Faces of Oppression: Future directions for Ergonomics and Human Factors

The growing interest in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) centred work in the field of Ergonomics and Human Factors (EHF) can greatly benefit from Iris Young's Five Faces of Oppression theory, which details how well-intentioned systems can perpetuate harm in a number of ways. We call for a greater focus on systems of oppression in EHF research and practice along with increased collaboration with social sciences to tackle important societal issues. This article reviews the current state of research in the child welfare domain and provides examples for how cognitive engineering approaches can take inspiration from the social sciences to help create a more equitable future. These examples outline the potential mutualism between social sciences and EHF and the way this collaboration might dismantle various oppressive systems.

Visual augmentation of deck-landing-ability improves helicopter ship landing decisions

When attempting to land on a ship deck tossed by the sea, helicopter pilots must make sure that the helicopter can develop sufficient lift to be able to safely touchdown. This reminder of affordance theory led us to model and study the affordance of deck-landing-ability, which defines whether it is possible to land safely on a ship deck depending on the helicopter's available lift and the ship's deck heave movements. Two groups of participants with no piloting experience using a laptop helicopter simulator attempted to land either a low-lifter or a heavy-lifter helicopter on a virtual ship deck by either triggering a pre-programmed lift serving as the descent law if it was deemed possible to land, or aborting the deck-landing maneuver. The deck-landing-ability was manipulated by varying the helicopter's initial altitude and the ship's heave phase between trials. We designed a visual augmentation making visible the deck-landing-ability, and thus enabling participants to maximize the safety of their deck-landing attempts and reduce the number of unsafe deck-landing. The visual augmentation presented here was perceived by participants as a means of facilitating this decision-making process. The benefits were found to have originated from the clear-cut distinction it helped them to make between safe and unsafe deck-landing windows and the display of the optimal time for initiating the landing.

Ecological Interface Design and Head-Up Displays: The Contact-Analog Visualization Tradeoff

OBJECTIVE

This study investigated how the visualization of an ecological interface affects its subjective and objective usefulness. Therefore, we compared a simple 2D visualization against a contact-analog 3D visualization.

BACKGROUND

Recently, head-up displays (HUDs) have become contact-analog and visualizations have been enabled to be merged with the real environment. In this regard, ecological interface design visualizing boundaries of acceptable performance might be a perfect match. Because the real-world environment already provides such boundaries (e.g., lane markings), the interface might directly use them. However, visual illusions and undesired interference with the environment might influence the overall usability.

METHOD

To allow for a comparison, 49 participants tested the same ecological interface in two configurations, contact-analog (3D) and two dimensional (2D). Both visualizations were shown in the car's head-up display (HUD).

RESULTS

The driving simulator experiment reveals that 3D was rated as more demanding and more disturbing, but also more innovative and appealing. However, regarding driving performance, the 3D representation decreased the accuracy of speed control by 6% while significantly increasing lane stability by 20%.

CONCLUSION

We conclude that, if we want environmental boundaries guiding our behavior, the indicator for the behavior should be visualized contact-analog. If we desire artificial boundaries (e.g., speed limits) to guide behavior, the behavioral indicator should be visualized in 2D. This is less prone to optical illusions and allows for a more precise control of behavior.

APPLICATION

These findings provide guidance to human factors engineers, how contact-analog visualizations might be used optimally.

Design and evaluation of ecological interface for Feedwater Deaerating Tank and Gas Stripper System based on cognitive work analysis

The investigation of nuclear power plants (NPPs) accidents in the past shows that most of the accidents mainly occur in unexpected events. In this study, in order to verify whether Ecological Interface Design (EID) improves the situational awareness of operators in NPPs, this paper first analyzes the system by using the first three stages of cognitive work analysis, and then applies EID to the operating interface of NPPs to develop an ecological interface. In order to make the test results more complete, an improved interface has also been developed. A process expert and six operators were invited to participate in our experiments to measure situational awareness. The results show that the situational awareness of ecological interfaces in unexpected events is significantly higher than that of traditional and advanced interfaces. The significance of this study is that EID, as a practical technology, can be widely used in operator control rooms to improve the ability of operators to solve unexpected events.

Effects of interface layout design on mobile learning efficiency: a comparison of interface layouts for mobile learning platform

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of mobile learning platforms on users' study efficiency and develop cognitive indicators to evaluate users' study efficiency on mobile learning platforms.

