Reactions, accuracy and response complexity of numerical typing on touch screens

Research on the Applicability of Touchscreens in Manned/Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Cooperative Missions

The suitability of touchscreens for human-computer interaction in manned/unmanned aerial vehicle cooperative missions remains uncertain, especially in situations that are time-sensitive with variations in difficulty levels. The purpose of this study is to determine the feasibility of touchscreen applications in manned/unmanned aerial vehicle cooperative missions and the magnitude of the effects of time pressure and task difficulty. In contrast to previous studies, a combination of performance and perceptual load measures was used to divide errors into disposition errors, undetected errors, and miscalculation errors to explore specific error mechanisms, set up typical manned/unmanned aerial vehicle cooperative human-computer interaction tasks, and set up antecedent features for potential factors. Thirty subjects participated in an experiment that required the use of touchscreens or keyboards to perform a human-computer interaction task in a simulated manned/unmanned aerial vehicle cooperative mission. Experiments were set at three task difficulties: low, medium, and high, and were matched to a set time pressure or no time pressure for two seconds for low difficulty, three seconds for medium difficulty, and four seconds for high difficulty. The results showed that the touchscreens improved the participants' response speed at a time pressure of 2 s or less compared with the use of a general input device; however, the task error rate also increased significantly. The higher the task difficulty was, the worse the performance was and the greater the perceived workload of the participants. The application of touchscreens in dynamic environments subjected the participants to greater physical demands. The performance of participants using a keyboard was no better than that when touchscreens were used during the experiment. Moreover, touchscreens did not significantly improve participant performance. The results support the possibility of using touchscreens in manned/unmanned aerial vehicle cooperative missions.

Residents' subjective mental workload during computerized prescription entry

To examine residents' subjective mental workload when they enter prescriptions in a computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system. Twenty-two residents completed six prescribing tasks in which two factors were manipulated: numerical input method and level of urgency. Data on demographic characteristics, familiarity with CPOE, and pretest performance were collected. The subjective mental workload was measured by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration-Task Load Index (NASA-TLX). Temporal demand (Mean = 34.48) contributed most to residents' workload on the CPOE task, followed by Performance (Mean = 29.23). No significant associations were found between workload and demographic characteristics, CPOE familiarity, or pretest CPOE performance (p's > .05). A 3 × 2 repeated-measures ANOVA yielded main effects of numerical input method [F (2, 19) = 88.358, p < .001, η² = .900] and level of urgency [F (1, 21) = 169.654, p < .001, η² = .890], and interaction of input method and urgency [F (2, 20) = 87.427, p < .001, η² = .900]. Residents' major sources of workload during the CPOE prescription were temporal demand and performance. Prescriptions entered by the row of numbers exhibited the highest workload. Workload increased with higher level of urgency. It is necessary to emphasize the negative impact of subjective workload, especially in prescription task under urgent situation. Further researches focus on medical staff's workload are encouraged to ensure patient safety.

A Stroop in the Hand is Worth Two on the Laptop: Superior Reliability of a Smartphone Based Alcohol Stroop in the Real World

BACKGROUND

Attentional bias (AB) is the tendency for substance-related stimuli to grab attention. The addiction Stroop task is widely used for measuring AB in the lab, but it has poor reliability and inconsistent predictive validity. Therefore, there is a need to improve the psychometric properties of the task.

OBJECTIVES

This study contrasts the internal reliability and predictive validity of a basic (general alcohol words) and an upgraded (personalized alcohol pictures) Stroop task delivered in a neutral room on a laptop computer versus a smartphone application on participants' homes.

METHODS

120 participants recruited in 2016, completed a basic and an upgraded Stroop task. Half the participants completed the tasks on a laptop computer in a neutral university room and the remainder completed the tasks on a smartphone app in their homes. Participants also self-reported their typical alcohol consumption.

RESULTS

Acceptable internal reliability was found for both basic (α = .70) and upgraded (α = .74) Stroop tasks in the home-smartphone condition, but neither had acceptable internal reliability when administered in the neutral room-computer condition (basic α = .49; upgraded α = .58). Participants showed AB toward alcohol words, but not for beer pictures, regardless of condition. None of the indices of AB was associated with individual differences in alcohol involvement, regardless of condition.

CONCLUSION

The internal reliability of the alcohol Stroop was acceptable when administered on smartphones, in naturalistic settings, rather than on laptop computers, in neutral university rooms.