Head Up versus Head Down: The Costs of Imprecision, Unreliability, and Visual Clutter on Cue Effectiveness for Display Signaling

Abstract

We conducted 2 experiments to investigate the clutter-scan trade-off between the cost of increasing clutter by overlaying complex information onto the forward field of view using a helmet-mounted display (HMD) and the cost of scanning when presenting this information on a handheld display. In the first experiment, this trade-off was examined in terms of the spatial accuracy of target cuing data in a relatively sparse display; in the second, the spatial accuracy of the cue was varied more radically in an information-rich display. Participants were asked to detect and identify targets hidden in the far domain while performing a monitoring task in the near domain using either an HMD or a handheld display. The results revealed that on a sparse display, the reduced scanning from the HMD presentation of cuing out-weighed the costs of clutter for cued targets, regardless of cue precision, but no benefit was found for uncued targets. When the HMD displayed task-irrelevant information, however, target detection was hindered by the extraneous clutter in the forward field of view relative to the handheld display condition, and this cost of clutter increased as the amount of data that needed to be inspected increased. Potential applications of this research include the development of design considerations for head-up displays for aviation and military applications.

Automation Reliability in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Control: A Reliance-Compliance Model of Automation Dependence in High Workload

“…John & Manes, 2002;Yeh, Merlo, Wickens, & Brandenburg, 2003), particularly in circumstances when human resources to the unaided task are insufficient (e.g., Yaacov, Maltz, & Shinar, 2003) and, therefore, the human must depend upon the automation. Such resource scarcity may result either when the task itself is difficult or when the automated task is carried out in a multitask context (C. D. Objective: Two experiments were conducted in which participants navigated a simulated unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) through a series of mission legs while searching for targets and monitoring system parameters.…”

The virtual landing pad: facilitating rotary-wing landing operations in degraded visual environments

“…To maximise the benefits of HUDs, designers must preserve the most useful and unambiguous visual cues pilots naturally use so that information is processed intuitively (Foyle et al 1992;Harris 2011;Prinzel Iii et al 2004;Ververs and Wickens 1998;Klein 1997). An overly cluttered HUD can be detrimental to pilot task performance and situation awareness, particularly when task irrelevant information is presented in demanding situations (Yeh et al 2003). The presentation of intuitive and useful flight information in a HUD may also be useful in clear visual conditions, not just in terms of the reduced visual scan required but also to facilitate integration of different information forms ).…”

“…Addressing how information should be presented to pilots is an essential, yet frequently overlooked aspect. As previously suggested, an overly cluttered HUD can be detrimental to both pilot task performance and situation awareness, particularly when task irrelevant information is presented in demanding situations (Yeh et al 2003). Access to a HUD can, however, facilitate task performance by reducing the visual scan required but also aiding in the integration of different information forms ).…”

Potential Solutions to Human Factors Challenges in Road Vehicle Automation

“…This finding-of reduced awareness and capability to recover as automation increases-is based on a meta-analysis of 18 studies from process control, supervisory control, and aviation, and is robust across domains. Such automation-induced performance consequences are largely attributed to operators' tendency to reduce their monitoring of highly reliable automation because of its ability to function properly for an extended period of time [19,20]. In mid-or medium levels of automation, in which the operator may be required to resume manual control, the prevailing take-away lesson is to keep operators 'in the loop', either through their involvement to some extent in decision and action selection tasks as well as action implementation [21] or through intuitive, "ecological" displays on the state of the automated processes [22][23][24].…”