Publication statistics
Pub. period:1984-2012
Pub. count:75
Number of co-authors:153
Co-authors
Number of publications with 3 favourite co-authors:
Angelia Sebok:8Yili Liu:5Nadine B. Sarter:5 Productive colleagues
Christopher D. Wickens's 3 most productive colleagues in number of publications:
Woodrow Barfield:36David D. Woods:35P. A. Hancock:28
“
Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that's why it is so complicated.
”
-- Paul Rand, 1997
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Christopher D. Wickens
Has also published under the name of:
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Publications by Christopher D. Wickens (bibliography)
Li, Huiyang, Sarter, Nadine B., Sebok, Angelia and Wickens, Christopher D. (2012): The Design and Evaluation of Visual and Tactile Warnings in Support of Space Teleoperation. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 2012 Annual Meeting 2012. pp. 1331-1335.
“Space teleoperation is a very challenging task, in part due to the difficulty with maintaining awareness of the robotic arm's configuration. Operators sometimes fail to notice undesirable arm configurations, such as joint limits or singularities, due to poor graphic user interface (GUI) designs and visual data overload. These failures can lead to hazards and unsafe conditions. The present study served to develop and comparatively evaluate the effectiveness of two approaches to supporting astronauts in monitoring the arm: 1) visual highlighting and information integration, and 2) tactile warnings. Performance measures and eye tracking data were collected and show that visual highlighting/integration and tactile warnings resulted in faster response times to, and successful avoidance of problematic arm configurations. The findings also highlight that additional support is needed for later stages of information processing, such as response selection. The findings from this research not only benefit space teleoperation but can inform the design of interfaces in other data-rich domains.”
© All rights reserved Li et al. and/or Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
Lu, Sara A., Wickens, Christopher D., Sarter, Nadine B., Thomas, Lisa C., Nikolic, Mark I. and Sebok, Angelia (2012): Redundancy Gains in Communication Tasks: A Comparison of Auditory, Visual, and Redundant Auditory-Visual Information Presentation on NextGen Flight Decks. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 2012 Annual Meeting 2012. pp. 1476-1480.
“The redundant presentation of information in more than one sensory channel has traditionally been assumed to benefit performance. However, a recent meta-analysis suggests that redundancy gains may depend on task type and a number of moderator variables. The present study examined the effectiveness of visual, auditory, and redundant auditory-visual information presentation under high and low workload in the context of a mid-fidelity NextGen flight simulation with experienced airline pilots as participants. Overall, for two types of communication tasks -- data link and ATIS -- faster responses were observed for redundant displays, compared to vision and audition alone. No significant benefit of redundancy was found for accuracy due to a ceiling effect and workload did not mediate redundancy effects. The findings from this research add to the knowledge base in multimodal and redundant information processing and can inform modality choices in the design of displays for complex, data-rich domains.”
© All rights reserved Lu et al. and/or Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
McDermott, Patricia L., Carolan, Thomas and Wickens, Christopher D. (2012): Part Task Training Methods in Simulated and Realistic Tasks. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 2012 Annual Meeting 2012. pp. 2502-2506.
“Part task methods are widely used in training programs when the full target task is too complex or impractical due to cost or availability. However, part task training has had mixed success in transfer to the whole task, in comparison to whole task training. For unmanned systems, the goal is to create training that prepares trainees to control an actual vehicle once one is available. The present research compares part and whole task training options in a simulated training environment and a realistic transfer environment. The task is teleoperating a robotic device to detect and identify vehicles in an urban environment. Part task training on the real task yielded a significant benefit in first trial whole task transfer performance and in trials to achieve transfer criteria relative to training on the simulated environment only. While this gain came at a relative cost in overall training time, it produced a significant training effectiveness gain by reducing the training time required on the more expensive robotic system.”
© All rights reserved McDermott et al. and/or Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
Yin, Shanqing, Wickens, Christopher D., Hong-Xiang, Pang and Helander, Martin (2011): Comparing Rate-of-Change Cues in Trend Displays for a Process Control System. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 55th Annual Meeting 2011. pp. 394-398.
“This study explored whether explicitly presenting rate-of-change cues, an information that is otherwise only implicitly derived in today's process control operations, would benefit operator performance. Operators rely on rate-of-change (ROC) information to help anticipate and arrest problems and take early action. Currently ROC is derived implicitly via Trends displays, which plot historical data over time. A simulated experiment conducted using university undergraduates presented explicit rate-of-change (ROC) information, either in numerical or linear-shape format, into a modified Trends displays. Findings revealed performance improvement patterns and particularly strong performance benefits when ROC was presented in linear-shape format. Results provide first step towards integrating ROC representation into industry displays.”
© All rights reserved Yin et al. and/or HFES
Gacy, A. Marquis, Wickens, Christopher D., Sebok, Angelia, Gore, Brian F. and Hooey, Becky L. (2011): Modeling Operator Performance and Cognition in Robotic Missions. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 55th Annual Meeting 2011. pp. 861-865.
“Control of the robotic arm on the International Space Station is a challenging endeavor, not only due to the high consequence of failure, but also because the limited number and arrangement of cameras greatly increases the difficulty of maneuvering the arm. There is great potential for automation to reduce such effort, but developing the right kind and degree of automation is a key concern. Mismatches between the perspective of the operator and the view of the robotic arm, and between the direction of control and response of the arm, contribute to performance degradations. In this paper we describe the development of a computational structure that combines a set of existent human performance modules to address such issues. These modules include the Frame of Reference Transformation (FORT), the Basic Operational Robotic Instructional System (BORIS), the Man-machine Integration Design and Analysis System (MIDAS v5), and the Salience, Effort, Expectancy, and Value (SEEV) attention model as applied in a simulation model of a robotic operator termed MORRIS.”
© All rights reserved Gacy et al. and/or HFES
Lu, Sara A., Wickens, Christopher D., Sarter, Nadine B. and Sebok, Angelia (2011): Informing the Design of Multimodal Displays: A Meta-Analysis of Empirical Studies Comparing Auditory and Tactile Interruptions. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 55th Annual Meeting 2011. pp. 1170-1174.
“The expected air traffic growth will introduce new tasks and automation technologies. As a result, the amount of mostly visual cockpit information will increase significantly, leading to more interruptions and risk of data overload. One promising means of addressing this challenge is through the use of multimodal interfaces which distribute information across sensory channels. To inform the design of such interfaces, a meta-analysis was conducted on the effectiveness and performance effects of auditory versus tactile interruption signals. From the 23 studies, ratio scores were computed to compare performance between the two modalities. The impact of 6 moderator variables was also examined. Overall, this analysis shows faster responses to tactile interruptions. However, more complex and very urgent interruption signals are better presented via the auditory modality. The findings add to our knowledge base in multimodal information processing and can inform modality choices in display design for complex data-rich domains.”
© All rights reserved Lu et al. and/or HFES
Keller, John W., Wickens, Christopher D. and Small, Ron L. (2011): N-SEEV in SOAS: Predicting Time to Notice for Multi-Modal Cockpit Alerting Events. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 55th Annual Meeting 2011. pp. 1389-1393.
“This paper presents the current work to extend the N-SEEV model of visual attention to both the auditory and tactile modalities in support a cockpit adaptive automation system for pilot spatial disorientation. Cockpit countermeasure systems use visual, auditory and tactile modalities to communicate problems to the pilot. The SOAS spatial orientation aiding system uses all three modalities to support a disoriented pilot. The system initiates increasingly intrusive countermeasure as it determines that the probability and severity of a detected disorientation is increasing. N-SEEV has been included within SOAS to support the change to countermeasure levels based on the prediction of the pilot noticing countermeasure onset. Previous versions of N-SEEV could predict a time-to-notice for the onset of a visual cockpit countermeasure. In this work, N-SEEV is extended to include noticing predictions for both the auditory and tactile modes.”
© All rights reserved Keller et al. and/or HFES
Sebok, Angelia, Wickens, Christopher D., Sarter, Nadine, Quesada, Stacey, Socash, Connie and Anthony, Brian (2010): The Automation Design Advisor Tool (ADAT): Supporting Flight Deck Design In NextGen. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 54th Annual Meeting 2010. pp. 26-30.
