A Comparison of Three Determinants of an Engagement Index for Use in a Simulated Flight Environment

The following report details a project design that is to be completed by the end of the year. Determining how engaged a person is at a task is rather difficult. There are many different ways to assess engagement. One such method is to use psychophysical measures. The current study focuses on three determinants of an engagement index proposed by researchers at NASA-Langley (Pope, A. T., Bogart, E. H., and Bartolome, D. S., 1995). The index (20 Beta/(Alpha+Theta)) uses EEG power bands to determine a person's level of engagement while performs a compensatory tracking task. The tracking task switches between manual and automatic modes. Participants each experience both positive and negative feedback within each trial of the three trials. The tracking task is altered in terms of difficulty depending on the participants current engagement index. The rationale of this study is to determine the optimal level of engagement to gain peak performance. The three determinants are based on an absolute index which differs from the past research which uses a slope index

10 Year (1988–1997) Review of the Publishing Trends in the Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society

Over the last ten years there has been a large growth in the amount of research conducted addressing human factors (HF) issues. Much of this research has been published based on lectures, poster presentations, and symposiums held at the annual meeting of the HFES. The research presented at this meeting has several advantages over research published in journals. The research presented tends to be recently conducted when compared to research in journal articles. The meeting also supplies a venue for personal interaction between scientists to discuss research interests in HF. The first purpose of this paper is to supply a descriptive summary of the research published in the proceedings over the last ten years. The second purpose is to supply a resource for HF students from which specific information regarding academic programs and their areas of focus, which companies are performing HF research, and where potential funding may be found

10 Year (1988-1997) review of the publishing trends in the Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society

Over the last ten years there has been a large growth in the amount of research conducted addressing human factors (HF) issues. Much of this research has been published based on lectures, poster presentations, and symposiums held at the annual meeting of the HFES. The research presented at this meeting has several advantages over research published in journals. The research presented tends to be recently conducted when compared to research in journal articles. The meeting also supplies a venue for personal interaction between scientists to discuss research interests in HF. The first purpose of this paper is to supply a descriptive summary of the research published in the proceedings over the last ten years. The second purpose is to supply a resource for HF students from which specific information regarding academic programs and their areas of focus, which companies are performing HF research, and where potential funding may be found

Differences In General And Commercial Aviation Automation

An attempt is made to examine barriers to the application of research findings from the commercial aviation to the General Aviation environment. Emphasis is on the areas of automation needs and capabilities, training, teamwork, redundancy of system information, and environmental flight characteristics

Reported Behavior to Hypothetical Hurricane Warnings: Examining the Importance of Warning Content

The current study examined the factors of importance when deciding actions to take when a hurricane warning has been issued. Self-reports were made by participants related to predicted behavior to each of 16 vignettes describing a hurricane scenario. In addition, reports of what each participant felt others would behave were also collected. Results showed four variables (strength of storm, estimated time of arrival, current weather, and number of false alarm warnings) were significant predictors of all three self-reported behaviors (evacuate, prepare but don\u27t evacuate, and do nothing) and two of the predicted behavior of others (evacuate and do nothing). The results are discussed in terms of hurricane warning content

Reported Behavior To Hypothetical Hurricane Warnings: Examining The Importance Of Warning Content

The current study examined the factors of importance when deciding actions to take when a hurricane warning has been issued. Self-reports were made by participants related to predicted behavior to each of 16 vignettes describing a hurricane scenario. In addition, reports of what each participant felt others would behave were also collected. Results showed four variables (strength of storm, estimated time of arrival, current weather, and number of false alarm warnings) were significant predictors of all three self-reported behaviors (evacuate, prepare but don\u27t evacuate, and do nothing) and two of the predicted behavior of others (evacuate and do nothing). The results are discussed in terms of hurricane warning content

Force and Displacement Preferences for an Alternative Keyboard

Over the past several years, much attention has been given to repetitive strain injuries (RSI\u27s) in the office environment. Perhaps the most common and widely publicized of these RSI\u27s is carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). CTS is an insidious, progressive RSI that affects millions of typists every year. The effects of CTS are far reaching. In the office, CTS reduces worker job satisfaction and productivity which may ultimately affect the company\u27s bottom line. U.S. businesses spend in excess of $10 billion each year to combat the CTS problem. The AID-CTS keyboard (commercially referred to as the OrbiTouch by Keybowl, Inc.) is an alphanumeric input system that is developed to combat CTS and numerous other upper extremity disabilities. It is designed to offer all typists a more comfortable means of typing and navigation. The purpose of the current study was to determine what combination of dome force and dome displacement were most acceptable to the user. A study was conducted to evaluate different dome forces and different dome displacements using a variable force joystick to establish the most appropriate range of acceptable force and displacement characteristics. The study resulted in an optimum force and displacement that minimizes arm and wrist movements while maximizing user comfort

Force And Displacement Preferences For An Alternative Keyboard

Over the past several years, much attention has been given to repetitive strain injuries (RSI\u27s) in the office environment. Perhaps the most common and widely publicized of these RSI\u27s is carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). CTS is an insidious, progressive RSI that affects millions of typists every year. The effects of CTS are far reaching. In the office, CTS reduces worker job satisfaction and productivity which may ultimately affect the company\u27s bottom line. U.S. businesses spend in excess of $10 billion each year to combat the CTS problem. The AID-CTS keyboard (commercially referred to as the OrbiTouch by Keybowl, Inc.) is an alphanumeric input system that is developed to combat CTS and numerous other upper extremity disabilities. It is designed to offer all typists a more comfortable means of typing and navigation. The purpose of the current study was to determine what combination of dome force and dome displacement were most acceptable to the user. A study was conducted to evaluate different dome forces and different dome displacements using a variable force joystick to establish the most appropriate range of acceptable force and displacement characteristics. The study resulted in an optimum force and displacement that minimizes arm and wrist movements while maximizing user comfort

Applying Training Evaluation Models To The Clinical Setting

Recently, the field of clinical psychology has expressed a focused concern related to treatment outcome effectiveness. It is necessary for clinicians, including military psychologists, not only to know that a treatment is effective but also to know the reasons why the treatment works. This concern is also relevant in the training evaluation field. Training research has sought to analyze the outcomes and processes of training programs, and models, such as Kirkpatrick\u27s (1959a, 1959b, 1960a, 1960b, 1976) training evaluation model, have been devised to examine each aspect of the training process. This article provides an illustration of how advances in training research, most notably the evaluation of outcome variables, might aid clinicians in more thorough evaluations of therapies and also illustrates a common bridge between the two domains