Modeling pilot mental workload using information theory

2019 ◽  
Vol 123 (1264) ◽  
pp. 828-839
Author(s):  
X. Zhang ◽  
X. Qu ◽  
H. Xue ◽  
H. Zhao ◽  
T. Li ◽  
...  

AbstractPredicting mental workload of pilots can provide cockpit designers with useful information to reduce the possibility of pilot error and cost of training, improve the safety and performance of systems, and increase operator satisfaction. We present a theoretical model of mental workload, using information theory, based on review investigations of how effectively task complexity, visual performance, and pilot experience predict mental workload. The validity of the model was confirmed based on data collected from pilot taxiing experiments. Experiments were performed on taxiing tasks in four different scenarios. Results showed that predicted values from the proposed mental workload model were highly correlated to actual mental workload ratings from the experiments. The findings indicate that the proposed mental workload model appears to be effective in the prediction of pilots’ mental workload over time.

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen Van Benthem ◽  
Chris M. Herdman

Abstract. Identifying pilot attributes associated with risk is important, especially in general aviation where pilot error is implicated in most accidents. This research examined the relationship of pilot age, expertise, and cognitive functioning to deviations from an ideal circuit trajectory. In all, 54 pilots, of varying age, flew a Cessna 172 simulator. Cognitive measures were obtained using the CogScreen-AE ( Kay, 1995 ). Older age and lower levels of expertise and cognitive functioning were associated with significantly greater flight path deviations. The relationship between age and performance was fully mediated by a cluster of cognitive factors: speed and working memory, visual attention, and cognitive flexibility. These findings add to the literature showing that age-related changes in cognition may impact pilot performance.


2021 ◽  
pp. 105960112110169
Author(s):  
Christopher W. Wiese ◽  
C. Shawn Burke ◽  
Yichen Tang ◽  
Claudia Hernandez ◽  
Ryan Howell

Under what conditions do team learning behaviors best predict team performance? The current meta-analytic efforts synthesize results from 113 effect sizes and 7758 teams to investigate how different conceptualizations (fundamental, intrateam, and interteam), team characteristics (team size and team familiarity), task characteristics (interdependence, complexity, and type), and methodological characteristics (students vs. nonstudents and measurement choice) affect the relationship between team learning behaviors and team performance. Our results suggest that while different conceptualizations of team learning behaviors independently predict performance, only intrateam learning behaviors uniquely predict performance. A more in-depth investigation into the moderating conditions contradicts the familiar adage of “it depends.” The strength of the relationship between intrateam learning behaviors and team performance did not depend on team familiarity, task complexity, or sample type. However, our results suggested this relationship was stronger in larger teams, teams with moderate task interdependence, teams performing project/action tasks, and studies that use measures that capture a wider breadth of the team learning behavior construct space. These efforts suggest that common boundary conditions do not moderate this relationship. Scholars can leverage these results to develop more comprehensive theories addressing the different conceptualizations of team learning behaviors as well as providing clarity on the scenarios where team learning behaviors are most needed. Further, practitioners can use our results to develop more guided team-based policies that can overcome some of the challenges of forming and developing learning teams.


Proceedings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 2
Author(s):  
Arash M. Shahidi ◽  
Theodore Hughes-Riley ◽  
Carlos Oliveira ◽  
Tilak Dias

Knitted electrodes are a key component to many electronic textiles including sensing devices, such as pressure sensors and heart rate monitors; therefore, it is essential to assess the electrical performance of these knitted electrodes under different mechanical loads to understand their performance during use. The electrical properties of the electrodes could change while deforming, due to an applied load, which could occur in the uniaxial direction (while stretched) or multiaxial direction (while compressed). The properties and performance of the electrodes could also change over time when rubbed against another surface due to the frictional force and generated heat. This work investigates the behavior of a knitted electrode under different loading conditions and after multiple abrasion cycles.


2021 ◽  
pp. 102986492110254
Author(s):  
Roger Chaffin ◽  
Jane Ginsborg ◽  
James Dixon ◽  
Alexander P. Demos

To perform reliably and confidently from memory, musicians must able to recover from mistakes and memory failures. We describe how an experienced singer (the second author) recovered from mistakes and gaps in recall as she periodically recalled the score of a piece of vocal music that she had memorized for public performance, writing out the music six times over a five-year period following the performance. Five years after the performance, the singer was still able to recall two-thirds of the piece. When she made mistakes, she recovered and went on, leaving gaps in her written recall that lengthened over time. We determined where in the piece gaps started ( losses) and ended ( gains), and compared them with the locations of structural beats (starts of sections and phrases) and performance cues ( PCs) that the singer reported using as mental landmarks to keep track of her progress through the piece during the sung, public performance. Gains occurred on structural beats where there was a PC; losses occurred on structural beats without a PC. As the singer’s memory faded over time, she increasingly forgot phrases that did not start with a PC and recovered at the starts of phrases that did. Our study shows how PCs enable musicians to recover from memory failures.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Shannon P. Devlin ◽  
Jennifer K. Byham ◽  
Sara Lu Riggs

