Saccadic reaction time (RT) has been shown to be unimpaired in schizophrenia. Could this be due to its not requiring controlled information processing? The authors gave 49 schizophrenia patients and 34 controls manual and saccadic RT tasks with preparatory intervals of 1, 3, and 5 s given in regular and irregular sequences. If saccades require mainly automatic processes, they should not be affected by variations in the preparatory interval that are mediated by controlled processing. The manual task showed typical slower RT and larger preparatory interval effects in patients than in controls. Although the saccadic task showed significant effects of both the preparatory interval and the preparatory interval on the preceding trial similar in kind to those in manual RT, there were no group differences in these or in RT. The results are attributed to greater stimulus-response compatibility in the saccadic task, which puts fewer demands on working memory.

Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) are used extensively for underwater search and salvage, inspection, surveying, scientific exploration, and mine countermeasures. ROV pilots must learn to rely on limited data from video and sonar displays and a few other positional indicators to maintain a sense of their vehicle, its tether, and its surroundings. Pilot training typically occurs on-the-job, where equipment is placed at risk, controlled learning situations are hard to create, and time for instruction is minimal. The TRANSoM project is developing a training environment that combines two emerging technologies to overcome these limitations. A Virtual Environment (VE) simulates the ROV and its surroundings as well as instructional enhancements such as external views of the ROV, directional cues, and alternate modes of interaction with the vehicle; e.g. a head-tracked head-mounted display (HMD). An Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) monitors student pilot behavior and offers verbal and graphical feedback, mission review, and performance assessment. Near-transfer experiments comparing the utility of different artificial viewpoints have been completed, with full transfer experiments involving a real ROV to follow.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract