3 threat categories, 4 viewpoints and threats at 3 different image scales. Along with speed-accuracy trade-off, the applicability of “PoD Curve” analysis from NDI reliability was also explored along with individual differences. Results indicate support for speed-accuracy trade-off (SATO) and PoD models applied to security inspection, with large effects of expertise and smaller effects of age. Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) also produced a different pattern from guns or knives indicating that studies should include IEDs to be broadly applicable.
Familiarity and Expertise in the Recognition of Vehicles from an Unmanned Ground Vehicle
Authors: Fincannon Thomas D. , Curtis Michael , Jentsch Florian
Published: January 2012

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of familiarity and expertise in remote perception from unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs). Fifty-two volunteers, of whom 23 were Army ROTC cadets, participated. They were first asked to identify vehicles on a written test, and scores from the test were used to predict the amount of information reported from a video recording, captured from a UGV camera, in a scaled MOUT facility. ROTC cadets are compared with the general subject pool in order to explore differences between civilian and military vehicle recognition. Results from a written vehicle recognition test indicate that all participants were most familiar with civilian vehicles and ROTC cadets were more familiar with military vehicles than the general population. Regression analyses revealed that both ROTC experience and vehicle familiarity were predictive of the amount of information correctly reported from the UGV camera video. We believe that training for expertise and motivation should be considered for future research.
Evaluating Preferences for Mobile Phone Features
Authors: Glasscock Naomi F. , Wogalter Michael S.
Published: January 2012

Mobile (or cellular) phone usage has grown substantially over recent years. Products continue to become smaller while the number of features that they contain increases. Recently, manufacturers have begun to market products toward specific demographic groups, like children or older adults. However, there is relatively little research concerning individual differences in feature preferences, particularly with respect to age. The present research explores self-reported preferences for 24 mobile phone features. Participants ( N = 194) rated each feature on a scale indicating their likelihood to use the feature if it was available in their mobile phone. Mean ratings indicated that Phonebook, Voicemail, Caller ID, and Call History were the features individuals reported most likely to be used. Approximately half of the features had mean ratings that indicated that they were not likely to be used. Pearson correlation coefficients between age and feature ratings resulted in 18 (out of 24) negative and significant correlations, indicating that most features are reportedly less likely to be used with increasing age. This notion was further confirmed by a positive correlation between age and the number of features rated as unlikely to be used. Analysis of variance also revealed effects of gender, age category, student status, and parental status on preference ratings. Implications for the design of mobile phones for different users are discussed.
Beyond Ergonomics: Evolving to Achieve Fewer Back Injuries in the Future?
Authors: McGill Stuart M.
Published: January 2012

Painful, disabled backs from tissue damage do not just happen, nor are they caused by psychosocial issues. Nearly all injury mechanisms are linked to joint motion and posture patterns. For example, posture determines which tissue is damaged and at which load (magnitude, duration, frequency, load rate etc). In the case of disc herniation, repeated joint flexion appears to be a necessary condition. Even with an “ergonomically correct” or well designed job, some will still experience pain or injury. This is because so much of the loading experienced by joints is generated not by external loads, but by the muscles themselves. People use different strategies to activate muscles and move through motion patterns. Thus, the way that they choose to move plays a large role in determining their risk of injury. While Ergonomics is important, it is only a component in a broader effort needed to achieve minimal injury rates. In many cases, ergonomic approaches involving job design are impractical or do not address the injury mechanisms that form the root cause of disabled backs. Entire sectors of the workforce cannot use job design (such as law enforcement, forestry, farming, fishing, to name a few). Evidence suggests that an approach to address the cause rather than the symptoms must look beyond ergonomics and consider changing the individual. Successful reduction of back injury rates in the future will have to consider “changing the person to fit the task”.
Sagittal Plane Moment Arms of the Male Lumbar Region Rectus Abdominis: Upright Vs. Supine Posture
Authors: Jorgensen Michael J. , Smith Francis W.
Published: January 2012

