Airborne surveillance operations present challenging environments for tactical operators and for ... more Airborne surveillance operations present challenging environments for tactical operators and for the technologies that support these activities. Information from multiple sources is currently presented on 2D displays, but the influx of data has made it difficult to represent this information using traditional technologies. Recent innovations in VR have laid the groundwork for a promising solution to this problem by allowing users to immerse themselves in 3D representations of the real world with embodied tracking capabilities. The present research examined the feasibility of transitioning two common tactical operator tasks from a 2D to a 3D/VR user interface. Naive participants searched for targets amongst a set of non-targets on a traditional 2D interface and on a custom-built VR interface rendered on an Oculus Rift. Participants reported a target’s geographical coordinates or the distance between two targets. Search difficulty and search specificity were manipulated. Results and f...
This study improves the ergonomics of using the Leap Motion hand tracking device with an Oculus R... more This study improves the ergonomics of using the Leap Motion hand tracking device with an Oculus Rift. The improvements were realised through the use of a 3D printed mount that angled the Leap Motion down by 30 degrees. This allowed for users to interact with a virtual environment in which their arms may be held in a biomechanically less stressful location, rather than up and in front of their face. To validate the configuration, 15 participants completed a specially designed task which involved pressing virtual buttons in a given location. The button pressing task was performed in three configurations that compared the angled mount against the standard forward facing mount. Results indicate that the angled mount eliminates tracking loses, whilst producing comparable accuracy against the control condition and allowing the participant to interact in a more natural arm posture.
Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 1997
Animation presented together with voice narration in a computer presented tutorial did not facili... more Animation presented together with voice narration in a computer presented tutorial did not facilitate learning when compared with a text and static graphics tutorial. The tutorials were the same except for the addition of simple animations and voice narration. Although there were no statistically significant differences there was a difference of 5 percent correct on quiz questions in favor of the animation group. Beyond statistical significance, is this 5 percent increase good justification for animations in computer-based training? The questions of how, when, and if, we should use animations becomes more important when we consider the resources that go into creating animations vs. traditional graphics. This 5 percent difference may be important when we consider that this difference was realized under a 20 minute computer tutorial There has been a lot of focus on animation in software development and training over the last decade and this study raises more questions for further rese...
Motor vehicle manufacturers are installing Head-Up Displays (HUDs) in motor vehicles to provide d... more Motor vehicle manufacturers are installing Head-Up Displays (HUDs) in motor vehicles to provide drivers with a variety of vehicle information such as vehicle speed. In theory, HUDs should assist drivers in monitoring the status of their vehicle while allowing them to spend more time looking at the external scene. However, research in the aviation literature has shown that pilots tend to cognitively tunnel on HUDs to the extent that processing of the external scene is delayed. In the present research, a driving simulator was used to examine whether cognitive tunnelling occurs with analogue and digital HUDs. Participants were better at maintaining vehicle speed when either a digital or an analogue HUD was used as compared to a standard Head-Down Display (HDD) condition. However, the digital HUD resulted in cognitive tunnelling insofar as deviations in lane positioning were greater when speed was displayed in the digital HUD than analogue HUD or HDD conditions. Advances in technology h...
Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 2010
Objective: To link working memory to driver situational awareness (SA) for surrounding traffic. B... more Objective: To link working memory to driver situational awareness (SA) for surrounding traffic. Background: Operating a motor vehicle is a complex activity that requires drivers to maintain a high level of SA. Working memory has been conceptually linked to SA; however, the roles of working memory subsystems in supporting driver SA is unclear. Method: Participants drove a simulated vehicle and monitored surrounding traffic while concurrently performing either visuospatial- or phonological-load tasks. Drivers’ SA was indexed as the ability to recall the positions of the surrounding traffic relative to their own vehicle at the end of each trial. Results: In Experiment 1, a visuospatial task interfered with drivers’ ability to recall the positions of traffic located in front of their vehicle. In contrast, a phonological task interfered with drivers’ ability to recall the positions of traffic located behind their vehicle. Experiment 2 confirmed and extended the findings of Experiment 1 w...
... Canadian Marconi Company LCol. Rick Thompson R&D Branch Department of National Defenc... more ... Canadian Marconi Company LCol. Rick Thompson R&D Branch Department of National Defence, Canada Joseph Armstrong, Lynda Lessard Centre for Applied Cognitive Psychology Carleton University ABSTRACT The present ...
Prospective memory is the ability to remember to perform acts in the future. Prospective memory i... more Prospective memory is the ability to remember to perform acts in the future. Prospective memory is essential in the aviation domain because it supports a range of tasks including remembering to complete critical radio communications. A wide variety of literature reports that in the laboratory younger adults outperform older adults on many prospective memory tasks. In naturalistic settings however, older adults perform as well as or better than younger adults. It is suggested that lower working memory load from ongoing background tasks, context cues and the habitual nature of the tasks are reasons for the improved performance by older adults in naturalistic settings. We tested this notion using a Cessna 172 aircraft simulator to examine radio communication task completion rates of 45 pilots (16 older and 29 younger participants). Individual measures of working memory were also collected. In contrast to the trends reported in the literature, we found that older pilots had significantl...
The projected increase in elderly general aviation pilots in North America has raised concerns th... more The projected increase in elderly general aviation pilots in North America has raised concerns that aviation safety will be compromised. The present research used a flight simulator to examine change detection in young vs. older recreational pilots. Change detection was assessed in terms of the ability to detect unexpected and potentially critical events: the introduction of nearby air traffic and instrument malfunctions. The results show that older pilots missed more potentially critical events than their younger counterparts.
Head-up displays (HUDs) have been shown to facilitate pilot performance in specific tasks such as... more Head-up displays (HUDs) have been shown to facilitate pilot performance in specific tasks such as controlling flight path and altitude. However, results from a number of simulator-based studies suggest that HUDs may decrease pilot situation awareness (SA) in tasks that require continuous monitoring of information in the environment. In extreme cases, HUDs have lowered SA to the extent that pilots may fail to detect potentially critical discrete events in the environment. Most research on HUDs has used fixed-panel displays. The present research examined the impact of a helmet-mounted display (HMD) HUD on pilot SA.
The benefits associated with the implementation of Head-Up Displays (HUDs) in aircraft have promo... more The benefits associated with the implementation of Head-Up Displays (HUDs) in aircraft have promoted the use of this technology in automobiles. These benefits, however, have been shown to come with concomitant performance costs. Specifically, aviation and motor vehicle research has shown that HUDs produce cognitive tunneling effects whereby an operator’s attention is captured and held by the HUD symbology such that it cannot be directed elsewhere. The cost of cognitive tunneling could be more severe for driving than for flying given that driving environments are typically more densely populated than they are for flying. For this reason, research on the effects of HUD-induced cognitive tunneling in automobiles is important. The current experiment explored the effects of a lane position HUD on driving performance. The results benefits and costs: the HUD improved lane position maintenance, but impaired speed monitoring.
Airborne surveillance operations present challenging environments for tactical operators and for ... more Airborne surveillance operations present challenging environments for tactical operators and for the technologies that support these activities. Information from multiple sources is currently presented on 2D displays, but the influx of data has made it difficult to represent this information using traditional technologies. Recent innovations in VR have laid the groundwork for a promising solution to this problem by allowing users to immerse themselves in 3D representations of the real world with embodied tracking capabilities. The present research examined the feasibility of transitioning two common tactical operator tasks from a 2D to a 3D/VR user interface. Naive participants searched for targets amongst a set of non-targets on a traditional 2D interface and on a custom-built VR interface rendered on an Oculus Rift. Participants reported a target’s geographical coordinates or the distance between two targets. Search difficulty and search specificity were manipulated. Results and f...
This study improves the ergonomics of using the Leap Motion hand tracking device with an Oculus R... more This study improves the ergonomics of using the Leap Motion hand tracking device with an Oculus Rift. The improvements were realised through the use of a 3D printed mount that angled the Leap Motion down by 30 degrees. This allowed for users to interact with a virtual environment in which their arms may be held in a biomechanically less stressful location, rather than up and in front of their face. To validate the configuration, 15 participants completed a specially designed task which involved pressing virtual buttons in a given location. The button pressing task was performed in three configurations that compared the angled mount against the standard forward facing mount. Results indicate that the angled mount eliminates tracking loses, whilst producing comparable accuracy against the control condition and allowing the participant to interact in a more natural arm posture.
Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 1997
Animation presented together with voice narration in a computer presented tutorial did not facili... more Animation presented together with voice narration in a computer presented tutorial did not facilitate learning when compared with a text and static graphics tutorial. The tutorials were the same except for the addition of simple animations and voice narration. Although there were no statistically significant differences there was a difference of 5 percent correct on quiz questions in favor of the animation group. Beyond statistical significance, is this 5 percent increase good justification for animations in computer-based training? The questions of how, when, and if, we should use animations becomes more important when we consider the resources that go into creating animations vs. traditional graphics. This 5 percent difference may be important when we consider that this difference was realized under a 20 minute computer tutorial There has been a lot of focus on animation in software development and training over the last decade and this study raises more questions for further rese...
Motor vehicle manufacturers are installing Head-Up Displays (HUDs) in motor vehicles to provide d... more Motor vehicle manufacturers are installing Head-Up Displays (HUDs) in motor vehicles to provide drivers with a variety of vehicle information such as vehicle speed. In theory, HUDs should assist drivers in monitoring the status of their vehicle while allowing them to spend more time looking at the external scene. However, research in the aviation literature has shown that pilots tend to cognitively tunnel on HUDs to the extent that processing of the external scene is delayed. In the present research, a driving simulator was used to examine whether cognitive tunnelling occurs with analogue and digital HUDs. Participants were better at maintaining vehicle speed when either a digital or an analogue HUD was used as compared to a standard Head-Down Display (HDD) condition. However, the digital HUD resulted in cognitive tunnelling insofar as deviations in lane positioning were greater when speed was displayed in the digital HUD than analogue HUD or HDD conditions. Advances in technology h...
Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 2010
Objective: To link working memory to driver situational awareness (SA) for surrounding traffic. B... more Objective: To link working memory to driver situational awareness (SA) for surrounding traffic. Background: Operating a motor vehicle is a complex activity that requires drivers to maintain a high level of SA. Working memory has been conceptually linked to SA; however, the roles of working memory subsystems in supporting driver SA is unclear. Method: Participants drove a simulated vehicle and monitored surrounding traffic while concurrently performing either visuospatial- or phonological-load tasks. Drivers’ SA was indexed as the ability to recall the positions of the surrounding traffic relative to their own vehicle at the end of each trial. Results: In Experiment 1, a visuospatial task interfered with drivers’ ability to recall the positions of traffic located in front of their vehicle. In contrast, a phonological task interfered with drivers’ ability to recall the positions of traffic located behind their vehicle. Experiment 2 confirmed and extended the findings of Experiment 1 w...
... Canadian Marconi Company LCol. Rick Thompson R&D Branch Department of National Defenc... more ... Canadian Marconi Company LCol. Rick Thompson R&D Branch Department of National Defence, Canada Joseph Armstrong, Lynda Lessard Centre for Applied Cognitive Psychology Carleton University ABSTRACT The present ...
Prospective memory is the ability to remember to perform acts in the future. Prospective memory i... more Prospective memory is the ability to remember to perform acts in the future. Prospective memory is essential in the aviation domain because it supports a range of tasks including remembering to complete critical radio communications. A wide variety of literature reports that in the laboratory younger adults outperform older adults on many prospective memory tasks. In naturalistic settings however, older adults perform as well as or better than younger adults. It is suggested that lower working memory load from ongoing background tasks, context cues and the habitual nature of the tasks are reasons for the improved performance by older adults in naturalistic settings. We tested this notion using a Cessna 172 aircraft simulator to examine radio communication task completion rates of 45 pilots (16 older and 29 younger participants). Individual measures of working memory were also collected. In contrast to the trends reported in the literature, we found that older pilots had significantl...
The projected increase in elderly general aviation pilots in North America has raised concerns th... more The projected increase in elderly general aviation pilots in North America has raised concerns that aviation safety will be compromised. The present research used a flight simulator to examine change detection in young vs. older recreational pilots. Change detection was assessed in terms of the ability to detect unexpected and potentially critical events: the introduction of nearby air traffic and instrument malfunctions. The results show that older pilots missed more potentially critical events than their younger counterparts.
Head-up displays (HUDs) have been shown to facilitate pilot performance in specific tasks such as... more Head-up displays (HUDs) have been shown to facilitate pilot performance in specific tasks such as controlling flight path and altitude. However, results from a number of simulator-based studies suggest that HUDs may decrease pilot situation awareness (SA) in tasks that require continuous monitoring of information in the environment. In extreme cases, HUDs have lowered SA to the extent that pilots may fail to detect potentially critical discrete events in the environment. Most research on HUDs has used fixed-panel displays. The present research examined the impact of a helmet-mounted display (HMD) HUD on pilot SA.
The benefits associated with the implementation of Head-Up Displays (HUDs) in aircraft have promo... more The benefits associated with the implementation of Head-Up Displays (HUDs) in aircraft have promoted the use of this technology in automobiles. These benefits, however, have been shown to come with concomitant performance costs. Specifically, aviation and motor vehicle research has shown that HUDs produce cognitive tunneling effects whereby an operator’s attention is captured and held by the HUD symbology such that it cannot be directed elsewhere. The cost of cognitive tunneling could be more severe for driving than for flying given that driving environments are typically more densely populated than they are for flying. For this reason, research on the effects of HUD-induced cognitive tunneling in automobiles is important. The current experiment explored the effects of a lane position HUD on driving performance. The results benefits and costs: the HUD improved lane position maintenance, but impaired speed monitoring.
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