“This paper describes the development and implementation of the Automation Design Advisor Tool (ADAT). ADAT is being developed with NASA support to assist aviation designers throughout all phases of design in creating systems that ensure effective and efficient human-automation interaction on the modern flight deck. The tool can be applied to both new "blank slate" designs, and to improved versions of existing technologies. In particular, the current version of the tool evaluates proposed Flight Management System (FMS) designs in terms of their ability to support pilots in instructing and monitoring the automated system. ADAT identifies potential design deficiencies, provides specific (re)design recommendations, and offers access to summaries of empirical research on the underlying reasons for and the effectiveness of solutions to breakdowns in pilot-automation coordination.”
© All rights reserved Sebok et al. and/or HFES
Feary, Michael, McCloy, Tom, Wickens, Christopher D., Kaber, David, Pritchett, Amy and Sherry, Lance (2010): Bridging the gap between Human Automation Interface Analysis and Flight Deck Design Guidance. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 54th Annual Meeting 2010. pp. 36-39.
“Next generation aviation operations will place a much greater dependence on automation usage, and therefore additional emphasis needs to be placed on the evaluation of human automation interaction in the design and evaluation of these systems. Additionally, new airworthiness regulations and regulatory certification processes are beginning to focus on the design and verification testing of the pilot-automation interaction. Current human computer interaction analyses (computational human performance models and task analysis methods) are not effectively usable within the constrained timeline of real world design and certification processes. Fundamental and theoretical work is needed to develop methods and tools that will provide designers and regulators with the means of testing and providing useful feedback about the efficacy of these interactions.”
© All rights reserved Feary et al. and/or HFES
Rantanen, Esa M. and Wickens, Christopher D. (2010): Are There Standard Conflict Resolution Maneuvers in Air Traffic Control. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 54th Annual Meeting 2010. pp. 45-49.
“We analyzed samples of aircraft track data involving conflict alerts and subsequent resolution maneuvers from five U.S. air route traffic control centers. Vertical conflict resolution maneuvers were used in the majority of the cases examined. Within the vertical dimension, reductions of current vertical change (climb or descent) were collectively the most frequent resolution maneuver type, but descents were about three times as frequent as climbs. Three contingency analyses were performed to test for independence between conflict geometries and subsequent resolution maneuvers. The results show that conflict resolution maneuvers do not seem to be independent from conflict geometries. Additional analyses on conflict angles and vertical speed differences between aircraft as continuous variables revealed disproportionately fewer turns on crossing courses than on opposite or same courses. These results provide critical baseline information for understanding just how large departures from the current ingrained practices the advent of the NextGen air traffic management infrastructure may bring about, particularly in extremely safety-critical tasks such as airborne conflict resolutions. Pilots' conflict resolution maneuver preferences have received some attention, but corresponding research on air traffic controllers' practices is almost nonexistent. Moreover, our results emerged from objective data through objective analyses. To our knowledge, this is the first time analyses like these have been applied to data like these.”
© All rights reserved Rantanen and Wickens and/or HFES
Wickens, Christopher D., Li, Huiyang, Santamaria, Amy, Sebok, Angelia and Sarter, Nadine B. (2010): Stages and Levels of Automation: An Integrated Meta-analysis. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 54th Annual Meeting 2010. pp. 389-393.
“Function allocation between human and automation can be represented in terms of the stages&levels taxonomy proposed by Parasuraman, Sheridan&Wickens (2000). Higher degrees of automation (DOA) are achieved both by later stages (e.g., automation decision aiding rather than diagnostic aiding) and higher levels within stages (e.g. executing a choice unless vetoed, versus offering the human several choices). A meta analysis based on data of 14 experiments examines the mediating effects of DOA on routine system performance, performance when the automation fails, workload and situation awareness. The effects of DOA on these four measures are summarized by level of statistical significance. We found: (1) an inverse relationship between routine performance and workload as automation is introduced and DOA increases. (2) a weak positive relationship between routine performance and failure performance, as mediated by DOA. (3) A strong mediating role of situation awareness in improving both routine and failure performance.”
© All rights reserved Wickens et al. and/or HFES
Wickens, Christopher D., Keller, John W. and Small, Ronald L. (2010): Left. No, Right Development of the Frame of Reference Transformation Tool (FORT). In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 54th Annual Meeting 2010. pp. 1022-1026.
“A computational model was developed to predict the spatial-cognitive difficulties imposed when the operator must transform information along up to 6 degrees of freedom between a display (viewed at different orientations), and either a cognitive understanding or a compensatory control. The model applies to pilots, robotics operators, navigators or surgeons using endoscopic procedures. Penalties (in workload, errors or time) in the frame of reference transformation (FORT) are based on psychological findings in spatial cognition, such as mental rotation, depth compression, population stereotypes and verbally mediated strategies. We present the graphical user interface for exercising the model; then show how we have applied it to an astronaut space-shuttle, Hubble rendezvous sequence. Finally we validate the model against two existing data sets, one for cognition and one for control. The model could be used as the basis for both a design analysis tool and a real-time operator aiding system.”
© All rights reserved Wickens et al. and/or HFES
Wickens, Christopher D., Ketels, Shaw L., Healy, Alice F., Buck-Gengler, Carolyn J. and Bourne, Lyle E. (2010): The Anchoring Heuristic in Intelligence Integration: A Bias in Need of De-biasing. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 54th Annual Meeting 2010. pp. 2324-2328.
“In information integration tasks, anchoring is a prominent heuristic, such that the first few arriving information sources (cues) tend to be given greater weight on the final integration product, than those cues following. Such a bias may be particularly problematic when the situation is dynamic, such that earlier arriving cues are more likely to have changed, and hence are less reliable for the final integration judgment. Such is often the case in military intelligence, when enemy intentions are inferred from multiple sources. We describe results of a simulation of such intelligence gathering in which anchoring is prominently manifest, in the processing of seven sequentially delivered cues bearing on enemy threat. In Experiment 1, an anchoring bias was present. In Experiment 2, a simple "debiasing" wording inserted in the instructions and emphasizing the age of intelligence information induced more optimal weighting of the most recent cues, but did not eliminate anchoring.”
© All rights reserved Wickens et al. and/or HFES
Luo, Zhiqiang, Wickens, Christopher D., Duh, Henry Been-Lirn and Chen, I-Ming (2010): Integrating Route and Survey Learning in Complex Virtual Environments: Using a 3D Map. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 54th Annual Meeting 2010. pp. 2393-2397.
“This study aimed to explore how a three-dimensional (3D) map affects the acquisition of survey knowledge in complex virtual environments (VEs). Subject navigated in virtual and real subway stations, where the virtual station was augmented with either a 3D floor map, a 3D building map, or neither. After subject's navigation in the station, they made the judgment of spatial relative directions between objects. The analyses of response time showed that participants responded faster when they were assisted by the 3D floor or building map than without a map aid in virtual stations. There was no significant difference between survey knowledge acquired in the virtual station augmented with the 3D floor or building map and in the real station. Participants with the 3D floor map performed best in spatial judgments. Implications of these findings to a 3D map design were discussed.”
© All rights reserved Luo et al. and/or HFES
Luo, Zhiqiang, Luo, Wenshu, Wickens, Christopher D. and Chen, I-Ming (2010): Spatial learning in a virtual multilevel building: Evaluating three exocentric view aids. In International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 68 (10) pp. 746-759.
“The present study explores how the design of the exocentric view aid affects the acquisition of survey knowledge in virtual environments. The exocentric view was provided by either a 3D floor map, a 3D building map or the elevation of viewpoint in air. Participants navigated a virtual multilevel building and their survey knowledge was measured by the judgment of spatial relative direction. The results showed that (1) the accuracy of spatial judgment along the horizontal direction and response time were improved for participants with the exocentric view aid; (2) the accuracy of spatial judgment along the vertical direction was worst in the condition with a 3D floor map; (3) in general participants with a 3D building map performed best. The data suggested that the large scale of an exocentric view aid and the increased number of exocentric perspective through which the spatial layout is observed can facilitate the acquisition of survey knowledge in a virtual building. Potential applications of the findings include the design of a 3D map for navigation in both real and virtual buildings.”
© All rights reserved Luo et al. and/or Academic Press
Wickens, Christopher D., Hooey, Becky L., Gore, Brian F., Sebok, Angelia, Koenecke, Corey and Salud, Ellen (2009): Predicting Pilot Performance in Off-Nominal Conditions: a Meta-Analysis and Model Validation. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 53rd Annual Meeting 2009. pp. 86-90.
