Unconstrained design: improving multitasking with in-vehicle information systems through enhanced situation awareness

ABSTRACT

In the age of information, in-vehicle multitasking is inevitable. The popularity of the automobile, in combination with the present information age, create a growing demand to do more in-vehicle than simply focus on the road. Unconstrained Design, a philosophy which supports rather than constrains multitasking, is proposed as a path toward enhancing performance in-vehicle. Situation Awareness (SA), a theory allowing designers to understand how operators interact in dynamic, complex environments, is used to frame this experimental investigation. Two SA-grounded human-machine interface concepts are proposed, designed to support drivers to multitask in-vehicle when frequent task switching is required. The first focuses upon supporting preparation for a Non-Driving Related Activity (NDRA), and the second upon supporting the Driving Related Activity (DRA) when an NDRA is active. While multitasking, Contextual Cueing, using a Head-up Display, produced significant reductions in NDRA response time, while an auditory lane keeping aid increased the amount of time a driver spent in the central region of a lane. The combined evidence suggests that using SA and Unconstrained Design to create of IVIS that support drivers’ ability to multitask in-vehicle can lead to task performance improvements.     

A case for information theory-based modelling of human multitasking performance

Technological advances have led to increased prevalence of human multitasking. Traditionally, multitasking performance is measured for each individual task, utilising multiple performance metrics. Recently, the human operator informatic model (HOIM) has been developed as a quantitative model of human–machine interaction capable of measuring multitasking performance with a single metric. In this study, we investigated the performance effects of both a different number of tasks and five different task combinations while maintaining a constant level of overall difficulty. Results indicate that, at a constant difficulty level, neither number of tasks nor task combination significantly affects multitasking performance, indicating the reliability of input baud rate as a measure of system complexity. No task interaction effects were found among the different tasks. This study demonstrates the application of information theory for modelling of human multitasking performance and makes a case for the use of the HOIM in future studies of human information processing.     

Mechanisms for the acquisition of situation awareness in situated agents

Situation awareness (SA) is the understanding required to operate a complex system in a highly dynamic environment. We evaluate theories of individual SA and the processes by which individuals maintain their understanding of a situation. We support a situated approach, which holds that individual operators make use of limited internal representation, and rely extensively on interactions with external props and tools to achieve and maintain SA. We also propose a synthesis of Durso et al. (2007) [Durso, F., Rawson, K., and Girotto, S., 2007. Comprehension and situation awareness. In: F. Durso, et al., eds. Handbook of applied cognition. 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 163–194.] Construction-Integration model of scene analysis with Sperber and Wilson's (1995) [Sperber, D. and Wilson, D., 1995. Relevance: communication and cognition. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell.] Relevance Theory of comprehension. We show that the combination of the two theories can provide a more complete account of the mechanisms and processes underlying situation assessment, or sense-making, and is consistent with the situated approach to SA.     

我国机动车性能检测的现状与发展

本文从保障机动车安全运行的角度出发，叙述了开展机动车技术性能检测的重要性，介绍了我国机动车检测的现状和存在的问题，剖析了制约我国机动车检测事业发展的根本原因，创新性地提出了对机动车检测业务重新规划的构想和促进该项事业健康发展的建议。     

Grasping the world from a cockpit: perspectives on embodied neural mechanisms underlying human performance and ergonomics in aviation context

ABSTRACT

A great challenge for cognitive neuroscience is studying human behavior in its complexity as it manifests in the real world. The field of aviation provides a unique opportunity to investigate how perception, action and cognition interact in complex yet controlled ecologically valid environments. We suggest a novel cross-domain approach that combines insights from ecological psychology and embodied cognition with a neurophysiological framework to explain patterns of human performance across a variety of aviation contexts. Specifically, we argue that studying the interaction between an agent and the environment, as manifest in the Mirror Neuron system as a neural correlate, is key to understanding complex behavior. We can describe the experience and skills involved with task-relevant actions – like flying an airplane – using brain mechanisms of motor simulation of the observed action. With this direct coupling between perception and action, the automatic implicit nature of the Mirror Neuron system can be harnessed to improve human factor and ergonomics. This analysis offers three areas for future study and application: (1) enhancing flight training by isolating specific agent-environment relations; (2) tracking training progression based on brain signatures of flight expertise; and (3) neuroscientific-inspired ecological design of next-generation human–machine interfaces in flight decks.     

A model for investigating cultural dimensions of communication in the car

This article explicates a theoretical framework which was designed to discover cultural features both within and about car communication. The general approach the framework provides has been used for basic research in the United States and China, and has proven useful to researchers and designers. We discuss specifically how the approach can develop and implement speech-enabled human–machine interface (HMI) systems to address cultural features of communication and interaction. The general framework unveils the cultural nature of human–machine communication, while it also opens the possibility of discovering new cultural dimensions and principles which designers may not yet have considered. The approach is adaptable to a variety of communication contexts, with our focus here on the in-car communication of drivers with a speech-enabled HMI. Specific findings are briefly discussed including implications for research and design.     

机械系统人机界面优化匹配方法的研究

针对机械系统人机界面的匹配问题，提出了一种以评价指标为基础的优化方法。该评价指标含有主观评价和客观评价两部分，评价的结果具有科学性。优化方法可以在所有的可行解区域内进行搜索并寻找最优的匹配方案，使人机界面的设计能够符合工效学的基本原则。     

Comments on the ecology of representations in computerised systems

This paper discusses how the difference between the disembodied and the embodied perspective on the human mind gives rise to a disagreement as to the status of representations in computerised systems. A major claim of the disembodied approach of contemporary cognitive science is that mental representations are constructed on the basis of sensory input. Hence, it is the mental mechanisms for the interpretation of these data that matters, not the external system representation per se. The embodied approach on the other hand claims that mental representations emerge as a relation between the perceiver and the perceived. Because the body constrains how we can perceive anything, the system representation per se is important. Following the latter approach, the ecology of common forms of representations were mapped. The mapping of representations, together with the notion of distributed cognitive systems, points in the direction of further augmentation of the ecology of human-machine systems. A case from energy management was presented which gives an example of how such a task might be pursued.