For children undergoing lengthy multicomponent MRI, the propofol technique yielded overall better outcomes than the dexmedetomedine technique in terms of timeliness, PACU emergence characteristics, and parental satisfaction.

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Objective Examine the extent to which increasing information integration across displays in a simulated submarine command and control room can reduce operator workload, improve operator situation awareness, and improve team performance. Background In control rooms, the volume and number of sources of information are increasing, with the potential to overwhelm operator cognitive capacity. It is proposed that by distributing information to maximize relevance to each operator role (increasing information integration), it is possible to not only reduce operator workload but also improve situation awareness and team performance. Method Sixteen teams of six novice participants were trained to work together to combine data from multiple sensor displays to build a tactical picture of surrounding contacts at sea. The extent that data from one display were available to operators at other displays was manipulated (information integration) between teams. Team performance was assessed as the accuracy of the generated tactical picture. Results Teams built a more accurate tactical picture, and individual team members had better situation awareness and lower workload, when provided with high compared with low information integration. Conclusion A human-centered design approach to integrating information in command and control settings can result in lower workload, and enhanced situation awareness and team performance. Application The design of modern command and control rooms, in which operators must fuse increasing volumes of complex data from displays, may benefit from higher information integration based on a human-centered design philosophy, and a fundamental understanding of the cognitive work that is carried out by operators.

The endeavour to understand human cognition has largely relied upon investigation of task-related brain activity. However, resting-state brain activity can also offer insights into individual information processing and performance capabilities. Previous research has identified electroencephalographic resting-state characteristics (most prominently: the individual alpha frequency; IAF) that predict cognitive function. However, it has largely overlooked a second component of electrophysiological signals: aperiodic 1/f activity. The current study examined how both oscillatory and aperiodic resting-state EEG measures, alongside traditional cognitive tests, can predict performance in a dynamic and complex, semi-naturalistic cognitive task. Participants’ resting-state EEG was recorded prior to engaging in a Target Motion Analysis (TMA) task in a simulated submarine control room environment (CRUSE), which required participants to integrate dynamically changing information over time. We demonstrated that the relationship between IAF and cognitive performance extends from simple cognitive tasks (e.g., digit span) to complex, dynamic measures of information processing. Further, our results showed that individual 1/f parameters (slope and intercept) differentially predicted performance across practice and testing sessions, whereby flatter slopes were associated with improved performance during learning, while higher intercepts were linked to better performance during testing. In addition to the EEG predictors, we demonstrate a link between cognitive skills most closely related to the TMA task (i.e., spatial imagery) and subsequent performance. Overall, the current study highlights (1) how resting-state metrics – both oscillatory and aperiodic - have the potential to index higher-order cognitive capacity, while (2) emphasising the importance of examining these electrophysiological components within more dynamic settings and over time.

How team cognition is conceptualized has evolved rapidly in the last decade with the emerging use of a systems approach, moving the focus from the cognition residing in the heads of individuals, to that distributed across the team. This is referred to as ‘distributed cognition’. Increasingly, network approaches are being explored in attempts to model team distributed cognition. The specific domain of interest in the present study is the sociotechnical system within a maritime control room. This comprises human, machine and software agents interacting to interpret sensor data in order to develop a timely and accurate picture of surrounding contacts at sea. To achieve the goal, information is shared or integrated across the maritime control room consoles. The aim of this study was to develop and apply a suite of workload, situation awareness and team performance measures, including network analysis techniques, to examine how the distributed cognition of a team might change as a function of console configuration and information integration within a control room, and how these changes, if any, impact overall team performance. Sixteen teams of six novices conducted two one-hour scenarios operating generic maritime control room positions. Each team completed a one-hour simulation in each of two console configuration layouts with the order counter-balanced (within-subject design). Half the teams conducted the two scenarios in a high integration condition, and half in a low integration condition (between-subjects). The human machine interface (HMI) designs for the high integration condition emerged from a series of task analyses and user-centered design workshops. The emergent cognitively –oriented HMI designs are based on the assumption that each console can freely share information with other consoles. To create an analogue of current, less-integrated, and more stove-piped systems, a low integration condition was created where not all information was shared across consoles, but instead was shared verbally by console operators. Contacts detected at sea were introduced into the simulation and the team’s task was to assess, report and derive a solution (location, course, and speed) for each detected contact. Individual situation awareness was measured through the Situation Present Assessment Method (SPAM) and individual workload through the Air Traffic Workload Indicator Task (ATWIT). Team interaction from the scenarios were video recorded and we applied the Event Analysis of Systemic Teamwork (EAST) approach to examine the task, social and information networks which emerged. Team performance was measured as the accuracy and timeliness of the solutions We found higher information integration lowered average team workload, and improved average team situation awareness and team performance (faster solutions and a more accurate tactical picture). We found no impact of console configuration on team performance or any other dependent measure. The EAST method uncovered patterns in the network analysis that are potentially explanatory for the team workload, situation awareness and performance findings as a function of the information integration manipulation. This experiment showed that there can be reductions in workload, and improvements to situation awareness and performance when information is shared between consoles in a considered design. This has implications for HMI design within a team setting. The set of diagnostic metrics developed were largely effective in examining teamwork and team performance. Acknowledgements. The authors would like to thank Justin Hill (Royal Australian Navy) for his subject matter expertise, Graeme Muller (elmTEK) for his software, technical and infrastructure support, David Munro-Ford (Total Technology Partners) for his simulation programming, Dr Aaron Roberts for his advice on general aspects of the experiment, and Professor Paul Salmon for his advice on EAST.