“Pilot response to off-nominal (very rare) events represents a critical component to understanding the safety of next generation airspace technology and procedures. We describe a meta-analysis designed to integrate the existing data regarding pilot accuracy of detecting rare, unexpected events such as runway incursions in realistic flight simulations. Thirty-five studies were identified and pilot responses were categorized by expectancy, event location, and whether the pilot was flying with a highway-in-the-sky display. All three dichotomies produced large, significant effects on event miss rate. A model of human attention and noticing, N-SEEV, was then used to predict event noticing performance as a function of event salience and expectancy, and retinal eccentricity. Eccentricity is predicted from steady state scanning by the SEEV model of attention allocation. The model was used to predict miss rates for the expectancy, location and highway-in-the-sky (HITS) effects identified in the meta-analysis. The correlation between model-predicted results and data from the meta-analysis was 0.72.”
© All rights reserved Wickens et al. and/or their publisher
Wickens, Christopher D., Hutchins, Shaun, Rice, Stephen, Keller, David and Hughes, Jamie (2009): False alerts in the ATC conflict alert system: is there a cry wolf effect?. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 53rd Annual Meeting 2009. pp. 91-95.
“We analyzed the extent to which a high false alert rate of the conflict alerting (CA) system in five ATC facilities was the cause of a "cry-wolf" effect, whereby true alerts of a pending loss of separation were associated with either controller failure to respond, or a delayed response. Radar track data surrounding 497 CA's were examined and from these we extracted information as to whether the alert was true or false, whether a trajectory change was (response) or was not (non-response) evident, whether a loss of separation occurred, and the controller response time to the CA. Results revealed an overall 47% false alert rate, but that increases in this rate across facilities was not associated with more non-responses or delayed responses to true alerts, or loss-of-separation. Cry-wolf appeared to be absent. Instead, desirable anticipatory behavior indicated that controllers often responded prior to the conflict alerts.”
© All rights reserved Wickens et al. and/or their publisher
Bustamante, Ernesto A., Madhavan, Poornima, Wickens, Christopher D., Parasuraman, Raja, Manzey, Dietrich, Bahner-Heyne, Elin J., Meyer, Joachim, Bliss, James P., Lee, John D. and Rice, Stephen (2009): Current Concepts and Trends in Human-Automation Interaction. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 53rd Annual Meeting 2009. pp. 299-303.
“The purpose of this panel was to provide a general overview and discussion of some of the most current and controversial concepts and trends in human-automation interaction. The panel was composed of eight researchers and practitioners. The panelists are well-known experts in the area and offered differing views on a variety of different human-automation topics. The range of concepts and trends discussed in this panel include: general taxonomies regarding stages and levels of automation and function allocation, individualized adaptive automation, automation-induced complacency, economic rationality and the use of automation, the potential utility of false alarms, the influence of different types of false alarms on trust and reliance, and a system-wide theory of trust in multiple automated aids.”
© All rights reserved Bustamante et al. and/or their publisher
Wickens, Christopher D., McCarley, Jason and Steelman-Allen, Kelly (2009): NT-SEEV: A model of attention capture and noticing on the Flight Deck. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 53rd Annual Meeting 2009. pp. 769-773.
“N-SEEV is a model that predicts the noticeability of events that occur in the context of routine task-driven scanning across large scale visual environments. The model is an extension of the SEEV (salience, effort, expectancy, value) model, incorporating the influence of attentional set and allowing the possibility of a dynamic environment. The model was validated against two empirical data sets. In a study of pilot scanning across a high fidelity automated 747 cockpit, the SEEV component of the model predicted the distribution of attention with correlations of 0.85 and 0.88. In a lower fidelity study of pilot noticing of the onset of critical cockpit events (flight mode annunciators) the model predicted differences in noticing time and accuracy with correlations (across conditions) above 0.95. Other properties of the model are described.”
© All rights reserved Wickens et al. and/or their publisher
Steelman-Allen, Kelly S., McCarley, Jason S., Wickens, Christopher D., Sebok, Angelia and Bzostek, Julie (2009): N-SEEV: A Computational Model of Attention and Noticing. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 53rd Annual Meeting 2009. pp. 774-778.
“The N-SEEV is a stochastic model of overt attention within a visual display or workspace. The model integrates elements from several existing models of attention (Bundesen, 1987, 1990; Itti&Koch, 2000; Wolfe, 1994; Wickens, et al., 2003) to provide (1) predictions of the allocation of visual attention among discrete display channels; (2) the likelihood of a scanning transition between any pair of channels; and (3) the number of eye movements needed to fixate the onset of a visual signal or event. Preliminary tests of the model show a close fit between model predictions and actual pilot scanning and noticing times.”
© All rights reserved Steelman-Allen et al. and/or their publisher
Wickens, Christopher D. and Hollands, Justin G. (2000): Engineering Psychology and Human Performance. Prentice Hall
Hollands, Justin and Wickens, Christopher D. (1999): Engineering Psychology and Human Performance. Prentice Hall
Wickens, Christopher D., Gordon, Sallie E. and Liu, Yili (1997): An Introduction to Human Factors Engineering. Addison-Wesley Publishing
Boyer, Bradley, Campbell, Margaret, May, Patricia, Merwin, David and Wickens, Christopher D. (1995): Three-Dimensional Displays for Terrain and Weather Awareness in the National Airspace System. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 39th Annual Meeting 1995. pp. 6-10.
“Three experiments are reported in which participants (air traffic controllers, Experiments 1 and 2; pilots, Experiment 3) were required to guide an aircraft around the hazards of terrain (Experiment 1) and weather (Experiments 2 and 3), using either 2D (planar) or 3D (perspective) displays. In Experiment 2, air traffic controllers, but not pilots, were less accurate in projecting tracks around terrain with the 3D display than with the 2D display. In Experiment 2, there was little difference between display formats in their ability to support safe vectoring around weather. In Experiment 3, pilots took slightly longer to plan a route around weather with the 3D display, and did so with equivalent accuracy to the 2D display. In all three experiments, the 3D display supported creation of paths that were slightly longer, and skirted the hazard by a wider margin than did the 2D display.”
© All rights reserved Boyer et al. and/or Human Factors Society
May, Patricia A. and Wickens, Christopher D. (1995): The Role of Visual Attention in Head-Up Displays: Design Implications for Varying Symbology Intensity. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 39th Annual Meeting 1995. pp. 50-54.
“Twenty pilots from the University of Illinois flew a low fidelity simulator during cruise flight. The intensity of the display symbology was manipulated in three different weather conditions to influence the discriminability of the instrumentation. The symbology was displayed in either head-up or head-down locations, with equivalent optical distances and display formats. Half of the subjects flew with a conformal symbology set, while the other half flew with a partially conformal symbology set. Responses to near and far domain events were measured, and tracking error of the three axes of control was calculated. The results revealed a head-up advantage to the far domain event detection and a head-down advantage to the near domain event detection. Performance in the head-up condition approached that of the otherwise superior head-down condition when an appreciable contrast between the symbology and the background environment was provided. The results are discussed in terms of an effect of the modulation of focused attention.”
© All rights reserved May and Wickens and/or Human Factors Society
Seidler, Karen S. and Wickens, Christopher D. (1995): The Effects of Task and Multifunction Display Characteristics on Pilot Viewport Allocation Strategy. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 39th Annual Meeting 1995. pp. 258-262.
“Twenty pilots searched through a 280 screen hierarchically organized data base of flight information in single task conditions, and in dual-task conditions which required concurrent monitoring of an altitude variable. Two screens were available that could either be shared between the two tasks, or fully allocated to the information access task (IAT). Search questions varied in the distance in the data base that needed to be traversed and in the extent to which they required working memory to integrate information between two screens. Subjects performed the dual task trials under either information or monitoring task emphasis, and when the monitoring task was either low or high bandwidth. The results indicated that longer single task traversals resulted from integration problems, from more distant nodes, and from nodes that shared the same top level of the hierarchy. The dual task results indicated that a measured strategic variable which facilitated performance on the IAT (the devotion of both screens to that task) was modulated as the IAT became more difficult with integration questions, as the IAT was emphasized, and as the monitoring task was at lower bandwidth. However, the result revealed that pilots failed to consider the length of the data base navigational path in their choice of single versus dual screen strategy.”
© All rights reserved Seidler and Wickens and/or Human Factors Society
Cott, Harold P. Van, Weiner, Earl, Wickens, Christopher D., Blackman, Harold S. and Sheridan, Thomas B. (1995): "Smart Automation Enhances Safety": A Motion for Debate. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 39th Annual Meeting 1995. pp. 448-449.