Prior studies of torso muscle moment arms for inputs into torso biomechanical models have been derived from subjects lying supine. Recent research suggests that moment arms of the rectus abdominis increase when standing versus lying supine. The objective of this study was to quantify and compare the sagittal plane rectus abdominis moment arm from upright and supine postures. Cross-sectional MRI images from ten males in both upright and supine postures were obtained. Digitizing software was utilized to quantify the sagittal plane moment arms of the rectus abdominis muscle. The mean sagittal plane moment arms were significantly larger at each lumbar intervertebral level in the erect posture compared to the supine posture, ranging from 15.9% larger at L1/L2 to 49.3% larger at L4/L5. These findings indicate that the torso internal moment generating capability would be represented differently in biomechanical models that use data from studies where subjects were upright versus supine.
Effects of Pace and Work Stress on Upper-Extremity Kinematic Responses in Sign Language Interpreters
Authors: Qin Jin , Marshall Matthew , Mozrall Jacqueline , Marschark Marc
Published: January 2012

Sign language interpreting is an occupation that suffers from high levels of repetitive motion injuries (RMIs) and burnout due to the high physical and cognitive demands of the interpreting task. The objective of this research was to determine the effects of work pace and psychosocial stress on the wrist kinematics of sign language interpreting. It was found that neither pace nor stress affected mean wrist position, but increased pace resulted in a significant increase of both mean velocity and acceleration, with increases ranging from 10.7–18.6%. Increased psychosocial stress resulted in a significant increase of left-hand (non-dominant) mean velocity and acceleration, with increases ranging from 14.8–19.5%. No effect of stress was observed for the right hand. In addition, several wrist kinematic variables of interpreting exceeded previously established high risk industrial benchmarks. The results of this work support earlier research which found deleterious effects of work stress on the biomechanical responses of the lower back.
An Investigation of Complaints of Shoulder Pain and Discomfort from Library Workers and the Redesign of a Circulation Desk
Authors: Wick John L. , Woodford Susanne
Published: January 2012

Checking out books and other media for library patrons is a typical job in most libraries. The checkout job is done at King County Library System by Library Assistants at a circulation desk. Some Library Assistants experienced shoulder pain or discomfort. Ergonomics evaluations were performed to determine the ergonomics risk factors in the checkout job that could contribute to stress to the shoulders. The ergonomics evaluations identified ergonomics risk factors that could cause shoulder pain or discomfort that were directly related to the circulation desk design. The results of the ergonomics evaluations were used to develop a new circulation desk design. The new design successfully addressed the problems identified in the original circulation desks, created a more efficient workstation compatible with the tasks involved in checking out books for the patrons, and reduced the probability of shoulder injury. This paper describes the findings of the ergonomics evaluations and the results of the changes in the new circulation desk design.
Accommodating Slips and Falls Hazards Using Anticipatory Locomotor Adjustments
Authors: DiDomenico Angela
Published: January 2012

Successful hazard accommodation is an important aspect of maintaining a continuous walking pattern and avoiding slips and falls. Kinematic data was collected for thirty-six participants who were asked to step on a target within a linear runway. Experimental conditions were varied to produce a range of anticipatory locomotor adjustments by using two walking velocities (normal, fast) and target sizes (5cm x 5cm, 33cm x 53cm). Gait parameters were examined for the five steps prior to hitting the target. Repeated measures ANOVA was performed to determine the changes in the gait parameters among the steps. Results showed a distribution of anticipatory locomotor adjustments over multiple steps, with the largest adjustments generally occurring during the last step. Given ample time to perceive a hazard and make necessary adjustments, it seems that individuals can successfully accommodate a slip and fall hazard. Present findings indicate that future research regarding slips and falls hazards may benefit from including analyses of multiple steps preceding hazards to understand the entire event.
Prevalence of Lifted Finger Behavior and Postures during Two-Button Computer Mouse Use
Authors: Lee David L.
Published: January 2012

