Combat Supervisory Support Systems
Head mounted displays
PSE was instrumental in the development, planning, conducting, and analysis of a "Technical Integration Experiment" for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Augmented Cognition program.
The Technical Integration Experiment evaluated 20 psychophysiological measures from 11 different research groups for their ability to detect changes in users' cognitive workload during a complex task.
Task manager
The measures included functional Near Infra-Red imaging (fNIR), continuous and event-related electrical encephalography (EEG/ERP), pupil dilation, mouse pressure, body posture, heart rate, and galvanic skin response (GSR).
PSE found that eleven of the measures showed empirical promise in their ability to detect changes in cognitive workload on-line in real time.
Resource grid
These "cognitive state gauges" were evaluated on a common, quasi-realistic, military command and control task called the Warship Commander Task that was developed by PSE specifically for this purpose.
Participants monitored aircraft on a geographical display for their levels of threat and responded to the threatening ones, as they simultaneously monitored ship communications for ship status information.
The task involves a combination of perceptual, motor, spatial, auditory, verbal, memory, and decision-making processing. Task load was manipulated by changing the quantity and types of aircraft appearing throughout the primary task and by varying the presence or absence of the secondary verbal-memory task.
Course of Action Display
During phase two of the program, currently underway, PSE is again providing scientific consultation on the design and evaluation of integrated "augmented cognition" systems.
The ultimate goal of the program is to develop innovative technologies that will transform human-computer interactions by making information systems adapt to the changing capabilities and limitations of the user.
References and Downloads
HMD: St. John, M., Harris, W., & Osga, G. (1997). Designing for multitasking environments: Multiple monitors versus multiple windows. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 41st Annual Meeting (pp. 1313-1317). Santa Monica, CA : Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
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HMD : St. John, M., Manes, D. I. , Oonk, H. M., & Ko, H. (1999). Workspace control diagrams and head-mounted displays as alternatives to multiple monitors in information-rich environments. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 43rd Annual Meeting (pp. 438-442). Santa Monica, CA : Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
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Task Manager : St. John, M. & Osga, G. A. (1999). Task supervision using a dynamic gantt chart display. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 43rd Annual Meeting (pp. 168-172). Santa Monica, CA : Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
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Task Manager : St. John, M., Oonk, H. M., & Osga, G. A. (2000). Designing displays for command and control supervision: Contextualizing alerts and Òtrust but verifyÓ automation. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 44th Annual Meeting (pp. 646-649). Santa Monica, CA : Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
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COA : St. John, M., Manes, D. I. , & Osga, G. A. (2002). A "Trust but Verify" design for course of action displays. In Proceedings of the 2002 Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium. Washington, DC : Department of Defense, Command and Control Research Program.
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