“The Debate Resolution: Attempting to structure the benefits and hazards of rapidly evolving technologies within an envelope that defines what is safe, feasible and economically viable, is difficult. While experts may not have a neat way to do this in hand, they can sometimes piece together experience and wisdom in interesting ways and occasionally strike a spark that illuminates the darkness. Toward this end four authorities in human performance and automaton. will debate the following proposition, stated in the form of a resolution "Be it Resolved: That Smart Automation Enhances Safety."”
© All rights reserved Cott et al. and/or Human Factors Society
Wickens, Christopher D., LaClair, Melanie and Sarno, Kenneth (1995): Graph-Task Dependencies in Three-Dimensional Data: Influence of Three-Dimensionality and Color. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 39th Annual Meeting 1995. pp. 1420-1424.
“This study compared conventional 2D graphs with 3D graphs and color based graphs for presenting 3-dimensional data. These data were in the format representing the effects on Y, of 4 levels of X and 4 levels of Z. Z was represented by a parameter (line type) in the 2D display, by space (depth) in the 3D display, and Y was represented by color in the color display. Subjects answered questions about the displayed data that varied in the degree to which they required focused attention on a single data point, to integration across the entire data space. The results indicated that the 3D display supported slowest and least accurate performance for the focused attention questions, a cost that dissipated when the questions became more integrative. Performance with the color display suffered badly in both speed and accuracy with the most integrative questions. The 2D display performed consistently well in both speed and accuracy. The results are consistent with prior data and with emerging theoretical perspectives on graph-task dependencies.”
© All rights reserved Wickens et al. and/or Human Factors Society
Wickens, Christopher D. and Long, Jeffry (1994): Conformal Symbology, Attention Shifts, and the Head-Up Display. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 38th Annual Meeting 1994. pp. 6-10.
“Thirty-two pilots flew instrument approaches in a high-fidelity simulator. Location of flight symbology was manipulated head-up vs. head-down while controlling for optical distance and symbology format. Pilots were assigned to one of two symbology sets, conformal and non-conformal. Each pilot flew half of the trials with the symbology presented in a head-up location and half with the symbology located head-down. Airspeed tracking for both groups was displayed with non-conformal digital symbology. An unexpected far domain event was presented on one trial per pilot. The results revealed that, for flight path control, there was generally a cost associated with head-down location. The magnitude of this cost was larger for conformal than for non-conformal symbology. Head-up presentation resulted in faster transition from instrument to visual flight reference, but poorer airspeed tracking and slower response to the far domain unexpected event and greater error tracking digital airspeed. The results are interpreted with the theoretical framework of object-based and space-based theories of visual attention, and the tradeoffs between clutter of overlapping imagery and information access cost.”
© All rights reserved Wickens and Long and/or Human Factors Society
Wickens, Christopher D., Liang, Chia-Chin, Prevett, Tyler and Olmos, Oscar (1994): Egocentric and Exocentric Displays for Terminal Area Navigation. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 38th Annual Meeting 1994. pp. 16-20.
“Two experiments are reported that contrast egocentric vs. exocentric features of perspective (3D) or plan view (2D) electronic map displays for supporting local guidance and global awareness. Pilots used these displays for a simulated approach to a landing along a curved approach, through a terrain-filled region. The task was simulated on an IRIS visual graphics workstation. In Experiment 1, a rotating vs. fixed-map display was experimentally crossed with a 2D vs. 3D (perspective map) view as 24 pilots were assessed in their ability to maintain the flight path (local guidance) and demonstrate global awareness of surrounding terrain features. Rotating displays supported better flight path guidance in both the lateral and vertical axes, and did not substantially harm performance on the task of recalling the location of terrain features. Map rotation also supported better performance in locating features from an ego-referenced but not a world-referenced perspective. 3D displays provided a slight advantage for lateral guidance but a substantial cost for vertical control, because of the ambiguity with which perspective viewing depicted precise altitude. In Experiment 2, 10 pilots flew with the rotating 2D display, and with an improved version of the rotating 3D display, using color coding to reduce the ambiguity of altitude information. Vertical control improved as a result of the 3D display design improvement, but lateral control did not. Assessment of terrain awareness on a map reconstruction task revealed marginally better performance with the 2D map. The results are discussed in terms of the costs and benefits of presenting information in 3D, ego-referenced format for both local guidance and global awareness tasks.”
© All rights reserved Wickens et al. and/or Human Factors Society
Kramer, Arthur, Tham, Mingpo, Konrad, Christopher, Wickens, Christopher D., Lintern, Gavan, Marsh, Roger, Fox, Julianne and Merwin, David (1994): Instrument Scan and Pilot Expertise. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 38th Annual Meeting 1994. pp. 36-40.
“A study was performed to investigate the correspondence between flight experience and instrument scan strategies. Seventeen student and twenty one instructor pilots flew two instrument flight missions with each mission being composed of eight distinct flight segments. The segments varied in the number of flight parameters that were to be modified including changes in heading, airspeed and altitude as well as double and triple combinations of changes in these parameters. All of the flight segments were flown under strict time constraints. Discriminant analyses were employed to determine the extent to which performance, control and eye scan measures could be used to distinguish among three groups of pilots; student pilots, low time instructors, and high time flight instructors. Performance measures alone were not adequate for discriminating among these groups of pilots, possibly because the maneuvers were relatively simple to fly. However, when both performance measures and eye scan measures were employed discrimination accuracies improved dramatically, ranging from 77% to 98% in the more complex maneuvers. Eye scan measures were also useful in diagnosing deficiencies in student flight strategies such as the over-reliance on a subset of flight instruments.”
© All rights reserved Kramer et al. and/or Human Factors Society
Wickens, Christopher D., Miller, Sonia and Tham, Mingpo (1994): The Implications of Data-Link for Representing Pilot Request Information on 2D and 3D Air Traffic Control Displays. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 38th Annual Meeting 1994. pp. 61-65.
“Twenty-four subjects (seven ATC specialists and 17 pilots trained in fundamental ATC skills), performed a simulation in which they were required to evaluate pilot requests for flight plan changes, issued by aircraft depicted on their display. Some requests could be safely granted, whereas others would bring about a mid-air conflict with other aircraft. Subjects evaluated the requests in the context of an airspace depicted on either a conventional 2D planar display or a 3D perspective display. Requests were presented either as voice messages or were displayed visually, as if relayed via data-link, either printed at the bottom of the display or represented as vectors, emanating in the requested direction from the requesting aircraft. The results indicated that performance was generally equivalent with the 2D and the 3D display and was best with the auditory-verbal request mode. It was considerably slower with the print mode, presumably because of the greater scanning required. The spatial vector mode offered performance that was faster than print, but considerably less accurate. Particular deficiencies were noticed with the vector mode when it was used to present complex 3-dimensional requests in the context of the 3-dimensional display.”
© All rights reserved Wickens et al. and/or Human Factors Society
Davis, Elizabeth Thorpe, Corso, Gregory M., Barfield, Woodrow, Eggleston, Robert G., Ellis, Stephen, Ribarsky, Bill and Wickens, Christopher D. (1994): Human Perception and Performance in 3D Virtual Environments. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 38th Annual Meeting 1994. pp. 230-234.
“Virtual environments have the potential to become very significant tools both in the civilian and military sectors. They offer a new human-computer interface in which users actively participate and are totally immersed in a computer-generated 3D virtual world. Important applications of virtual environments include the scientific visualization of complex data sets, the operation of remotely manipulated vehicles or teleoperators, the display of aircraft locations for air traffic control, simulated flight training, simulated driving training, teleoperated surgery as well as medical training and skill acquisition in surgery. Because virtual environments offer greater flexibility than most traditional HCI interfaces, those and other tasks may be better handled by virtual environments than by more traditional HCI interfaces. For example, virtual reality technology offers the capability of 3D or 2D representations, egocentric or exocentric 3D viewpoint, stereoscopic or monoscopic views, dynamically changing or relatively static representations as well as the availability of multi-sensory information (e.g., visual, auditory, and tactile inputs) and of perceptual-motor interactions. Yet, current VR systems still suffer from technical limitations that may restrict their usefulness. These technical limitations include poor spatio-temporal resolution of visual, auditory, and haptic images; cross-sensory image registration; and inaccuracy of head and eye tracking devices. Some of these limitations may be overcome by advances in the technology while other limitations may be overcome by cleverly adapting the VE system to exploit the capabilities and limitations of human perception. In all applications of virtual environments, human spatial perception plays a crucial role. For example, distance, elevation, and azimuth information is used to determine where objects are located. Yet, the perceived spatial location of an object may be ambiguous within a given display. Stereoscopic displays can provide humans with visual cues to disambiguate this information. But, there are other ways to resolve this ambiguity, such as the use of other visual cues or of other sensory modalities (e.g., auditory and haptic senses). Moreover, determination of the "best" perceptual cues and the "best" sensory modalities may be task dependent.”