Two-button computer mouse users may exhibit sustained lifted finger behaviors to prevent inadvertent activations by avoiding finger pressure on the buttons, leading to prolonged finger extensor muscle loading. One hundred graduate students were observed during normal computer work in a university computer facility to qualify and quantify the prevalence of lifted finger behaviors and extended finger postures, as well as wrist/forearm support, during specific mouse activities. The highest prevalences observed were 48% of the students lifted their middle finger during mouse drag activities, and 23% extended their middle finger while moving the mouse. In addition, 98% of the students rested their wrist and forearm (77%) or wrist only (21%) on the workstation surface. These findings indicate that two-button mouse users do lift and hold their fingers during computer work, while supporting their wrist/forearms. Potential applications include ergonomic design strategies to reduce exposure to risk factors that may contribute to hand/forearm musculoskeletal pain.
An Approach for Evaluating 3-D Workspace Using Photogrammetry and CAD Software
Authors: Chang Ji Hong , Fathallah Fadi A.
Published: January 2012

Evaluation of workspace layout and design is a common task among ergonomists. It is desirable to find accurate and expedient means to generate the workspace in a virtual form, which allows the evaluation of various aspects of the human-workspace interface. The purpose of this practice-based paper is to introduce and evaluate a method, known as photogrammetry, which facilitates the recreation of workspaces in virtual three-dimensional (3-D) space. To demonstrate the utility and accuracy of this approach, a photogrammetry software was used to generate virtual 3-D models of ten popular agricultural tractors. Accuracy evaluation showed that photogrammetry is generally more useful for larger and more complicated objects, while smaller and simpler objects tend to yield less error. Furthermore, the paper shows examples on how these virtual 3-D mockups can be incorporated into Computer Aided Design (CAD) or ergonomic software in order to evaluate operator-cab interface issues such as reach, clearance and field of vision. This two-layered approach can be a very useful and powerful tool for ergonomists when designing and evaluating various human-workspace interfaces.
Differences between Male and Female Psychophysically Determined Maximum Acceptable Forces of a Cart Pushing Tasks
Authors: Ciriello Vincent M.
Published: January 2012

The purpose of this experiment was to compare the differences in maximum acceptable initial and sustained forces between males and females while performing a 7.6 m pushing task at a frequency of 1 min-1 on a high-inertia pushcart and to compare those differences with the gender differences of our criterion magnetic particle brake treadmill push task (Snook and Ciriello, 1991). Eleven female and eight male industrial workers performed two 2- hour pushcart tasks in the context of a larger experiment. The results revealed that maximum acceptable initial and sustained forces of pushing for women on the pushcart were 67% and 69% of the initial and sustained forces for men, comparable to our magnetic particle brake treadmill push task data. These findings may indicate that adjustments to our pushing data may not be necessary if replication of this experiment yields similar results.
A Case Study in Using Macroergonomics as a Framework for Business Transformation
Authors: McCreary Faith , Raval Kunjan , Fallenstein Meghan
Published: January 2012

This paper presents the results of a case study of an approach for simultaneously investigating an organization's user experience and driving user-centric change within the larger organization. Called Model Workplace, it is a collaborative, macroergonomics-based approach that leverages the business expertise native to an organization with that of user research consultants to gather diagnostic information at all levels of the user experience for informed organizational decision-making. This innovative approach is as much about changing an organization so that it can make more effective use of the research data, as it is about gathering the data needed for effective change. Our findings suggest that this approach can be used by other organizations to drive customer-focused change throughout their business plans and processes.
Peripheral Motion Displays: Tapping the Potential of the Visual Periphery
Authors: Kooi Frank L. , Mosch Marcel
Published: January 2012