Design/methodology/approach

Layout style was the only independent factor that was investigated. A between-group experimental design was employed. Eye movement data were recorded during the experiment, following which participants were asked to complete an after-scenario questionnaire. This study evaluated the usability of the proposed new design using both subjective and objective data. The computer system usability questionnaire V3 (CSUQ) was used to measure subjective data. For the eye-tracking measure, gaze entropy, the proportion of fixation count and duration of each AOI were calculated. Gaze entropy reflects the complexity of information organization. Fixation counts and AOI duration represent the difficulty of information processing and attention distribution, respectively during the task.

Findings

The results indicated that interface layout presents significant effects on user's learning efficiency, usability and cognitive load. Sequential layout improved efficiency and satisfaction among participants and reduced information complexity. The results provided useful insights for designers whose goal is to improve user's learning efficiency under mobile learning scheme.

Originality/value

This study investigated the effects of interface layout on usability, user performance and cognitive load using subjective ratings and eye-tracking technology. Gaze entropy was used to measure the complexity of information organized by the interface design. Fixation count and duration proportion were used to identify the difficulty of information processing and distinguish users' distribution of cognitive resources. The results indicated that a vertical layout panel design was more efficient than a horizontal layout panel design. The design implications of the eye tracking indicators and research results were then summarized. This study is expected to encourage designers to optimize their design proposals using eye tracking testing.

What is Beautiful is Secure

Visual appeal has been shown to influence perceptions of usability and credibility, and we hypothesize that something similar is happening with user judgments of website security: What is beautiful is secure . Web certificates provide reliable information about a website’s level of security, presented in browser interfaces. Users should use this to inform their trust decisions online, but evidence from laboratory studies and real-world usage suggests that they do not. We conducted two studies—one in lab, and one online—in which participants view and interact with websites with high and low visual appeal, and various security levels, and then make security-related judgments. In both studies, participants consistently rated visually appealing websites as more secure, and indicated they would be more likely to enter sensitive information into visually appealing websites—even when they were less secure. Our results provide evidence that users rely on visual appeal when making security and trust decisions on websites. We discuss how these results may be used to help users.

Enhancing Sustained Attention

Arguably, automation is fast transforming many enterprise business processes, transforming operational jobs into monitoring tasks. Consequently, the ability to sustain attention during extended periods of monitoring is becoming a critical skill. This manuscript presents a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) prototype which seeks to combat decrements in sustained attention during monitoring tasks within an enterprise system. A brain-computer interface is a system which uses physiological signals output by the user as an input. The goal is to better understand human responses while performing tasks involving decision and monitoring cycles, finding ways to improve performance and decrease on-task error. Decision readiness and the ability to synthesize complex and abundant information in a brief period during critical events has never been more important. Closed-loop control and motivational control theory were synthesized to provide the basis from which a framework for a prototype was developed to demonstrate the feasibility and value of a BCI in critical enterprise activities. In this pilot study, the BCI was implemented and evaluated through laboratory experimentation using an ecologically valid task. The results show that the technological artifact allowed users to regulate sustained attention positively while performing the task. Levels of sustained attention were shown to be higher in the conditions assisted by the BCI. Furthermore, this increased cognitive response seems to be related to increased on-task action and a small reduction in on-task errors. The research concludes with a discussion of the future research directions and their application in the enterprise.

Exploring Effects of Information Filtering With a VR Interface for Multi-Robot Supervision

Supervising and controlling remote robot systems currently requires many specialised operators to have knowledge of the internal state of the system in addition to the environment. For applications such as remote maintenance of future nuclear fusion reactors, the number of robots (and hence supervisors) required to maintain or decommission a facility is too large to be financially feasible. To address this issue, this work explores the idea of intelligently filtering information so that a single user can supervise multiple robots safely. We gathered feedback from participants using five methods for teleoperating a semi-autonomous multi-robot system via Virtual Reality (VR). We present a novel 3D interaction method to filter the displayed information to allow the user to read information from the environment without being overwhelmed. The novelty of the interface design is the link between Semantic and Spatial filtering and the hierarchical information contained within the multi robot system. We conducted a user study including a cohort of expert robot teleoperators comparing these methods; highlighting the significant effects of 3D interface design on the performance and perceived workload of a user teleoperating many robot agents in complex environments. The results from this experiment and subjective user feedback will inform future investigations that build upon this initial work.

