An Evaluation of Electrooculographic, Head Movement and Steady State Evoked Response Measures of Workload in Flight Simulation (U)

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to explicate the relationship between information processing demands and certain physiological indices during flight mission (low level ingress and tanker rendezvous) of varying levels of difficulty. A major focus was on the effect that availability of a light weight helmet-mounted display (HMD) system had on strategies of visual information intake. Head and eye movement combinations, saccadic eye movements and blink characteristics were measured and analyzed. The feasibility of using steady state evoked potentials (SSEPs) of the brain (also referred to as 'photic driving,' or 'driving') as an indicator or workload was also assessed. Operational test pilots 'flew' in a McDonnell-Douglas flight simulator adapted to resemble the handling characteristics and out-the-window view of a B-1B. The experimental paradigm consisted of four general conditions: Ingress/HMD, Ingress/no-HMD, Refuel/HMD, and Refuel/no-HMD. Within each of these conditions were four flights, each following a slightly different and unpredictable pattern; further, in some missions 'threats' were introduced. The HMD was available during half of the missions; during remaining flights, information was presented in the traditional manner.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 1988
Accession Number
ADA236505

Entities

People

  • Douglas N. Dunham
  • John A. Stern
  • Robert Goldstein

Organizations

  • University of Washington

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Data Displays
  • Display Systems
  • Electrophysiological Phenomena
  • Eye
  • Eye Movements
  • Flight Simulators
  • Helmet Mounted Displays
  • Human Factors Engineering
  • Human-Machine Interaction
  • Information Processing
  • Measurement
  • Simulations
  • Simulators
  • Steady State
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Workload

Readers

  • Aviation Science / Aeronautics.
  • Brain and Cognitive Science; Experimental Psychology; Cognitive Neuroscience