We address the challenge to develop a “peripheral display” with information readable from the corner of the eye. This interest is spurred by the need to convey information outside the central vision, in order to allow the operator the freedom to look elsewhere in the world. We show that low contrast motion patterns are particularly suited. The information capacity is sufficient for at least 10 messages and, perhaps surprisingly, peripheral motion messages distract little. The messages can intuitively be categorized as “urgent” and “not-urgent“. With the peripheral motion designs overlaid on a route navigation system we demonstrate 1) the excellent peripheral readability, 2) intuitive coding of urgency, and 3) minimal effect on the readability of the standard navigation information.
Performance, Workload, and Stress in Vigilance: The Power of Choice
Authors: Szalma J.L. , Hancock P.A.
Published: January 2012

Observers were provided the illusion of choice by permitting them to ‘choose’ an easy or a hard version of a vigilance task. Participants were then assigned at random to either the condition they expressed preference for or their non-preferred condition. Participants in the comparison control condition were not offered the opportunity to choose. Task demand was manipulated using event rate variation, divided into high and low event rates. Results indicated that permitting participants a choice regarding ‘difficulty level’ and subsequently assigning them to that level enhanced signal detections but did not reduce their perceived workload and stress. In contrast, offering a choice and then assigning observers to their non-preferred condition impaired performance relative to a condition in which no choice was provided. This pattern of effects was more pronounced at the low compared to the high event rate. These results confirm the importance of motivational effects in vigilance and the impact choice has on performance in tasks requiring sustained attention.
The Effects of Relative System Reliability and Prioritization on Alarm Reaction Patterns
Authors: Newlin Elizabeth T. , Bustamante Ernesto A. , Bliss James P. , Spain Randall D. , Fallon Corey K.
Published: January 2012

Alarm system operators often manage multiple alarm systems concurrently. Because such situations often accompany cascading events, it is important to know how operators sequence responses. We examined how the relative reliability and priority of two concurrent alarms affected alarm gauge reset patterns. We hypothesized that operators would respond first to an alarm with higher reliability or higher priority when the other variable was held constant. We also expected participants to respond to alarms with higher priority first when they occurred at the same time as a high-reliability alarm. Sixty-one Old Dominion University undergraduates performed a tracking task and responded to gauge fluctuations (alarms). A between subjects ANOVA revealed that participants responded to alarms with higher priority first when reliability was constant, and to higher reliability alarms first when priority was constant. Our results suggest that relative priority and reliability may be useful parameters to control in complex task situations.
A Comparison of Two Mental Workload Instruments in Multimedia Instruction
Authors: Windell David , Wiebe Eric , Converse-Lane Sharolyn , Beith Barry
Published: January 2012

Cognitive Load Theory focuses on several assessment techniques to assess overall cognitive load, including its three-subclasses, and its relationship to learning. Methods include psychophysical and secondary task techniques, along with task performance and self-report. The current study looks to review two popular self-report measures (NASA Task Load indeX, and a short subjective instrument) and identify not only if they are consistent with one another, but also to discover whether both are equally sensitive across changes in levels of cognitive load subclasses. The two subclasses looked at in this study are intrinsic load, which is related to element interactivity, and extraneous load, which is influenced by the instructional design itself. Results from this study indicate that the NASA-Task Load index, as a weighted multi-dimensional rating scale, differs in measurement of the demands faced by learners in a PC-based, multimedia-learning environment from the more traditional, single-questions short subjective instrument.
Team Response to Workload Transition: The Role of Team Structure
Authors: Jobidon M.-E. , Breton R. , Rousseau R. , Tremblay S.
Published: January 2012

The present study aims to investigate how teams respond to workload transition due to a sudden and unexpected event in a complex and dynamic command and control (C2) environment. The C3Fire microworld (Granlund, 1998), a forest fire-fighting simulation, is used to compare divisional (territory-specific) and functional (role-specific) teams. Workload transition is induced by the sudden appearance of a second fire. Results show that functional teams' performance decreases while their communication frequency increases following the workload transition. However, they are faster to detect the second fire. This pattern of results suggests that in the context of C2 environments, the impact of a workload escalation varies as a function of team structure (functional vs. divisional) and the type of task (fire detection vs. fire fighting).
Comparison of Three Avionics Systems Based upon Information Availability, Priorities and Accessibility
Authors: Hamblin Christopher J. , Miller Cindy , Naidu Shiva
Published: January 2012