© All rights reserved Davis et al. and/or Human Factors Society
Merwin, David H., Vincow, Michelle A. and Wickens, Christopher D. (1994): Visual Analysis of Scientific Data: Comparison of 3D Topographic, Color, and Gray Scale Displays in a Feature Detection Task. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 38th Annual Meeting 1994. pp. 240-244.
“Several display techniques were compared for representing scientific data in the context of a feature detection task. The data sets were rendered on a Silicon Graphics workstation using four display formats: linearized gray scale; rainbow scale; reduced hue (blue-green-yellow-white) scale; and a 3D-topographic formal viewed in stereo. The task involved searching for features that were embedded in scientific data sets consisting of two spatial and one scalar variable. Data sets were drawn from three scientific domains: Landsat, medical MRI, and global atmospheric data bases. Two types of features were embedded within the data sets: circular (blob-like) discontinuities, and linear (cliff-like) discontinuities. Results showed a general advantage for the gray scale, and a marked disadvantage for the 3D-topographic format in both accuracy and response latency. Performance in the two color scale formats was intermediate, with the reduced hue scale supporting faster, if not more accurate performance than the full rainbow scale. Performance differences were found across data base domains, as well. Directions for future research are discussed.”
© All rights reserved Merwin et al. and/or Human Factors Society
Williams, Henry P., Wickens, Christopher D. and Hutchinson, Scott (1994): Fidelity and Interactivity in Navigational Training: A Comparison of Three Methods. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 38th Annual Meeting 1994. pp. 1163-1167.
“In two experiments we vary the degree of fidelity of a navigational training environment, and determine how this variance effects the degree of route knowledge and survey knowledge demonstrated in a navigational transfer task. Subjects learn about the geography of a computer-generated world by either (a) studying a 2D map of the world, (b) passively viewing a 3D course through the world on an IRIS display, or (c) actively flying through an IRIS-based simulation of the world. Groups (b) and (c) were yoked. All groups then transferred to a flight along the studied route plan in a high fidelity Evans and Sutherland visual simulation system. In Experiment 1, 60 pilots were assigned to the three training conditions, and the subjects in the two IRIS flight groups were subdivided into categories of low and high visual fidelity of the IRIS world. In this experiment, the active flight training condition yielded most accurate navigation performance (route knowledge), with the map-study group being nearly as proficient, and the passive group much lower. The map-study group had the highest recall of the geography (survey knowledge), but this knowledge did not provide them with any benefit in solving an unexpected navigational problem (functional survey knowledge). Visual fidelity had no effect on any measure of transfer performance. In Experiment 2, the speed and workload of the rehearsal flight was increased, and 10 pilots were assigned to each training group. The results revealed that the increased workload reversed the order of the two computer flight groups, with subjects in the active group who needed to rotate the map, now performing most poorly. The results of both experiments are discussed in terms of the detrimental effects of high workload to geographical learning, and to the dissociation between different kinds of geographical knowledge.”
© All rights reserved Williams et al. and/or Human Factors Society
Liu, Yili, Fuld, Robert B. and Wickens, Christopher D. (1993): Monitoring Behavior in Manual and Automated Scheduling Systems. In International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 39 (6) pp. 1015-1029.
“Human monitoring behavior in manual and automated scheduling systems is examined through an experiment that required the subjects to perform scheduling and monitoring tasks. The task required the assignment of a series of incoming customers to the shortest of three parallel service lines. The subject was either in charge of the customer assignment (Manual Mode) or was monitoring an automated system performing the same task (Automatic Mode). In both cases, the subjects were required to detect the nonoptimal assignments that they or the computer had made. The results showed better error detection performance and lower subjective workload in the automatic mode. The subjects in the manual mode were both biased against declaring their own assignment errors and less sensitive to their misassignments. Results are compared with previous findings of monitoring behavior in manual control systems, and are discussed in terms of human decision making, reliability, workload and system design.”
© All rights reserved Liu et al. and/or Academic Press
Sebald, Colleen A. and Wickens, Christopher D. (1993): Subjective Estimates of Velocity, Distance, and Time: Implications in Helicopter Navigation. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 37th Annual Meeting 1993. pp. 152-156.
“This study assessed the sorts of biases induced in a pilot's estimates of velocity, elapsed time, and distance traveled in a flight simulation environment. The validity of an "internal equation" relating the concepts of subjective distance, velocity, and time was assessed. Pilots flew a series of flight legs which varied in their distance, time and velocity, during which they were asked to make judgments of time passage (group 1), speed (group 2), and distance traveled (group 3). These judgments were made under both single and dual task conditions. There was little consistent effect of task loading on any of the subjective estimates, but variations in interval duration, speed, and distance effected the subjective estimates of these quantities in different ways. There was no evidence found for support of an internal equation.”
© All rights reserved Sebald and Wickens and/or Human Factors Society
Vincow, Michelle A. and Wickens, Christopher D. (1993): Spatial Layout of Displayed Information: Three Steps Toward Developing Quantitative Models. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 37th Annual Meeting 1993. pp. 348-352.
“Subjects viewed a series of alphanumeric tables containing information regarding the attributes (cost, amount, etc.) of different objects (utilities such as gas and electricity). They answered questions that required them to locate specific pieces of information in the table, perform simple integration between pieces, or complex integration (division, multiplication), and information for questions was either located within a table panel (close separation) or between panels (distant separation). The table was either organized by objects within attributes, or attributes within objects. Table organization had no effect on response time or accuracy. However, accuracy suffered with increased separation, but only for the complex integration questions, a finding that implicates the interference between visual search and the working memory demands of information integration. A computational model of the mental operations required for task performance accounted for 69% of the variance in response time, and provides a useful basis for developing more elaborate models of display layout.”
© All rights reserved Vincow and Wickens and/or Human Factors Society
Merwin, David H. and Wickens, Christopher D. (1993): Comparison of Eight Color and Gray Scales for Displaying Continuous 2D Data. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 37th Annual Meeting 1993. pp. 1330-1334.
“The use of various dimensions of color to encode continuous data has become commonplace with the advent of sophisticated computing hardware and software. Applications users can choose from a variety of color pallets as well as create their own for viewing digitized data sets. A primary HCI question emerging from this expanded availability of color for data display is how best to map color dimensions to data dimensions for various applications. The current study examined a subset of the perceptual/cognitive processes underlying pattern recognition tasks, whose efficacy could be affected by the nature the color scale used to visualize the data being viewed. Three types of observers' judgments were examined: absolute discrimination of a value; relative judgment of the difference between two values; and a rank order judgment of 4 values. These values were expressed in the color of a specific region in images displayed using eight different color and gray scales. Preference ratings were collected for the color scales. Grey scales were best for rank ordering tasks, while a blue-green-yellow scale proved superior for an absolute independent task. Scale preferences did not necessarily agree with performance. Implications of the findings and future research are discussed.”
© All rights reserved Merwin and Wickens and/or Human Factors Society
Seidler, Karen S. and Wickens, Christopher D. (1992): Distance Metrics in Multifunction Displays. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 36th Annual Meeting 1992. pp. 121-125.
“The need to scan and integrate sources of information in multifunction displays (MFDs) forces consideration of the relationships between the screens in the database. This paper develops a spatial metaphor that can be used to explore these underlying relationships. Three metrics of distance -- navigational (the number of choice points lying between screens), organizational (the structure of the hierarchy), and cognitive (the user's mental representation of information relatedness) -- were identified and empirically examined by using a simulated, hierarchically arranged, menu-driven MFD in an aviation context.”
© All rights reserved Seidler and Wickens and/or Human Factors Society
Wickens, Christopher D. (1992): Human Factors Issues in Information Access. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 36th Annual Meeting 1992. .
Martin-Emerson, Robin and Wickens, Christopher D. (1992): The Vertical Visual Field and Implications for the Head-Up Display. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 36th Annual Meeting 1992. pp. 1408-1412.
