<p>The upper graph shows MACD-filtered fNIRS signal and the signal line computed from the l... more <p>The upper graph shows MACD-filtered fNIRS signal and the signal line computed from the latter (dashed line). The two lower graphs show the participant’s state estimated from crossovers between MACD and signal lines and the operator’s actual state, respectively.</p
<p>Pre-recorded ATC messages were sent to the pilot (1). The pilot’s prefrontal activity wa... more <p>Pre-recorded ATC messages were sent to the pilot (1). The pilot’s prefrontal activity was measured with a fNIRS device (2). Output measures (3) were MACD-filtered and synchronized with the temporal design of the trial (4). During the entire session, the MACD-based state estimator detected whether the pilot’s state was <i>not-on-task</i> or <i>on-task</i> (5). When all of the required data were available for the trial, a request was sent to the pilot’s classifier to assess the WM load of the trial (6).</p
In the aeronautics field, some authors have suggested that an aircraft's attitude sonificatio... more In the aeronautics field, some authors have suggested that an aircraft's attitude sonification could be used by pilots to cope with spatial disorientation situations. Such a system is currently used by blind pilots to control the attitude of their aircraft. However, given the suspected higher auditory attentional capacities of blind people, the possibility for sighted individuals to use this system remains an open question. For example, its introduction may overload the auditory channel, which may in turn alter the responsiveness of pilots to infrequent but critical auditory warnings. In this study, two groups of pilots (blind versus sighted) performed a simulated flight experiment consisting of successive aircraft maneuvers, on the sole basis of an aircraft sonification. Maneuver difficulty was varied while we assessed flight performance along with subjective and electroencephalographic (EEG) measures of workload. The results showed that both groups of participants reached targ...
Pour interagir de maniere efficace avec notre environnement, nous creons une representation du mo... more Pour interagir de maniere efficace avec notre environnement, nous creons une representation du monde dans lequel nous evoluons a partir d'informations issues de plusieurs de nos sens. Lorsque ces informations sont contradictoires, le conflit engendre peut se manifester par une degradation du niveau de notre performance. Dans ce travail de recherche, nous nous sommes interesses au conflit visuo-auditif et a l'une de ses consequences : l'insensibilite aux alarmes auditives parfois observee chez les pilotes d'avion. Les questions qui ont motive cette recherche sont les suivantes : Quelles sont les structures cerebrales impliquees dans la gestion de ce conflit ? A quelle etape des processus sensorimoteurs et cognitifs ces differentes structures interviennent-elles ? Quels processus physiologiques peuvent expliquer l'insensibilite aux alarmes sonores observee chez le pilote d'avion dans une phase de vol cruciale, l'atterrissage ? Nous avons mis en evidence que la gestion du conflit visuo-auditif implique un reseau cerebral parieto-frontal supramodal. Nous avons egalement montre que des mecanismes attentionnels et pre-attentionnels peuvent modifier la facon dont le cerveau percoit certaines informations, et ce, a travers des interactions multimodales a differentes echelles du traitement sensori-moteur. De plus, nous proposons un modele simplifie du fonctionnement du reseau cerebral implique dans la gestion du conflit visuo-auditif. Enfin, nous avons pu mettre en evidence que l'insensibilite aux alarmes chez le pilote etait a la fois liee a une modulation pre-attentionnelle du signal auditif, et a la complexite de la prise de decision dans un contexte difficile.
Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology : JARO, Jan 18, 2017
In a multi-talker situation, spatial separation between talkers reduces cognitive processing load... more In a multi-talker situation, spatial separation between talkers reduces cognitive processing load: this is the "spatial release of cognitive load". The present study investigated the role played by the relative levels of the talkers on this spatial release of cognitive load. During the experiment, participants had to report the speech emitted by a target talker in the presence of a concurrent masker talker. The spatial separation (0° and 120° angular distance in azimuth) and the relative levels of the talkers (adverse, intermediate, and favorable target-to-masker ratio) were manipulated. The cognitive load was assessed with a prefrontal functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Data from 14 young normal-hearing listeners revealed that the target-to-masker ratio had a direct impact on the spatial release of cognitive load. Spatial separation significantly reduced the prefrontal activity only for the intermediate target-to-masker ratio and had no effect on prefrontal activity f...
Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology : JARO, Jan 18, 2017
In a multi-talker situation, spatial separation between talkers reduces cognitive processing load... more In a multi-talker situation, spatial separation between talkers reduces cognitive processing load: this is the "spatial release of cognitive load". The present study investigated the role played by the relative levels of the talkers on this spatial release of cognitive load. During the experiment, participants had to report the speech emitted by a target talker in the presence of a concurrent masker talker. The spatial separation (0° and 120° angular distance in azimuth) and the relative levels of the talkers (adverse, intermediate, and favorable target-to-masker ratio) were manipulated. The cognitive load was assessed with a prefrontal functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Data from 14 young normal-hearing listeners revealed that the target-to-masker ratio had a direct impact on the spatial release of cognitive load. Spatial separation significantly reduced the prefrontal activity only for the intermediate target-to-masker ratio and had no effect on prefrontal activity f...
In the aeronautics field, some authors have suggested that an aircraft's attitude sonification co... more In the aeronautics field, some authors have suggested that an aircraft's attitude sonification could be used by pilots to cope with spatial disorientation situations. Such a system is currently used by blind pilots to control the attitude of their aircraft. However, given the suspected higher auditory attentional capacities of blind people, the possibility for sighted individuals to use this system remains an open question. For example, its introduction may overload the auditory channel, which may in turn alter the responsiveness of pilots to infrequent but critical auditory warnings. In this study, two groups of pilots (blind versus sighted) performed a simulated flight experiment consisting of successive aircraft maneuvers , on the sole basis of an aircraft sonification. Maneuver difficulty was varied while we assessed flight performance along with subjective and electroencephalographic (EEG) measures of workload. The results showed that both groups of participants reached target-attitudes with a good accuracy. However, more complex maneuvers increased subjective workload and impaired brain responsiveness toward unexpected auditory stimuli as demonstrated by lower N1 and P3 amplitudes. Despite that the EEG signal showed a clear reorganization of the brain in the blind participants (higher alpha power), the brain responsiveness to unexpected auditory stimuli was not significantly different between the two groups. The results suggest that an auditory display might provide useful additional information to spatially disoriented pilots with normal vision. However, its use should be restricted to critical situations and simple recovery or guidance maneuvers.
The event-related potential N270 component is known to be an electrophysiological marker of the s... more The event-related potential N270 component is known to be an electrophysiological marker of the supramodal conflict processing. However little is know about the factors that may modulate its amplitude. In particular, among all studies that have investigated the N270, little or no control of the conflict strength and of the load in working memory have been done leaving a lack in the understanding of this component. We designed a spatial audiovisual conflict task with simultaneous target and cross-modal distractor to evaluate the N270 sensitivity to the conflict strength (i.e., visual target with auditory distractor or auditory target with visual distractor) and the load in working memory (goal task maintenance with frequent change in the target modality). In a first session, participants had to focus on one modality for the target position to be considered (left-hand or right-hand) while the distractor could be at the same side (compatible) or at opposite side (incompatible). In a second session, we used the same set of stimuli as in the first session with an additional distinct auditory signal that clued the participants to frequently switch between the auditory and the visual targets. We found that (1) reaction times and N270 amplitudes for conflicting situations were larger within the auditory target condition compared to the visual one, (2) the increase in target maintenance effort led to equivalent increase of both reaction times and N270 amplitudes within all conditions and (3) the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex current density was higher for both conflicting and active maintenance of the target situations. These results provide new evidence that the N270 component is an electrophysiological marker of the supramodal conflict processing that is sensitive to the conflict strength and that conflict processing and active maintenance of the task goal are two functions of a common executive attention system.
Working memory is a key executive function for flying an aircraft. This function is particularly ... more Working memory is a key executive function for flying an aircraft. This function is particularly critical when pilots have to recall series of air traffic control instructions. However, working memory limitations may jeopardize flight safety. Since the functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) method seems promising for assessing working memory load, our objective is to implement an on-line fNIRS-based inference system that integrates two complementary estimators. The first estimator is a real-time state estimation MACD-based algorithm dedicated to identifying the pilot's instantaneous mental state (not-on-task vs. on-task). It does not require a calibration process to perform its estimation. The second estimator is an on-line SVM-based classifier that is able to discriminate task difficulty (low working memory load vs. high working memory load). These two estimators were tested with 19 pilots who were placed in a realistic flight simulator and were asked to recall air traff...
