Cognitive load theory has been designed to provide guidelines intended to assist in the presentation of information in a manner that encourages learner activities that optimize intellectual performance. The theory assumes a limited capacity working memory that includes partially independent subcomponents to deal with auditory/verbal material and visual/2- or 3-dimensional information as well as an effectively unlimited long-term memory, holding schemas that vary in their degree of automation. These structures and functions of human cognitive architecture have been used to design a variety of novel instructional procedures based on the assumption that working memory load should be reduced and schema construction encouraged. This paper reviews the theory and the instructional designs generated by it. KEY WORDS: cognition; instructional design; learning; problem solving.

Sensory overloaded environments present an opportunity for innovative design in the area of Human-Machine Interaction. In this paper we study the usefulness of a tactile display in the automobile environment. Our approach uses a simple pneumatic pump to produce pulsations of varying frequencies on the driver's hands through a car steering wheel fitted with inflatable pads. The goal of the project is to evaluate the effectiveness of such a system in alerting the driver of a possible problem, when it is used to augment the visual display presently used in automobiles. A steering wheel that provides haptic feedback using pneumatic pockets was developed to test our hypothesis. The steering wheel can pulsate at different frequencies. The system was tested in a simple multitasking paradigm on several subjects and their reaction times to different stimuli were measured and analyzed. For these experiments, we found that using a tactile feedback device lowers reaction time significantly and that modulating frequency of vibration provides extra information that can reduce the time necessary to identify a problem.

Many studies have been conducted in an attempt to determine the complexity involved in handling an Air Traffic Control (ATC) situation. As the aviation community moves towards a Òfree flightÓ environment, traffic complexity may not necessarily increase or decrease, but it will most certainly change. To that end, traffic complexity, as it is perceived by the controllers, who will still be ultimately responsible for traffic separation, becomes increasingly more important to understand. Previous studies of ATC complexity have based their measures on the amount of physical workload experienced by an Air Traffic Specialist (ATS). Unfortunately, many of these studies typically discount the importance of the cognitive activities of the controller, simply because this information is not easily measured. It is our position, however, that the complexity of ATC is better revealed through the analysis of controller strategies and decision making activities (cognitive tasks), and that this type of complexity may not be accurately reflected through measures of physical workload alone. In this paper, we will describe a framework for developing and evaluating a model of the perceived complexity of an air traffic situation, with specific regard to the traffic characteristics that impact the cognitive abilities of the controller. The framework does not depend on any specific type of procedures for ATC, so it may be used to evaluate complexity in both the current and future ATC environments.

Empirical studies of general aviation (GA) pilot performance are lacking, especially with respect to envisioned future requirements. Two research studies were conducted to evaluate human performance using new technologies. In the first study, ten participants completed the Modified Rhyme Test (MRT) in an effort to compare the intelligibility of two text-to-speech (TTS) engines (DECtalk and AT&T’s Natural Voices) as presented in 85 dB(A) aircraft cockpit engine noise. Results indicated significant differences in intelligibility (p ≤ 0.05) between the two speech synthesizers across the tested speech-to-noise ratios (S/N) (i.e., –5 dB,-8 dB, and –11 dB S/N) with the AT&T engine resulting in superior intelligibility in all of the S/N. The AT&T product was therefore selected as the TTS engine for the second study. In the second study, 16 visual flight rules (VFR) rated pilots were evaluated for their data link performance using a flight simulator (ELITE i-GATE) equipped with a mixed-modality simulated data link within one of two flight conditions. Data link modalities included textual, synthesized speech, digitized speech, and synthesized speech/textual combination. Flight conditions included VFR (unlimited ceiling,

The Federal Aviation Administration plans to consolidate the present Maintenance Control Centers (MCCs) into three Operations Control Centers (OCCs). This consolidation should increase efficiency and service by centralizing operations and by standardizing procedures. This document examines the likely effects of this consolidation on specialists' situation awareness (SA). Research psychologists from the National Airspace System Human Factors Branch (ACT-530) of the William J. Hughes Technical Center examined specialists' SA in the context of two basic plans. First, the Area-Specialist Plan maintains OCC specialists' responsibility for the same geographical areas they had in the MCC while continuing to monitor and control multiple technical systems. Second, the Technical-Specialist Plan would divide the responsibility of operations for one-third of the country between specialists in different technical areas. These two plans present very different and complex views of how best to implement OCCs. Each plan has advantages and disadvantages regarding SA. We discuss tradeoffs and examine a primary concern regarding SA and the transition from MCCs to OCCs. 17. Key Words Situation Awareness Maintenance Control Centers 18. Distribution Statement This document is available to the public through the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, Virginia, 22161 19. Security Classif. (of this report) 20. Security Classif. (of this page) 21. No. of Pages 33 22. Price Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) Reproduction of completed page authorized iii Acknowledgment Special thanks to Kermit Grayson for serving as a subject matter expert. He has provided invaluable knowledge pertaining to Airway Facilities operations and, in particular, Maintenance Control Centers. iv v Table of Co...

The authors determine the utility of applying two display design principles toward the development of interfaces for engineering design. The first principle, called the Proximity Compatibility Principle, specifies that displays relevant to a common task or mental operation should be rendered close together in perceptual space. The second principle, called the Control-Display Compatibility Principle, stipulates that the spatial arrangement and manipulation of controls should be easily distinguishable. To examine the utility of both principles, the authors conducted an experiment comparing the ability of subjects to find effective designs using a separable versus a configural interface in a multi-objective engineering design task. Results suggest that the proximity compatibility principle is an effective indicator of task performance. Moreover, the control-display compatibility principle can be used as an indicator of performance efficiency.

People working in an office environment often have to deal with significant cognitive workload due to the coordination of multiple, simultaneous tasks. The objective of this research was to examine the impact of cognitive load in officetype tasks on physical-stress response, using a dual-task paradigm involving a primary cognitive task and secondary typing task. The central hypothesis of this research was that altering the demands of the cognitive task would lead to a difference in physical stress-level and performance. Cognitive load was manipulated by presenting participants with three different types of cognitive tasks described in Rasmussen’s (1983) taxonomy, including skill-, rule-, and knowledge-based tasks. Dependent variables examined in the study included: (1) electromyographic activity of the upper trapezius (pars descendens) and cervical erector spinae muscles, (2) performance in a secondary typing task, and (3) subjective measures of stress and cognitive workload. The results of this study revealed that the primary task causing the highest level of perceived workload also produced 61 % higher muscle activity in the right trapezius, and 6 and 11% higher activity in the left and right cervical erector spinae, respectively, in comparison to muscle activity associated with the cognitive task causing the lowest perceived workload. With respect to performance, a 23 % decrease was observed in typing productivity when the rule-based task was completed simultaneously vs. typing in the absence of any additional cognitive task (the baseline condition). This information may be used to better organize work activities in office environments to increase performance and reduce stress. 1.

(Directives OTAN en matière d’essais et d’évaluations ergonomiques) Final Report of the RTO Human Factors and Medicine Panel (HFM) Research and Study

The research reported in this dissertation has been carried out at the Human Media Interaction group of the