Designing for naturalistic decision-making

Emergencies are safety critical situations where decision-makers make rapid and quick decisions. It is essential that decision-makers maintain a high level of performance whilst resolving the incident. Knowledge of human factors influences on decision-maker performance is critical to understand when designing technologies to support naturalistic decision-making. Previous work has largely focused on the influence of a single human factor on naturalistic decision-making. However in naturalistic decision-making environments, such as resolving an emergency, often requires the interaction of multiple human factors with a resulting cumulative impact on the decision-making process outcome. This thesis presents a set of studies that investigates multiple, co-occurring human factors influences for naturalistic decision-making and investigates integration of the factors in the design of technologies to support effective outcomes in emergency situations. Findings contribute further understanding of the multi-factor influences on naturalistic decision-making, and provide a novel and practical set of design principles to support the design of naturalistic decision-making technologies. A literature review confirmed that a majority of research presents single factor influences on decision-making, which is out of step for real-world naturalistic decision-making. In addition, findings showed that multiple factor influences co-occur in naturalistic decision-making environments, and are associated with decision-making performance. Seven factors were identified; situation awareness, mental models, workload, human error, uncertainty, teamwork and communication. Two studies using real-world decision-makers from the aviation domain and _re and rescue domain, investigated the multi-factor issues and the association with decision-making performance, through a set of real-world incident case studies. Results demonstrate the occurrence of the seven factors, and the cumulative impact on decision-making performance. In collaboration with Airbus Defence and Space an experimental study with pilots contributed the design of a novel single pilot operated aircraft interface built using the understanding of the seven human factors. The interface was implemented in a flight simulator, where fourteen pilots performed three emergency related tasks. Results showed that the design had similar performance to that of a system based on the current design methodology, in spite of the fact the pilots had little experience with the system. Based on all findings, twenty-two cognition informed system design principles were created, with an aim to provide naturalistic decision-making system designers with a guide of how to integrate the seven factors into the design of systems to support effective decision-making. A final validation study, with human factors experts as participants, was carried out which identified the usability, validity and applicability of the design principles. The thesis contributes findings that have both theoretical and practical implications. This research has addressed gaps within the naturalistic decision-making literature and contributed new understanding to the complex field of naturalistic decision-making for emergency situations. Findings suggest that seven factors influence naturalistic decision-making, thus potentially affecting the decision-maker's performance. In addition, this research contributes an understanding of the guidance that is required by designers to create technology. Technology created using this methodology allows decision-makers to improve decision-making performance by supporting their complex decisions, thereby maintaining and improving safety in naturalistic decision-making domains

Enhancing environmental engagement with natural language interfaces for in-vehicle navigation systems

Four on-road studies were conducted in the Clifton area of Nottingham, UK, aiming to explore the relationships between driver workload and environmental engagement associated with ‘active’ and ‘passive’ navigation systems. In a between-subjects design, a total of 61 experienced drivers completed two experimental drives comprising the same three routes (with overlapping sections), staged one week apart. Drivers were provided with the navigational support of a commercially-available navigation device (‘satnav’), an informed passenger (a stranger with expert route knowledge), a collaborative passenger (an individual with whom they had a close, personal relationship) or a novel interface employing conversational natural language NAV-NLI). The NAV-NLI was created by curating linguistic intercourse extracted from the earlier conditions, and delivering this using a Wizard-of-Oz technique. The different navigational methods were notable for their varying interactivity and the preponderance of environmental landmark information within route directions. Participants experienced the same guidance on each of the two drives to explore changes in reported and observed behaviour. Results show that participants who were more active in the navigation task (collaborative passenger or NAV-NLI) demonstrated enhanced environmental engagement (landmark recognition, route-learning and survey knowledge) allowing them to reconstruct the route more accurately post-drive, compared to drivers using more passive forms of navigational support (SatNav or informed passenger). Workload measures (TDT, NASA-TLX) indicated no differences between conditions, although satnav users and collaborative passenger drivers reported lower workload during their second drive. The research demonstrates clear benefits and potential for a navigation system employing two-way conversational language to deliver instructions. This could help support a long-term perspective in the development of spatial knowledge, enabling drivers to become less reliant on the technology and begin to re-establish associations between viewing an environmental feature and the related navigational manoeuvre

Follow the Leader: Examining Real and Augmented Reality Lead Vehicles as Driving Navigational Aids

Two studies investigated the concept of following a lead vehicle as a navigational aid. The first videobased study (n=34) considered how drivers might use a real-world lead vehicle as a navigational aid, whilst the second simulator-based study (n=22) explored how an Augmented Reality (AR) virtual car, presented on a head-up display (HUD), may aid navigation around a complex junction. Study 1indicated that a lead vehicle is most valued as a navigation aid just before/during a required maneuver. During the second study the dynamic virtual car (which behaved like a real vehicle) resulted in greater confidence and lower workload than a static virtual car that “waits” at the correct junction exit, but resulted in more gaze concentration. It is concluded that a virtual car may be a valuable element of a navigation system, in combination with other forms of information, to completely fulfil all a driver’s navigational task requirements

Relationship between trust and usability in virtual environments: An ongoing study