“The present study evaluated dual-task performance as a function of the vertical separation between a tracking task and a discrete-response task, to provide data relevant to the positioning of aircraft head-up display (HUD) information. The data were consistent with Sanders' (1970) research on visual scanning where a nonlinear decrease in performance as a function of the horizontal separation between two displays was observed. Performance is equivalent across a range of visual angles from superimposition to 6.4{deg} vertical separation between displays. The cost to performance is increased for moderate vertical separations (9.6{deg} to 22.5{deg}) where visual scanning is required. At larger separations, the performance cost increases linearly with visual angle, where head movements may begin to supplement eye movements in order to access information. The function which describes the cost of vertical separation was observed to be larger at both small and moderate visual angles when the information in the two displays required integration. The data suggest that nonconformal HUD information may be placed a few degrees down from a superimposed position without a significant performance loss.”
© All rights reserved Martin-Emerson and Wickens and/or Human Factors Society
Wickens, Christopher D. (1992): Engineering Psychology and Human Performance. HarperCollins
Williams, Henry P. and Wickens, Christopher D. (1991): Electronic Map Interpretation in a Dual-Task Context. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 35th Annual Meeting 1991. pp. 92-96.
“The present experiment was designed to assess the extent to which spatial and verbal-analytic (VA) information processing resources are used in performing a simulated aircraft navigation task. Subjects were required to decide whether a "match" or a "mismatch" existed between a schematic 3D perspective forward field of view and a 2D top-down map. On dual-task trials, this navigation task was concurrently performed with either a VA side-task or with one of two tracking tasks. The data suggest that a VA strategy was most likely to be used when stimuli were simple or were mismatches, whereas a spatial mental rotation strategy was apparently used to confirm complex match stimuli. These results indicate that it may be possible to specify conditions wherein navigation is likely to compete for resources critical to other cockpit activities, such as aircraft control and communication.”
© All rights reserved Williams and Wickens and/or Human Factors Society
Merwin, David H. and Wickens, Christopher D. (1991): 2-D vs. 3-D Display for Multidimensional Data Visualization: The Relationship Between Task Integrality and Display Proximity. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 35th Annual Meeting 1991. pp. 388-392.
“The current study explores the relationship between the display representation of a multidimensional data base (separated vs. integrated) and the information processing demands of different types of tasks. Subject answered a range of questions about a complex economic data base while viewing either a 2-D or 3-D (perspective) display of subsets of the data. Animated vs. static representations of dynamic data were also examined. The 3-D display supported better performance than did the 2-D display on the more integrative questions, while no difference between formats was found for questions demanding focused attention. The 3-D display also supported a better visual model of the data space, but did not improve subjects' ability to verbalize the rules underlying this space. Animation did not provide a better means for understanding change information than did the static presentation mode. Implications for the design of data visualization display interfaces are discussed.”
© All rights reserved Merwin and Wickens and/or Human Factors Society
Moroney, William F., Flach, John M., Weller, Martha, Wickens, Christopher D., Moroney, Brian W. and Smolensky, Mark W. (1991): Use of Microcomputers in Teaching Human Factors in Aviation. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 35th Annual Meeting 1991. pp. 513-514.
Weller, Martha H. and Wickens, Christopher D. (1991): A Context-Based Introduction to Aircraft Radio Communications. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 35th Annual Meeting 1991. pp. 518-522.
Wickens, Christopher D. (1991): Teams in Transition: Analogous Systems. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 35th Annual Meeting 1991. pp. 976-979.
Andre, Anthony D., Haskell, Ian and Wickens, Christopher D. (1991): S-R Compatibility Effects with Orthogonal Stimulus and Response Dimensions. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 35th Annual Meeting 1991. pp. 1546-1550.
“An experiment was conducted to assess the relative influence of several factors on performance with orthogonal stimulus-response arrays. Subjects responded to the onset of one of three aligned light circles with a press of one of three aligned response keys. The response array was aligned parallel, angled, or orthogonal to the stimulus array. The results indicated that performance with orthogonal arrays is worse than with parallel or angled S-R arrays. For the orthogonal arrangements, the results also indicate that each hand prefers a mapping directly opposite to the other hand, and that this mapping reverses when the orientation of the stimulus and response arrays are transposed. In addition, the results also revealed that the relative costs of orthogonal S-R arrangements are somewhat attenuated when the assigned mapping associates (i.e, colocates) a given display with its closest control.”
© All rights reserved Andre et al. and/or Human Factors Society
Wickens, Christopher D., Pizarro, David and Bell, Brian (1991): Overconfidence, Preview, and Probability in Strategic Planning. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 35th Annual Meeting 1991. pp. 1556-1560.
“This study examined biases, sources of difficulty and display support in strategic planning. Eight subjects performed a strategic planning "rescue" video game, which required them to make a series of choices regarding which node to "fly to" in order to rescue simulated casualties. After making each choice, subjects needed to fly a challenging tracking dynamics along a path to reach the next "node" in the decision space where the casualties were "rescued." The dynamics along each path could be at one of four levels of difficulty. The difficulty determined the probability that the corridor would be flown successfully and therefore casualties rescued at the other end. To maximize their score, subjects had to consider the number of casualties at each node, the length of the path to the node (the shorter the better), and the probability they would fly the path successfully (an estimate of their own performance based on past experience). Periodically subjects were asked to give explicit estimates of those probabilities, such data provided in order for us to evaluate the calibration of estimated with true probability of success. Half the flights were flown with restricted preview of only the two nodes of the immediate choice. The other half offered full preview of the whole map. The results revealed that (a) subjects' decisions were less optimal when full preview was offered, (b) this deficiency appeared to result because full preview led subjects to rely too much on the simple strategy of choosing routes with most casualties, and neglecting the use of more abstract probability values in guiding their choices, (c) subjects appeared to be well calibrated in their confidence of traversing paths correctly.”
© All rights reserved Wickens et al. and/or Human Factors Society
Kramer, Arthur F. and Wickens, Christopher D. (1990): Human-Computer Interaction Research at the University of Illinois. In: Carrasco, Jane and Whiteside, John (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 90 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference 1990, Seattle, Washington,USA. pp. 79-80.
Sarter, Nadine B., Woods, David D., Braune, Rolf J., Palmer, Everett, Rogers, William H., Wickens, Christopher D., Harwood, Kelly, Andre, Anthony, Aretz, Anthony, Wiener, Earl L. and Boje, Elmar (1990): Situational Awareness in the Advanced Commercial Aircraft Cockpit. In: D., Woods, and E., Roth, (eds.) Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 34th Annual Meeting 1990, Santa Monica, USA. pp. 21-25.
Segal, Leon D. and Wickens, Christopher D. (1990): TASKILLAN II: Pilot Strategies for Workload Management. In: D., Woods, and E., Roth, (eds.) Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 34th Annual Meeting 1990, Santa Monica, USA. pp. 66-70.
Raby, Mireille and Wickens, Christopher D. (1990): Planning and Scheduling in Flight Workload Management. In: D., Woods, and E., Roth, (eds.) Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 34th Annual Meeting 1990, Santa Monica, USA. pp. 71-75.
Moray, Neville, Hart, Sandra G., Hancock, P. A., Kramer, Arthur F., Strayer, David L., Wickens, Christopher D., Segal, Leon, Raby, Mireille, Dessouky, Mohamed, Sanderson, Penelope and James, Jeffrey M. (1990): The Human Factors of Strategic Behavior. In: D., Woods, and E., Roth, (eds.) Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 34th Annual Meeting 1990, Santa Monica, USA. pp. 596-597.
Wickens, Christopher D. and Todd, Steven (1990): Three Dimensional Display Technology for Aerospace and Visualization. In: D., Woods, and E., Roth, (eds.) Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 34th Annual Meeting 1990, Santa Monica, USA. pp. 1479-1483.
“The similarities and contrasts between scientific visualization, and the tasks imposed on the pilot and air traffic controller are highlighted. Relevant principles for 3 dimensional display design for both of these applications are stated, and an experiment is described which contrasts four graphical formats across a number of tasks involving the interpretation of a hypothetical set of scientific data. The tasks vary in the degree to which focused attention vs. integration is involved. The graphical formats were either 2 or 3D renderings and either did or did not contain contours to emphasize objectness. The results revealed that emergent features, created either by objectness or 3 dimensionality, facilitated integration performance. However, 3 dimensionality generally slowed performance on all tasks.”
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Zhang, Kan and Wickens, Christopher D. (1990): Effects of Noise and Workload on Performance with Two Object Displays vs. a Separated Display. In: D., Woods, and E., Roth, (eds.) Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 34th Annual Meeting 1990, Santa Monica, USA. pp. 1499-1503.