<p>The upper graph shows MACD-filtered fNIRS signal and the signal line computed from the l... more <p>The upper graph shows MACD-filtered fNIRS signal and the signal line computed from the latter (dashed line). The two lower graphs show the participant’s state estimated from crossovers between MACD and signal lines and the operator’s actual state, respectively.</p
<p>Pre-recorded ATC messages were sent to the pilot (1). The pilot’s prefrontal activity wa... more <p>Pre-recorded ATC messages were sent to the pilot (1). The pilot’s prefrontal activity was measured with a fNIRS device (2). Output measures (3) were MACD-filtered and synchronized with the temporal design of the trial (4). During the entire session, the MACD-based state estimator detected whether the pilot’s state was <i>not-on-task</i> or <i>on-task</i> (5). When all of the required data were available for the trial, a request was sent to the pilot’s classifier to assess the WM load of the trial (6).</p
In the aeronautics field, some authors have suggested that an aircraft's attitude sonificatio... more In the aeronautics field, some authors have suggested that an aircraft's attitude sonification could be used by pilots to cope with spatial disorientation situations. Such a system is currently used by blind pilots to control the attitude of their aircraft. However, given the suspected higher auditory attentional capacities of blind people, the possibility for sighted individuals to use this system remains an open question. For example, its introduction may overload the auditory channel, which may in turn alter the responsiveness of pilots to infrequent but critical auditory warnings. In this study, two groups of pilots (blind versus sighted) performed a simulated flight experiment consisting of successive aircraft maneuvers, on the sole basis of an aircraft sonification. Maneuver difficulty was varied while we assessed flight performance along with subjective and electroencephalographic (EEG) measures of workload. The results showed that both groups of participants reached targ...
Pour interagir de maniere efficace avec notre environnement, nous creons une representation du mo... more Pour interagir de maniere efficace avec notre environnement, nous creons une representation du monde dans lequel nous evoluons a partir d'informations issues de plusieurs de nos sens. Lorsque ces informations sont contradictoires, le conflit engendre peut se manifester par une degradation du niveau de notre performance. Dans ce travail de recherche, nous nous sommes interesses au conflit visuo-auditif et a l'une de ses consequences : l'insensibilite aux alarmes auditives parfois observee chez les pilotes d'avion. Les questions qui ont motive cette recherche sont les suivantes : Quelles sont les structures cerebrales impliquees dans la gestion de ce conflit ? A quelle etape des processus sensorimoteurs et cognitifs ces differentes structures interviennent-elles ? Quels processus physiologiques peuvent expliquer l'insensibilite aux alarmes sonores observee chez le pilote d'avion dans une phase de vol cruciale, l'atterrissage ? Nous avons mis en evidence que la gestion du conflit visuo-auditif implique un reseau cerebral parieto-frontal supramodal. Nous avons egalement montre que des mecanismes attentionnels et pre-attentionnels peuvent modifier la facon dont le cerveau percoit certaines informations, et ce, a travers des interactions multimodales a differentes echelles du traitement sensori-moteur. De plus, nous proposons un modele simplifie du fonctionnement du reseau cerebral implique dans la gestion du conflit visuo-auditif. Enfin, nous avons pu mettre en evidence que l'insensibilite aux alarmes chez le pilote etait a la fois liee a une modulation pre-attentionnelle du signal auditif, et a la complexite de la prise de decision dans un contexte difficile.
Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology : JARO, Jan 18, 2017
In a multi-talker situation, spatial separation between talkers reduces cognitive processing load... more In a multi-talker situation, spatial separation between talkers reduces cognitive processing load: this is the "spatial release of cognitive load". The present study investigated the role played by the relative levels of the talkers on this spatial release of cognitive load. During the experiment, participants had to report the speech emitted by a target talker in the presence of a concurrent masker talker. The spatial separation (0° and 120° angular distance in azimuth) and the relative levels of the talkers (adverse, intermediate, and favorable target-to-masker ratio) were manipulated. The cognitive load was assessed with a prefrontal functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Data from 14 young normal-hearing listeners revealed that the target-to-masker ratio had a direct impact on the spatial release of cognitive load. Spatial separation significantly reduced the prefrontal activity only for the intermediate target-to-masker ratio and had no effect on prefrontal activity f...
Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology : JARO, Jan 18, 2017
In a multi-talker situation, spatial separation between talkers reduces cognitive processing load... more In a multi-talker situation, spatial separation between talkers reduces cognitive processing load: this is the "spatial release of cognitive load". The present study investigated the role played by the relative levels of the talkers on this spatial release of cognitive load. During the experiment, participants had to report the speech emitted by a target talker in the presence of a concurrent masker talker. The spatial separation (0° and 120° angular distance in azimuth) and the relative levels of the talkers (adverse, intermediate, and favorable target-to-masker ratio) were manipulated. The cognitive load was assessed with a prefrontal functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Data from 14 young normal-hearing listeners revealed that the target-to-masker ratio had a direct impact on the spatial release of cognitive load. Spatial separation significantly reduced the prefrontal activity only for the intermediate target-to-masker ratio and had no effect on prefrontal activity f...
In the aeronautics field, some authors have suggested that an aircraft's attitude sonification co... more In the aeronautics field, some authors have suggested that an aircraft's attitude sonification could be used by pilots to cope with spatial disorientation situations. Such a system is currently used by blind pilots to control the attitude of their aircraft. However, given the suspected higher auditory attentional capacities of blind people, the possibility for sighted individuals to use this system remains an open question. For example, its introduction may overload the auditory channel, which may in turn alter the responsiveness of pilots to infrequent but critical auditory warnings. In this study, two groups of pilots (blind versus sighted) performed a simulated flight experiment consisting of successive aircraft maneuvers , on the sole basis of an aircraft sonification. Maneuver difficulty was varied while we assessed flight performance along with subjective and electroencephalographic (EEG) measures of workload. The results showed that both groups of participants reached target-attitudes with a good accuracy. However, more complex maneuvers increased subjective workload and impaired brain responsiveness toward unexpected auditory stimuli as demonstrated by lower N1 and P3 amplitudes. Despite that the EEG signal showed a clear reorganization of the brain in the blind participants (higher alpha power), the brain responsiveness to unexpected auditory stimuli was not significantly different between the two groups. The results suggest that an auditory display might provide useful additional information to spatially disoriented pilots with normal vision. However, its use should be restricted to critical situations and simple recovery or guidance maneuvers.
The event-related potential N270 component is known to be an electrophysiological marker of the s... more The event-related potential N270 component is known to be an electrophysiological marker of the supramodal conflict processing. However little is know about the factors that may modulate its amplitude. In particular, among all studies that have investigated the N270, little or no control of the conflict strength and of the load in working memory have been done leaving a lack in the understanding of this component. We designed a spatial audiovisual conflict task with simultaneous target and cross-modal distractor to evaluate the N270 sensitivity to the conflict strength (i.e., visual target with auditory distractor or auditory target with visual distractor) and the load in working memory (goal task maintenance with frequent change in the target modality). In a first session, participants had to focus on one modality for the target position to be considered (left-hand or right-hand) while the distractor could be at the same side (compatible) or at opposite side (incompatible). In a second session, we used the same set of stimuli as in the first session with an additional distinct auditory signal that clued the participants to frequently switch between the auditory and the visual targets. We found that (1) reaction times and N270 amplitudes for conflicting situations were larger within the auditory target condition compared to the visual one, (2) the increase in target maintenance effort led to equivalent increase of both reaction times and N270 amplitudes within all conditions and (3) the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex current density was higher for both conflicting and active maintenance of the target situations. These results provide new evidence that the N270 component is an electrophysiological marker of the supramodal conflict processing that is sensitive to the conflict strength and that conflict processing and active maintenance of the task goal are two functions of a common executive attention system.
Working memory is a key executive function for flying an aircraft. This function is particularly ... more Working memory is a key executive function for flying an aircraft. This function is particularly critical when pilots have to recall series of air traffic control instructions. However, working memory limitations may jeopardize flight safety. Since the functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) method seems promising for assessing working memory load, our objective is to implement an on-line fNIRS-based inference system that integrates two complementary estimators. The first estimator is a real-time state estimation MACD-based algorithm dedicated to identifying the pilot's instantaneous mental state (not-on-task vs. on-task). It does not require a calibration process to perform its estimation. The second estimator is an on-line SVM-based classifier that is able to discriminate task difficulty (low working memory load vs. high working memory load). These two estimators were tested with 19 pilots who were placed in a realistic flight simulator and were asked to recall air traff...
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Papers by Sebastien Scannella