Independent effects of error magnification and field of view on compensatory tracking performance

This experiment evaluated the independent effects of error magnification and field of view on compensatory tracking performance. Both display and optical magnification were investigated. In general, the results demonstrated that: (1) the facilitative effect on performance of display magnification was primarily due to the concomitant field of view reduction and not magnification per se; (2) optical magnification facilitated performance but subsequent display gain increases had no further affect; (3) regardless of visual mode employed, optimum performance levels on a complex trajectory converged at approximately the same field of view. In was suggested that increasing the optical gain or decreasing the field of view resulted in subjects reducing their reaction times to target movements. No evidence was found which indicated that magnification facilitated visual perception.

Effects of display magnification, proprio- ceptive cues, control dynamics and trajectory characteristics on compensatory tracking performance

An experiment was performed on the NOTS-UCLA heavy inertia tracking simulator to assess effects of display magnification, proprioceptive cues, displacement aiding, trajectory characteristics and trajectory direction on tracking performance. Particular attention was paid to interactions among these variables. The results showed that: (1) 5x magnification significantly decreased tracking error compared to tracking without magnification; (2) proprioceptive cues related to both azimuth and elevation significantly improved performance; (3) velocity plus displacement-aiding control dynamics (time constant = 0.1 sec) produced significantly lower error scores than unaided velocity control dynamics (time constant = 0.0 sec); (4) since no crossover tendencies were found, the effects of the varables appear to be independent.