Sensitivity of the spatial distribution of fixations to variations in the type of task demand and itseffectiveness as a trigger for adaptive automation

Abstract

Ocular activity is known to be sensitive to variations in mental workload and many attemptshave been made to derive a stable measure of the cognitive resources allocated to a taskusing information provided by eye-trackers. Recent studies carried out in our laboratory havesuccessfully related the distribution of eye fixations to the mental load and the scope of thepresent proposal is to devise a research activity for separating the contribution of three typesof task demands (cognitive, temporal, and physical) and for determining which of these (andwhen) should be taken into consideration for using an index of spatial clustering as trigger inocular-based adaptive systems. More specifically, the aim of this proposal is threefold: 1) assessing the sensitivity of the proposed measure to different types of task demands with a large sample and a within-subject design; 2) assessing the effectiveness of the proposed measure as a trigger for adaptive automation and 3) extending the spatial analysis of the scanpath to the temporaldomain using more complex algorithms. Given the basic nature of the research activity presented here, a simple visuo-motor task will be used in laboratory experiments. Although these effects could be extended to operational settings, a testing activity in complex/realistic settings is out of the scope of the present proposal.

Document Details

Document Type
DoD Grant Award
Publication Date
Apr 09, 2018
Source ID
FA95501810203

Entities

People

  • Francesco Di Nocera

Organizations

  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research
  • Sapienza University of Rome
  • United States Air Force

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Research Science/Academic Research
  • Team-Based Human-Centered Cognitive Task Decision Making and Information Performance.
  • Vision Science/Vision Psychology/Cognitive Neuroscience.