“This study examines the effects of stress on the processing of displayed information from two types of object displays, when dimensions were formed by the color and size of a bar, by the height and width of a rectangle, and from a separated two bargraph display. Subjects either integrated information across the two dimensions of each display or focused attention on each dimension, in a simulated airborne decision task. In Experiment 1 (14 subjects), stress was imposed via three levels of workload of a concurrent visual search task. In Experiment 2 (14 subjects), it was imposed by 88 dB helicopter noise. Results indicated that information integration was best supported by the rectangle display at higher levels of workload. Both the color bar and the bargraph display were associated with poor performance on the integration task, but were superior on the focused attention task. Hence, an emergent feature of the rectangle (its area), rather than objectness per se, was the critical element supporting information integration and disrupting focused attention. The imposition of noise enhanced the subjective feeling of stress. Noise did not influence performance on the decision task, but differentially affected the resources necessary to extract that information. Noise reduced the resource demands of both object displays and increased the resource demands of the separate bargraph display.”
© All rights reserved Zhang and Wickens and/or Human Factors Society
Liu, Yili and Wickens, Christopher D. (1989): Visual Scanning With or Without Spatial Uncertainty and Time-Sharing Performance. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 33rd Annual Meeting 1989. pp. 76-80.
“We report here an experiment that examines the pattern of task interference between visual scanning as a sequential and selective attention process and other concurrent spatial or verbal processing tasks. A distinction is proposed between visual scanning with or without spatial uncertainty regarding the possible differential effects of these two types of scanning on interference with other concurrent processes. The experiment required the subject to perform a simulated primary tracking task, which was time-shared with a secondary spatial or verbal decision task. The relevant information that was needed to perform the decision tasks were displayed with or without spatial uncertainty. The experiment employed a 2 X 2 X 2 design with types of scanning (with or without spatial uncertainty), expected scanning distance (low/high) and codes of concurrent processing (spatial/verbal) as the three experimental factors. The results provide strong evidence that visual scanning as a spatial exploratory activity produces greater task interference with concurrent spatial tasks than with concurrent verbal tasks. Furthermore, spatial uncertainty in visual scanning is identified to be the crucial factor in producing this differential effect. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are also discussed.”
© All rights reserved Liu and Wickens and/or Human Factors Society
Wickens, Christopher D., Larish, Inge and Contorer, Aaron (1989): Predictive Performance Models and Multiple Task Performance. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 33rd Annual Meeting 1989. pp. 96-100.
“This symposium presents five models that predict how performance of multiple tasks will interact in complex task scenarios. The models are discussed, in part, in terms of the assumptions they make about human operator divided attention. The different assumptions about attention are empirically validated in a multitask helicopter flight simulation reported in the present paper. It is concluded from this simulation that the most important assumption relates to the coding of demand level of different component tasks. The potential gains to be made multiple resource assumptions remain uncertain.”
© All rights reserved Wickens et al. and/or Human Factors Society
Wickens, Christopher D., Marsh, Roger, Raby, Mireille, Straus, Susan, Cooper, Russell S., Hulin, Charles L. and Switzer, Fred (1989): Aircrew Performance as a Function of Automation and Crew Composition: A Simulator Study. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 33rd Annual Meeting 1989. pp. 792-796.
“In an experiment designed to examine the effect of crew composition and automation level on flight performance, fifty pilot-copilot crews flew a simulated instrument flight mission between three Michigan cities. Half of the crews were of homogeneous composition (both low or both high time), while half were heterogeneous consisting of one senior high time member and one junior low time member. Within each group, roughly half flew xxx with automated flight control and the other half flew manually. The flight was disrupted by periodic instrument failures. Results indicated that automation improved flight performance and lowered workload. While there was no overall difference in performance between homogeneous and heterogeneous crews, the latter group appeared to benefit more from the advantages that automation had to offer. The results are discussed in terms of the effect of automation on cockpit authority gradients, the role of flight experience, and of crew communications.”
© All rights reserved Wickens et al. and/or Human Factors Society
Goettl, Barry P. and Wickens, Christopher D. (1989): Multiple Resources versus Information Integration. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 33rd Annual Meeting 1989. pp. 1454-1458.
“The present study investigates the applicability of an information integration hypothesis developed by Wickens and Boles (1983), to display format and response configuration. Twenty paid subjects performed either a dual-task or an integration task. The tasks were similar in all respects with the exception of information integration requirements. Proximity was manipulated via display format and response configuration. Results of the display format manipulation supported a multiple resources interpretation while the effects of response configuration were consistent with the integration hypothesis. These results point to a possible limitation in applying the integration hypothesis to resource demands of displays, but suggest that the hypothesis may apply to response configuration.”
© All rights reserved Goettl and Wickens and/or Human Factors Society
Wickens, Christopher D., Harwood, Kelly, Segal, Leon, Tkalcevic, Inge and Sherman, Bill (1988): TASKILLAN: A Simulation to Predict the Validity of Multiple Resource Models of Aviation Workload. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 32nd Annual Meeting 1988. pp. 168-172.
“The objective of this research was to establish the validity of predictive models of workload in the context of a controlled simulation of a helicopter flight mission. The models that were evaluated contain increasing levels of sophistication regarding their assumptions about the competition for processing resources underlying multiple task performance. Ten subjects performed the simulation which involved various combinations of a low level flight task with three cognitive side tasks, pertaining to navigation, spatial awareness and computation. Side task information was delivered auditorily or visually. Results indicated that subjective workload is best predicted by relatively simple models that simply integrate the total demands of tasks over time (r = 0.65). In contrast, performance is not well predicted by these models (r < .10), but is best predicted by models that assume differential competition between processing resources (r = 0.47). The relevance of these data to predictive models and to the use of subjective measures for model validation is discussed.”
© All rights reserved Wickens et al. and/or Human Factors Society
Wickens, Christopher D., Stokes, Alan F., Barnett, Barbara and Hyman, Fred (1988): Stress and Pilot Judgement: An Empirical Study Using MIDIS, a Microcomputer-Based Simulation. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 32nd Annual Meeting 1988. pp. 173-177.
“This report presents an information processing framework for predicting the effects of stress manipulations on pilot decision making. The framework predicts that stressors related to anxiety, time pressure, and high risk situations will restrict the range of cue sampling and reduce the capacity of working memory, but will not affect decisions that are based upon direct retrieval of knowledge from long term memory. These predictions were tested on MIDIS, a microcomputer-based pilot decision simulator. Performance on a series of 38 decision problems was compared between ten subjects in a control group and ten subjects who had performed under conditions of noise, concurrent task loading, time pressure, and financial risk. The results indicated that the stress manipulation significantly reduced the optimality and confidence of decisions. The manipulations imposed their greatest effect on problems that were coded high on spatial demand and on problems requiring integration of information from the dynamic instrumental panel. The effects of stress were relatively independent of problem demands associated with working memory and with the retrieval of knowledge from long term memory.”
© All rights reserved Wickens et al. and/or Human Factors Society
Wickens, Christopher D. and Andre, Anthony D. (1988): Proximity Compatibility and the Object Display. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 32nd Annual Meeting 1988. pp. 1335-1339.
“Object displays have been proposed as an efficient, economical means for presenting multiple sources of information that must be integrated. In this paper, we outline the fundamental theoretical and applied principles that have been cited to justify object display advantages, and suggest some modifications to those principles. In particular, we describe the compatibility of proximity principle which asserts that object displays will facilitate information integration, but disrupt focused attention on the individual dimensions of the object. We then discriminate between homogeneous and heterogeneous feature objects, suggesting that only the former will produce emergent features that can facilitate information integration. Finally, we describe an experiment in which the object display is designed to incorporate an emergent feature that will support the perception of aircraft stall conditions. Evaluation of the display reveals superior integration performance to a separate bar graph display, but degraded focused attention performance, thus illustrating the principle of proximity of compatibility.”
© All rights reserved Wickens and Andre and/or Human Factors Society
Andre, Anthony D. and Wickens, Christopher D. (1988): The Interaction of Spatial and Color Proximity in Aircraft Stability Information Displays. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 32nd Annual Meeting 1988. pp. 1371-1375.
“The objective of a complex display design is to provide information in a way that maximizes the user's ability to process that information. This paper explores the effects of manipulating the spatial and color proximity among the information displays relevant to aircraft stability during both integration and focused attention tasks. The principle of compatibility of proximity (Wickens, 1987) suggests that tasks requiring the operator to integrate multiple sources of information are better served by close display proximity while tasks that require focused attention on specific sources of information are better served by more separate displays. Color proximity results clearly supported this principle and showed that using a common color (i.e. close proximity) to code different information sources facilitated integration performance while using separate colors to code different information sources facilitated focused attention performance. However, close spatial proximity did not foster integration. Instead, distant spatial proximity yielded superior performance for both focused attention and integration tasks.”
