Psychological and physiological human responses to simulated and real environments: A comparison between Photographs, 360° Panoramas, and Virtual Reality

[EN] Psychological research into human factors frequently uses simulations to study the relationship between human behaviour and the environment. Their validity depends on their similarity with the physical environments. This paper aims to validate three environmental-simulation display formats: photographs, 360° panoramas, and virtual reality. To do this we compared the psychological and physiological responses evoked by simulated environments set-ups to those from a physical environment setup; we also assessed the users' sense of presence. Analysis show that 360° panoramas offer the closest to reality results according to the participants' psychological responses, and virtual reality according to the physiological responses. Correlations between the feeling of presence and physiological and other psychological responses were also observed. These results may be of interest to researchers using environmental-simulation technologies currently available in order to replicate the experience of physical environments.This work was supported by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad. Spain (Project TIN2013-45736-R).Higuera-Trujillo, JL.; López-Tarruella Maldonado, J.; Llinares Millán, MDC. (2017). Psychological and physiological human responses to simulated and real environments: A comparison between Photographs, 360° Panoramas, and Virtual Reality. Applied Ergonomics. 65:398-409. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2017.05.006S3984096

A Review on Research and Evaluation Methods for Investigating Self-Transcendence

Self-transcendence has been characterized as a decrease in self-saliency (ego disillusionment) and increased connection, and has been growing in research interest in the past decade. Several measures have been developed and published with some degree of psychometric validity and reliability. However, to date, there has been no review systematically describing, contrasting, and evaluating the different methodological approaches toward measuring self-transcendence including questionnaires, neurological and physiological measures, and qualitative methods. To address this gap, we conducted a review to describe existing methods of measuring self-transcendence, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of these methods, and discuss research avenues to advance assessment of self-transcendence, including recommendations for suitability of methods given research contexts

The Basic Versus Applied Research Dilemma

The timeless basic versus applied research debate continues with what appears as no middle ground. Augmented Cognition researchers, particularly, are faced with the dilemma of merging laboratory results into applicable systems, i.e. developing and applying real-time physiological measures to integrate into human-computer systems. Insight to that disparity might be gleaned by revisiting this age-old debate of whether basic and applied research operate at opposite ends of the spectrum or perhaps on a more narrowed continuum. A few items to be addressed include a solution between the two camps, methods for bridging the gaps between laboratory and field experiments and then to advanced development, and the importance of mediation occurring within knowledge and practice. The panelists are challenged to make recommendations for investigators in augmented cognition and related fields to overcome the limitations of working in a controlled laboratory or a field environment and to achieve the most useful findings. Copyright 2010 by Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Inc. All rights reserved

Methodological lessons in neurophenomenology: review of a baseline study and recommendations for research approaches

Neurophenomenological (NP) methods integrate objective and subjective data in ways that retain the statistical power of established disciplines (like cognitive science) while embracing the value of first-person reports of experience. The present paper positions neurophenomenology as an approach that pulls from traditions of cognitive science but includes techniques that are challenging for cognitive science in some ways. A baseline study is reviewed for lessons learned, that is, the potential methodological improvements that will support advancements in understanding consciousness and cognition using neurophenomenology. These improvements, we suggest, include (1) addressing issues of interdisciplinarity by purposefully and systematically creating and maintaining shared mental models among research team members; (2) making sure that NP experiments include high standards of experimental design and execution to achieve variable control, reliability, generalizability, and replication of results; and (3) conceiving of phenomenological interview techniques as placing the impetus on the interviewer in interaction with the experimental subject

Assessing Multidimensional Complex Decision Making With Situational Judgment Tests

The decisions that humans make are often multidimensional and complex, and system AIDS have been developed to support decision-making. However it is often difficult to evaluate the decision making of both the human or these system decision AIDS as decision making is a skill that is difficult to quantify. Traditionally, decision-making skill is assessed primarily through tasks or questionnaires. The challenge with those approaches is that measures of decision-making skill are often unidimensional. The Situation Judgment Test (SJT) is multidimensional and comprises scenarios obtained from accounts of real-world experiences, each with response options from which respondents select the most effective response. Although SJTs often show criterion-validity, this is typically obtained from post-hoc analysis. The present study seeks to evaluate the dimensionality of SJT scenarios, which are based on real-world decisions that are akin to the type of decisions that decision support systems seek to aid with. Fifteen SJT scenarios were administered to 94 participants, along with several measures of dimensions deemed relevant to real-world decision making. Most of the dimensions were able to predict performance on at least one scenario. Certain dimensions seemed to predict performance on more scenarios than others did. The results indicated that the SJT scenarios were able to incorporate some dimensions relevant to decision making. Future research should examine other measures for evaluating SJTs prior to using them to assess decision making