This study evaluates three avionics systems typically found in small general aviation aircraft. The evaluation included a traditional “steam gauge” airplane, an “intermediate” airplane equipped with traditional mechanical instruments along with a GPS-based moving map display and a technically advanced airplane equipped with a computer-based glass cockpit. We evaluated the avionics using a methodology described by Schvanevelt, Berringer & Leard (2004) which evaluates the availability and accessibility of information based upon the priorities pilots place upon the various information sources. The results show that computer-based avionics provide more information; however most of the additional information is located deep within the avionics' menu structure.
Effects of Eye Structure and Color on Attributions for Intelligent Agents
Authors: Sims Valerie K. , Chin Matthew G. , Smith Hana S. , Ballion Tatiana , Sushil David J. , Strand Michael , Mendoza Sarah , Shumaker Randall , Finkelstein Neal
Published: January 2012

Participants rated machine “faces” which varied in terms of facial feature shape, whether the eyes had a pupil or not, and seven eye colors (blue, green, orange, pink, red, purple, or yellow). Ratings were made for aggression, friendliness, intelligence, trustworthiness, and degree of animation. Faces with eyes that had a discernable pupil were rated most positively, as were those with round features, suggesting that minimal features that evoke “humanness” are important for establishing trust. When eyes contained red, however, faces were rated much more negatively. Color schemas appear to override anthropomorphic schemas of humanness when conflicting cues are present. Implications for the design of intelligent agents are discussed.
The Aperture Illusion can Occur with “3-D” Displays and Active Control: Implications for Minimally-Invasive Surgery
Authors: Ott Tammy E. , DeLucia Patricia R.
Published: January 2012

When a moving contour is viewed through a circular aperture, observers misperceive the contour's direction of motion. This aperture illusion is relevant to minimally-invasive surgery because surgeons view anatomical tissues through a reduced field-of-view. In prior studies of the illusion, observers passively viewed simple computer-generated displays of moving lines. Here, it is demonstrated that the illusion can occur with displays created with a 3-D laparoscopic simulator, and when participants actively control the movement of a surgical grasper. However, the illusion was smaller with active control than with passive viewing, and was smaller with a rectangular aperture than with a circle or octagon. The implication is that navigation during MIS may improve when surgeons (rather than assistants) actively control the camera, and when the aperture that frames the laparoscopic image is rectangular. Future studies of this kind will improve the design of image-guided technologies and reduce complications during MIS.
Time Estimation as a Measure of Mental Workload during the Training of Laparoscopic Skills
Authors: Lio Cindy H. , Bailey Kyle , Carswell C. Melody , Seales W. Brent , Clarke Duncan , Payton G. Megan
Published: January 2012

How sensitive are distortions in students' time perception to changes in demand across laparoscopic training tasks? Volunteers used an endoscopy training simulator to perform two common training tasks. The simpler of the two tasks involved using graspers to move beads from a dish to a small bucket. The more difficult task involved threading beads onto small pegs. In one experiment, 13 participants estimated the duration of each training trial immediately upon its completion. They also completed the NASA-TLX. In another experiment, 15 participants verbally indicated when they thought each successive 31-second interval had elapsed while performing the training trials. Results indicated that errors in temporal judgments were sensitive to differences in task demand using the interval production method but not the retrospective estimation technique. One implication is that interval production shows promise as a secondary task workload measure for laparoscopic tasks, although procedural refinements are needed to maximize the measure's sensitivity.
Misuse of Human and Automated Decision AIDS in a Soldier Detection Task
Authors: Dzindolet Mary T. , Pierce Linda G. , Beck Hall P.
Published: January 2012