Changes in task demands can have delayed adverse impacts on performance. This phenomenon, known as the workload history effect, is especially of concern in dynamic work domains where operators manage fluctuating task demands. The existing workload history literature does not depict a consistent picture regarding how these effects manifest, prompting research to consider measures that are informative on the operator's process. One promising measure is visual attention patterns, due to its informativeness on various cognitive processes. To explore its ability to explain workload history effects, participants completed a task in an unmanned aerial vehicle command and control testbed where workload transitioned gradually and suddenly. The participants’ performance and visual attention patterns were studied over time to identify workload history effects. The eye-tracking analysis consisted of using a recently developed eye-tracking metric called coefficient K , as it indicates whether visual attention is more focal or ambient. The performance results found workload history effects, but it depended on the workload level, time elapsed, and performance measure. The eye-tracking analysis suggested performance suffered when focal attention was deployed during low workload, which was an unexpected finding. When synthesizing these results, they suggest unexpected visual attention patterns can impact performance immediately over time. Further research is needed; however, this work shows the value of including a real-time visual attention measure, such as coefficient K , as a means to understand how the operator manages varying task demands in complex work environments.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugo Loeches De La Fuente ◽  
Catherine Berthelon ◽  
Alexandra Fort ◽  
Virginie Etienne ◽  
Marleen De Weser ◽  
...  

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 21-24
Author(s):  
Kelly Smith ◽  
R. Brazendale

Pasture persistence and performance, and associated issues such as black beetle, are of central concern to dairy farmers. The Pasture Renewal Survey 2010 aimed to better understand farmers' confidence in their ability to make informed decisions on their pasture renewal practices, their satisfaction with the success of this decision-making and the performance of their renewed pastures over time. In addition, the survey investigated their attitudes to information sources and what barriers they saw to improving pasture performance on farm. A postal and online survey elicited responses from 776 dairy farmers in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions. The four main findings of the work were: 1. Farmers are more confident of their ability to make appropriate on-farm management decisions for renewed pasture than they are of their ability to choose appropriate cultivars and endophyte. 2. Farmers, while generally satisfied with their own success in renewing pasture, reported decreasing levels of satisfaction with renewed pastures over the 3 successive years following renewal. 3. Farmers do not rate information sources very highly in terms of their usefulness in relation to pasture renewal. 4. Weather-related issues and pest-related issues (particularly black beetle) were the most commonly identified barriers to improving pasture performance. Keywords: farmer confidence, farmer satisfaction, information sources, pasture renewal.


Author(s):  
Peter Chinloy ◽  
Matthew Imes

A procedure confirms whether a return-factor correlation is anomalous or results from endogenous simultaneous-equations bias. The identification strategy sorts the cost of capital components for instruments. In the first stage, the initially found factors are regressed on cost instruments. In the second stage, a confirmed anomaly has predicted value significant in returns and exogenous. Taxes, depreciation and capital structure are strong instruments, affecting 1980–2017 quarterly U.S. stock returns. Size, value and profitability decisions are significant in instruments. Returns increase in fitted profits, but not small size. Actual and predicted values have weaker correlation with returns over time.


2018 ◽  
Vol 113 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL BARBER ◽  
JEREMY C. POPE

Are people conservative (liberal) because they are Republicans (Democrats)? Or is it the reverse: people are Republicans (Democrats) because they are conservatives (liberals)? Though much has been said about this long-standing question, it is difficult to test because the concepts are nearly impossible to disentangle in modern America. Ideology and partisanship are highly correlated, only growing more so over time. However, the election of President Trump presents a unique opportunity to disentangle party attachment from ideological commitment. Using a research design that employs actual “conservative” and “liberal” policy statements from President Trump, we find that low-knowledge respondents, strong Republicans, Trump-approving respondents, and self-described conservatives are the most likely to behave like party loyalists by accepting the Trump cue—in either a liberal or conservative direction. These results suggest that there are a large number of party loyalists in the United States, that their claims to being a self-defined conservative are suspect, and that group loyalty is the stronger motivator of opinion than are any ideological principles.


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