Interview To Questionnaire Comparison Of Workload Measurement On Nuclear Power Plant Tasks

Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) Main Control Room (MCR) operators oversee proper functioning of the facilities, including the controls to maintain the nuclear reactor. At least three operators, two reactor operators (ROs) and one senior reactor operator (SROs), are required for safe operations. The level of detail involved in performing the duties required of a nuclear power plant operator can result in a considerable amount of workload. Given the responsibility for safe operations, it is critical that operator workload is understood to provide accurate information about potential errors. Workload is the perceived amount of demand associated with executing a given task [1]. In light of resource theory, workload is the amount of resources required to perform a task and generally, it is accepted that as workload increases, performance decreases, thus errors are more likely and safety can be jeopardized [2]. Systematic experimentation for identifying levels of workload associated with NPP MCR tasks has been limited and the studies conducted are not without their limitations [3–5]. To understand the level of workload experienced by NPP operators, an experiment was conducted using “experienced” participants. An experienced participant in the present discussion is one that completed a rigorous training curriculum for three common task types encountered during main control room operations. The task types as adapted from [6] were checking, response implementation, and detection [7]. Three experienced participants served in the role of an RO in the present experiment, participating in 27 sessions each, and completing the three task types during each session. Each task type consisted of a block of four tasks. The NASA-Task Load Index was administered after each task type block and interviews were conducted at a later time. Results indicated that the detection task was the most demanding. The implications of measurement fit for workload assessment in a nuclear power plant domain are discussed

Interview To Questionnaire Comparison Of Workload Measurement On Nuclear Power Plant Tasks

Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) Main Control Room (MCR) operators oversee proper functioning of the facilities, including the controls to maintain the nuclear reactor. At least three operators, two reactor operators (ROs) and one senior reactor operator (SROs), are required for safe operations. The level of detail involved in performing the duties required of a nuclear power plant operator can result in a considerable amount of workload. Given the responsibility for safe operations, it is critical that operator workload is understood to provide accurate information about potential errors. Workload is the perceived amount of demand associated with executing a given task [1]. In light of resource theory, workload is the amount of resources required to perform a task and generally, it is accepted that as workload increases, performance decreases, thus errors are more likely and safety can be jeopardized [2]. Systematic experimentation for identifying levels of workload associated with NPP MCR tasks has been limited and the studies conducted are not without their limitations [3–5]. To understand the level of workload experienced by NPP operators, an experiment was conducted using “experienced” participants. An experienced participant in the present discussion is one that completed a rigorous training curriculum for three common task types encountered during main control room operations. The task types as adapted from [6] were checking, response implementation, and detection [7]. Three experienced participants served in the role of an RO in the present experiment, participating in 27 sessions each, and completing the three task types during each session. Each task type consisted of a block of four tasks. The NASA-Task Load Index was administered after each task type block and interviews were conducted at a later time. Results indicated that the detection task was the most demanding. The implications of measurement fit for workload assessment in a nuclear power plant domain are discussed

Methodological Implications Of Confederate Use For Experimentation In Safety-Critical Domains

Team environments include an interaction component that contributes to human performance and mission success. Investigating individual differences in these complex team environments allows researchers to study the interactions that affect every day complex tasks and determine if these types of team interactions influence the safety and effectiveness of successfully completing task components. Researchers must consider how to explore these individual differences during team interactions without introducing biases from other participants in the team. Thus, in order to control for these effects researchers can opt to enlist the help of a confederate. Confederates are individuals recruited by lead experimenters to play the role of a bystander, participant, or teammate. The researcher may choose to utilize the confederate in a way that the participant(s) remains unaware that the confederate has experience with the investigators and with the task throughout experimentation. This is most often the case. The experimenter requires the help of the confederate in order to either elicit specific behaviors, to observe verbal and non-verbal communication changes in real time, and/or to study individual performance and differences in team tasks. The intention of the experimenter is to investigate the individual behaviors and performance while also controlling experimental manipulations and reducing complexity and outside influence. However, little research exists on best methodological practices when using confederates, specifically in safety-critical domains such as intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance missions, firefighting, air traffic control, nuclear power plant operation, and medical fields. The present paper addresses details of experimental development when utilizing confederate approaches and training techniques in complex domains with specific operational examples