Providing human operators with automated decision aids does not always improve performance. In this study, 24 students viewed terrain slides, half of which included a camouflaged soldier. After viewing each slide, participants could view the decision reached by a human or automated aid, or continue without the help of an aid. Some of the participants were led to believe their aids were experts; others were not. Significantly more participants showed a preference to view human rather than automated aid decisions. However, participants were as likely to misuse an automated aid as they were a human aid. These biases existed regardless of the perceived expertise of the aids. In addition, results of a linguistic analysis of open-ended descriptions of automated and human aids suggest human operators view automated and human aids differently and have implications for training and system development.
Driver Response to Roadside Obstacles
Authors: O'Leary Patrick , Bettinardi Cheryl , Daniel Tim , Nielsen Edward , Curry David G.
Published: January 2012

It is often contended in court cases that a prudent driver when encountering obstacles adjacent to the side of a roadway (e.g., a stopped vehicle or pedestrian) will decrease their speed of travel and/or shift their lane position in order to allow greater margin of safety. A search of the available literature, however, has not produced any validation that this assertion is in fact true, or a quantification of the level of such avoidance maneuvers. This study examined the behavior of drivers in response to four different scenarios involving obstacles adjacent to the roadway: 1) a vehicle parked on the shoulder of the road, 2) a parked vehicle and a visible pedestrian adjacent to it, 3) a pedestrian alone, and 4) a baseline condition with no obstacle present on the roadside. Dependent measures included change in passing vehicle velocity and the displacement of the passing vehicle from the edge of the roadway. The results indicated statistically significant changes in both the speed and lane position of the passing vehicle.
An Exploration of the use of Complete Songs as Auditory Progress Bars
Authors: Kortum Philip , Peres S. Camille
Published: January 2012

This paper examines the results of a study conducted to determine if Auditory Progress Bars consisting of complete songs of varying duration would allow listeners to accurately estimate the amount of time they were on telephone hold, while at the same time producing acceptable customer satisfactions scores. Previous research by the authors has shown that a subset of auditory progress bars consisting of sinusoidal wave forms in different configurations do indeed allow listeners to accurately estimate time, while other configurations did not. However, this research also showed that all of the tonal auditory progress bars had exceptionally low customer satisfaction scores. The current research demonstrates that auditory progress bars comprised of complete songs produce both accurate hold time estimates and high consumer satisfaction scores. Implications for the design of auditory progress bars and directions for further research are discussed.
Affects of Task Difficulty on Target Guidance Using Auditory and Tactile Cues
Authors: Mortimer Cleve
Published: January 2012

Two dual-task experiments were conducted to compare guidance systems using tactile and/or auditory cues. The tasks were a targeting task and a shadowing task. In experiment one, the guidance cues matched the location of the targets actual position in space. In two, the cue to move left originated in front while the cue to move right originated from behind the subject. This was done to assess how increasing the difficulty of processing the cues affected performance. Little difference was found between the two systems on the targeting task in experiment one, but in experiment two the tactile system consistently outperformed the auditory system. This suggests that when processing modes are different, using the same sensory channel for two tasks has little affect on performance, but when processing difficulty is increased, using separate channels results in better performance.
Anr vs. Passive Communications Headsets: Investigation of Speech Intelligibility, Pilot Workload, and Flight Performance in an Aircraft Simulator
Authors: Valimont R. Brian , Casali John G. , Lancaster Jeff A.
Published: January 2012

Cockpits of propeller-driven aircraft are often environments of high amplitude, low frequency-dominant engine noise. This noise can interfere with radio communications. Previous authors have examined the effect of active noise reduction (ANR) headsets on speech intelligibility in noise in the absence of the attentional demand from simultaneously-performed complex tasks such as flying an airplane. This experiment investigated the combined effects of various headsets (passive and ANR) on speech intelligibility, mental workload and flight performance in an aircraft simulator. Instrument-rated pilots were tasked with completing four 3.5-hour cross-country flight simulations, one for each of 4 headsets. Results indicated that ANR headsets (as a group) generally improved speech intelligibility and decreased mental workload over a passive headset; however, flight performance results showed a more complex relationship. One conclusion is that a well-designed ANR headset has measurable benefits as a tool to potentially improve pilot performance by fostering safer operations within aviation systems.
The Effects of Aesthetics and Cognitive, Style on Perceived Usability
Authors: Conklin Sara M. , Koubek Richard J. , Thurman James A. , Newman Leah C.
Published: January 2012