© All rights reserved Andre and Wickens and/or Human Factors Society
Zhang, Kan and Wickens, Christopher D. (1987): A Study of the Mental Model of a Complex Dynamic System: The Effect of Display Aiding and Contextual System Training. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 31st Annual Meeting 1987. pp. 102-106.
“The acquisition of mental models and the effect of instructions and a display aid on the performance on a complex dynamic processing system were examined in this experiment. Thirty subjects monitored a dynamic bar graph display of six system variables and were tested under three different conditions: 1) subjects were given contextual instructions and a picture display-aid which provided a perceptual context in which to interpret the changing variables (group P/B). 2) Subjects were only provided non-context instructions and tested by a bar graph display (group B). 3) A transfer group was trained under the same condition as same as group P/B and tested with the bar graph display (group P/B - B). The data showed that the combination of the context instructions and the meaningful display aid improved subjects' performance significantly. The accuracy of diagnosis of the group P/B was the highest among the three groups. It was also seen that training with the context instructions themselves could improve the accuracy of diagnosis although the difference between the transfer group and group B was not significant statistically.”
© All rights reserved Zhang and Wickens and/or Human Factors Society
Fuld, Robert B., Liu, Yili and Wickens, Christopher D. (1987): The Impact of Automation on Error Detection: Some Results from a Visual Discrimination Task. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 31st Annual Meeting 1987. pp. 156-160.
“A dynamic decision-making task was designed for a microcomputer that allowed subjects to operate in either a manual mode, or an automatic mode. Nine subjects performed in a repeated measures design that presented identical errors for detection in the two modes. Results showed that sensitivity was higher in the automatic mode; the manual mode elicited a conservative response bias. NASA bipolar rating scales presented a clear picture of higher workload in the manual mode.”
© All rights reserved Fuld et al. and/or Human Factors Society
Leber, Leray L., Wickens, Christopher D., Bakke, Christopher, Sulek, Michael and Marshak, William (1987): Voice and Manual Control in Dual Task Situations. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 31st Annual Meeting 1987. pp. 419-423.
“The objective of this research was to replicate and extend an investigation of Voice and Manual Control in Dual Task Situations previously performed by Wickens et al. (1985). This study incorporated both the previous within-subject design with a much larger sample size and a novel between-subject paradigm. The repeated measures investigation minimizing asymmetric transfer between response conditions revealed significantly better performance when a verbal Sternberg task was voice controlled in combination with a manually controlled spatial tracking task. The between-subject study likewise support this finding. The previous 1985 study's finds favoring hemispherically compatible left-handed tracking were not supported in this investigation.”
© All rights reserved Leber et al. and/or Human Factors Society
Pamperin, Kenneth L. and Wickens, Christopher D. (1987): The Effects of Modality and Stress across Task Type on Human Performance. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 31st Annual Meeting 1987. pp. 514-518.
“This investigation integrates four different approaches to the study of attention and multiple task performance, to include the effects of stimulus modality presentation, the influence of spatial separation in visual stimulus presentation, the effect of stress, and the influence of task type (dual-task versus information-integration task), in a spatial vector monitoring task. A significant benefit of cross-modal (visual-auditory) presentation was found when information was integrated at both levels of stress, while an interaction between modality and stress level occurred in the dual task condition favoring the intra-model (visual-visual) presentations at the lower stress level. The auditory display tended to be more stress resistant. The results support Kahneman's concept of stress-related resource expansion, provide weak support for perceptual narrowing, and provide little support for a processing modalities dimension of the Multiple Resource Model. Instead, they are consistent with the concept of auditory pre-emption, discussed by Wickens (1987).”
© All rights reserved Pamperin and Wickens and/or Human Factors Society
Connelly, James G., Wickens, Christopher D., Lintern, Gavan and Harwood, Kelly (1987): Attention Theory and Training Research. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 31st Annual Meeting 1987. pp. 648-651.
“This study used elements of attention theory as a methodological basis to decompose a complex training task in order to improve training efficiency. The complex task was a microcomputer flight simulation where subjects were required to control the stability of their own helicopter while acquiring and engaging enemy helicopters in a threat environment. Subjects were divided into whole-task, part-task, and part/open loop adaptive task groups in a transfer of training paradigm. The effect of reducing mental workload at the early stages of learning was examined with respect to the degree that subordinate elements of the complex task could be automated through practice of consistent, learnable stimulus-response relationships. Results revealed trends suggesting the benefit of isolating consistently mapped sub-tasks for part-task training and the presence of a time-sharing skill over and above the skill required for the separate subtasks.”
© All rights reserved Connelly et al. and/or Human Factors Society
Wickens, Christopher D., Fracker, Lee and Webb, Jayson (1987): Cross-Modal Interference and Task Integration: Resources or Preemption Switching?. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 31st Annual Meeting 1987. pp. 679-683.
“Data are reviewed from experiments that have contrasted intra-modal (visual-auditory) presentation. Five different processing mechanisms that are operating in dual stimulus tasks are described, and it is concluded that in the studies where visual scanning is not required, cross-modal effects are of two classes. When the visual task is continuous (tracking), a discrete auditory stimulus will preempt tracking performance relative to a discrete visual stimulus, leading to an effective shift in allocation bias. When both tasks are discrete, the data regarding the relative advantages of cross-vs. intra-modal interference are ambivalent.”
© All rights reserved Wickens et al. and/or Human Factors Society
Barnett, B., Stokes, A., Wickens, Christopher D., Davis, T., Rosenblum, R. and Hyman, F. (1987): A Componential Analysis of Pilot Decision-Making. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 31st Annual Meeting 1987. pp. 842-846.
“In an effort to construct and validate an information-processing model of pilot decision-making, a microcomputer-based system, known as MIDIS, has been developed. A parallel effort resulted in the compilation of a cognitive test battery designed to assess individual differences in those cognitive attributes determined to be important in effective decision making. The processing model of pilot judgment is validated to the extent that pilots with strengths in particular cognitive attributes perform well on those decision scenarios determined to impose demands on those same abilities. Forty professional, instructor, and student pilots served as subjects in this validation study. The results reported here represent data from twenty of the highly-experienced instrument-rated pilots. The results indicated that the cognitive test of running memory span provided a valid predictor of the optimality of pilot's judgments. A test of risk assessment predicted pilot confidence and latency in the decision choices. Few of the other tests, including a test of declarative knowledge, provided significant correlations with the three attributes of decision performance for the pilots in the group studied to date.”
© All rights reserved Barnett et al. and/or Human Factors Society
Liu, Yili and Wickens, Christopher D. (1987): The Effect of Processing Code, Response Modality and Task Difficulty on Dual Task Performance and Subjective Workload in a Manual System. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 31st Annual Meeting 1987. pp. 847-851.
“We report here the first experiment of a series studying the effect of task structure and difficulty demand on time-sharing performance and workload in both automated and corresponding manual systems. The experimental task involves manual control time-shared with spatial and verbal decision tasks of two levels of difficulty and two modes of response (voice or manual). The results provide strong evidence that tasks and processes competing for common processing resources are time shared less effectively and have higher workload than tasks competing for separate resources. Subjective measures and the structure of multiple resources are used in conjunction to predict dual task performance. The evidence comes from both single task and from dual task performance.”
© All rights reserved Liu and Wickens and/or Human Factors Society
Fracker, Martin L. and Wickens, Christopher D. (1987): Resources, Confusions, and Compatibility in Dual Axis Tracking: Displays, Controls, and Dynamics. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 31st Annual Meeting 1987. pp. 1211-1215.
“Dual axis compensatory tracking was investigated as a function of whether error displays were integrated or separated, whether axis controls were integrated into one stick or remained separate, and whether the control dynamics on the two axes were the same or different. Tracking error increased and control activity decreased as a function of the summed difficulty of the two control dynamics. Integrated displays and integrated controls both led to increased confusions between tracking axes although error was unaffected. Importantly, performance was also affected by whether the integrality of displays matched that of controls. These results suggest that dual axis tracking is subject to independent effects of resource competition, confusions, and Wickens' (1986b) compatibility of proximity principle.”
© All rights reserved Fracker and Wickens and/or Human Factors Society
Wickens, Christopher D. (1984): Engineering Psychology and Human Performance. Columbus, OH, Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co
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