Usability and trust have been observed to be related in several domains including web retail, information systems, and e-health. Trust in technology reflects beliefs about the attributes of a technology. Research has shown that trust is a key factor for the success of different systems – e.g., e-market, e-commerce, and social networks. Trust in technology can be supported or prevented by the perceived usability. Therefore, a low level of usability could compromise an individual’s trust in their use of a technology, resulting in a negative attitude towards a product. Even if this relationship has been seen as important in the fields listed above, there is limited research which empirically assesses trust and usability in virtual reality (VR). This work will present the first set of data on the relationship between usability and trust in VR. To gather this data, three different VR systems (Desktop 3D tool, CAVE, and a flight simulator) were tested. The findings show that (i) the best-known questionnaire to measure usability and trust could be applied to VR, (ii) there is a strong relationship between people’s satisfaction and trust in the use of VR, (iii) the relationship between usability and trust exists for different systems

An investigation of the effects of driver age when using novel navigation systems in a head-up display

Although drivers gain experience with age, many older drivers are faced with age-related deteriorations that can lead to a higher crash risk. Head-Up Displays (HUDs) have been linked to significant improvements in driving performance for older drivers by tackling issues related to aging. For this study, two Augmented Reality (AR) HUD virtual car navigation solutions were tested (one screen-fixed, one world-fixed), aiming to improve navigation performance and reduce the discrepancy between younger and older drivers by aiding the appropriate allocation of attention and easing interpretation of navigational information. Twenty-five participants (12 younger, 13 older) undertook a series of drives within a medium-fidelity simulator with three different navigational conditions (virtual car HUD, static HUD arrow graphic and traditional head-down satnav). Results showed that older drivers tended to achieve navigational success rates similar to the younger group, but experienced higher objective mental workload. Solely for the static HUD arrow graphic, differences in most workload questionnaire items and objective workload between younger and older participants were not significant. The virtual car led to improved navigation performance of all drivers, compared to the other systems. Hence, both AR HUD systems show potential for older drivers, which needs to be further investigated in a real-world driving context

Designing for naturalistic decision-making

Emergencies are safety critical situations where decision-makers make rapid and quick decisions. It is essential that decision-makers maintain a high level of performance whilst resolving the incident. Knowledge of human factors influences on decision-maker performance is critical to understand when designing technologies to support naturalistic decision-making. Previous work has largely focused on the influence of a single human factor on naturalistic decision-making. However in naturalistic decision-making environments, such as resolving an emergency, often requires the interaction of multiple human factors with a resulting cumulative impact on the decision-making process outcome. This thesis presents a set of studies that investigates multiple, co-occurring human factors influences for naturalistic decision-making and investigates integration of the factors in the design of technologies to support effective outcomes in emergency situations. Findings contribute further understanding of the multi-factor influences on naturalistic decision-making, and provide a novel and practical set of design principles to support the design of naturalistic decision-making technologies. A literature review confirmed that a majority of research presents single factor influences on decision-making, which is out of step for real-world naturalistic decision-making. In addition, findings showed that multiple factor influences co-occur in naturalistic decision-making environments, and are associated with decision-making performance. Seven factors were identified; situation awareness, mental models, workload, human error, uncertainty, teamwork and communication. Two studies using real-world decision-makers from the aviation domain and _re and rescue domain, investigated the multi-factor issues and the association with decision-making performance, through a set of real-world incident case studies. Results demonstrate the occurrence of the seven factors, and the cumulative impact on decision-making performance. In collaboration with Airbus Defence and Space an experimental study with pilots contributed the design of a novel single pilot operated aircraft interface built using the understanding of the seven human factors. The interface was implemented in a flight simulator, where fourteen pilots performed three emergency related tasks. Results showed that the design had similar performance to that of a system based on the current design methodology, in spite of the fact the pilots had little experience with the system. Based on all findings, twenty-two cognition informed system design principles were created, with an aim to provide naturalistic decision-making system designers with a guide of how to integrate the seven factors into the design of systems to support effective decision-making. A final validation study, with human factors experts as participants, was carried out which identified the usability, validity and applicability of the design principles. The thesis contributes findings that have both theoretical and practical implications. This research has addressed gaps within the naturalistic decision-making literature and contributed new understanding to the complex field of naturalistic decision-making for emergency situations. Findings suggest that seven factors influence naturalistic decision-making, thus potentially affecting the decision-maker's performance. In addition, this research contributes an understanding of the guidance that is required by designers to create technology. Technology created using this methodology allows decision-makers to improve decision-making performance by supporting their complex decisions, thereby maintaining and improving safety in naturalistic decision-making domains

Determining the impact of augmented reality graphic spatial location and motion on driver behaviors

While researchers have explored benefits of adding augmented reality graphics to vehicle displays, the impact of graphic characteristics have not been well researched. In this paper, we consider the impact of augmented reality graphic spatial location and motion, as well as turn direction, traffic presence, and gender, on participant driving and glance behavior and preferences. Twenty-two participants navigated through a simulated environment while using four different graphics. We employed a novel glance allocation analysis to differentiate information likely gathered with each glace with more granularity. Fixed graphics generally resulted in less visual attention and more time scanning for hazards than animated graphics. Finally, the screen-fixed graphic was preferred by participants over all world-relative graphics, suggesting that graphic spatially integration into the world may not always be necessary in visually complex urban environments like those considered in this study