This study assesses the influence of product aesthetics and user cognitive style on perceived usability. It also attempts to determine whether the two effects are independent of one another. It was predicted that the strength of the relationship between aesthetics and perceived usability depends on individual differences in cognitive style. To test this hypothesis, two functionally identical but aesthetically different computer applications were created. Participants took a test that assessed their cognitive styles, interacted with one of the two applications, and subjectively rated the application on both usability and aesthetic quality. Results showed a significant relationship between perceived aesthetic quality and perceived usability, and also between perceived aesthetic quality and objectively-defined aesthetic quality. No relationship was observed between objectively-defined aesthetic quality and perceived usability or between cognitive style and perceived usability, and no interaction between aesthetics and cognitive style was evident.
Using Design Equations for Design Analysis and Synthesis
Authors: Helander Martin G.
Published: January 2012

Design Equations were used for anthropometric design of a truck cab. Functional Requirements were first formulated. Design Parameters were then selected with the purpose of creating an uncoupled design. Design equations were formulated, where couplings between functional requirements and design parameters were investigated. Ideally there should be a one-to-one correspondence between functional requirements and design parameters. This can be achieved if the design parameters are selected in a strategic fashion so that couplings are minimized. The nature of the design equations will inform the designer of the type of coupling: coupled design, semi-coupled design or uncoupled design. Design parameters that lead to couplings are replaced by other design parameters that create an uncoupled design. The design equations therefore serve to analyze a design, and by understanding the couplings it is feasible to synthesize a better solution. We call this method DESA — Design Equations for Systems Design. It has broad implications for design.
A Taxonomy and Database for Capturing Human Reliability and Human Performance Data
Authors: Boring Ronald L. , Gertman David I. , Whaley April M. , Joe Jeffrey C. , Tran Tuan Q. , Keller M. David , Thompson Richard P. , Gerszewski Ian R.
Published: January 2012

This paper introduces a taxonomy and accompanying database designed to bridge previous efforts at human reliability analysis (HRA) and human factors design. Previous HRA database efforts have focused primarily on incident analyses related to the safe operation of nuclear power plants. Previous human factors design standards have largely omitted a thorough investigation of the root causes of human error and their prevention through optimal design. The taxonomy introduced in this paper redresses these shortcomings in three ways: (1) It targets a domain outside the traditional realm of nuclear power plant operations. Specifically, it focuses on information that would be informative to human performance in extreme environments. (2) The taxonomy includes specific fields for incorporating completed HRAs, incident reports, and psychological research using human subjects or simulation. (3) The information captured through the taxonomy is applicable to both HRA and system design. The information format incorporates quantitative information appropriate to HRA such as human error probabilities and qualitative information appropriate to system design such as overall “lessons learned.”
Performance Improvement with the Change Detection System
Authors: Lancaster Greg , Marble Julie , Harbour Jerry
Published: January 2012

Analysis of aerial-collected imagery often involves a comparison between two geographically referenced images to assess temporal changes. Change detection refers to the technique of comparing a pair of images that have been collected from approximately the same georeferenced area, but at different times. The intent of the analysis is to identify differences, often quite small, in a given geospatial area. Numerous factors can cause visible changes in two georeferenced but temporally separated images. Although computers can be used to identify differences in the pixels of an image, the computer continues to be unable to assess what differences between images have contextual importance. Therefore, the human remains the best tool for assessing differences in images, but the human may not be the best tool for detecting differences in images without direct aid. To better assist individuals engaged in such endeavors, a Change Detection Software system, CDS©, was developed at the Idaho National Laboratory.