Representing Route Familiarity Using the Abstraction Hierarchy Framework

Familiarity with a route is influenced by levels of dynamic and static knowledge about the route and the route network such as type of roads, infrastructure, traffic conditions, purpose of travel, weather, departure time, etc. To better understand and develop route choice models that can incorporate more meaningful representations of route familiarity, OBDII devices were installed in the vehicles of 32 drivers, 65 years and older, for a period of three months. Personalized web-based trip diaries were used to provide older drivers with post-trip feedback reports about their risky driving behaviors, and collect feedback about their route familiarity, preferences, and reasons for choosing the route driven vs. an alternate low-risk route. Feedback responses were analyzed and mapped onto an abstraction hierarchy framework, which showed that among older drivers, route familiarity depends not only on higher abstraction levels such as trip goals, purpose, and driving strategies, but also on the lower levels of demand on driving skills, and characteristics of road type. Additionally, gender differences were identified at the lower levels of the familiarity abstraction model, especially for driving challenges and the driving environment. Results from the analyses helped highlight the multi-faceted nature of route familiarity, which can be used to build the necessary levels of granularity for modelling and interpretation of spatial and contextual route choice recommendation systems for specific population groups such as older drivers.

Ecological design of augmentation improves helicopter ship landing maneuvers: An approach in augmented virtuality

Helicopter landing on a ship is a visually regulated "rendezvous" task during which pilots must use fine control to land a powerful rotorcraft on the deck of a moving ship tossed by the sea while minimizing the energy at impact. Although augmented reality assistance can be hypothesized to improve pilots' performance and the safety of landing maneuvers by guiding action toward optimal behavior in complex and stressful situations, the question of the optimal information to be displayed to feed the pilots' natural information-movement coupling remains to be investigated. Novice participants were instructed to land a simplified helicopter on a ship in a virtual reality simulator while minimizing energy at impact and landing duration. The wave amplitude and related ship heave were manipulated. We compared the benefits of two types of visual augmentation whose design was based on either solving cockpit-induced visual occlusion problems or strengthening the online regulation of the deceleration by keeping the current [Formula: see text] variable around an ideal value of -0.5 to conduct smooth and efficient landing. Our results showed that the second augmentation, ecologically grounded, offers benefits at several levels of analysis. It decreases the landing duration, improves the control of the helicopter displacement, and sharpens the sensitivity to changes in [Formula: see text]. This underlines the importance for designers of augmented reality systems to collaborate with psychologists to identify the relevant perceptual-motor strategy that must be encouraged before designing an augmentation that will enhance it.

Data in Context: How Digital Transformation Can Support Human Reasoning in Cyber-Physical Production Systems

In traditional production plants, current technologies do not provide sufficient context to support information integration and interpretation. Digital transformation technologies have the potential to support contextualization, but it is unclear how this can be achieved. The present article presents a selection of the psychological literature in four areas relevant to contextualization: information sampling, information integration, categorization, and causal reasoning. Characteristic biases and limitations of human information processing are discussed. Based on this literature, we derive functional requirements for digital transformation technologies, focusing on the cognitive activities they should support. We then present a selection of technologies that have the potential to foster contextualization. These technologies enable the modelling of system relations, the integration of data from different sources, and the connection of the present situation with historical data. We illustrate how these technologies can support contextual reasoning, and highlight challenges that should be addressed when designing human–machine cooperation in cyber-physical production systems.

Human–Machine Interface Design for Monitoring Safety Risks Associated with Operating Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Urban Areas

The envisioned introduction of autonomous Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) into low-altitude urban airspace necessitates high levels of system safety. Despite increased system autonomy, humans will most likely remain an essential component in assuring safety. This paper derives, applies, and evaluates a display design concept that aims to support safety risk monitoring of multiple sUAS by a human operator. The concept comprises of five design principles. The core idea of the concept is to limit display complexity despite increasing the number of sUAS monitored by primarily visualizing highly abstracted information while hiding detailed information of lower abstraction, unless specifically requested by the human operator. States of highly abstracted functions are visualized by function-specific icons that change hue in accordance to specified system states. Simultaneously, the design concept aims to support the human operator in identifying off-nominal situations by implementing design properties that guide visual attention. The display was evaluated in a study with seven subject matter experts. Although preliminary, the results clearly favor the proposed display design concept. The advantages of the proposed design concept are demonstrated, and the next steps for further exploring the proposed display design concept are outlined.

Airport Security Screener Problem-Solving Knowledge and Implications

OBJECTIVE

This research investigates security screeners' knowledge and the effect that differences in knowledge have on the performance of problem-solving activities. We argue that the development of problem-solving knowledge enables security screeners to perform effective problem-solving activity, which assists search and decision-making processes.

BACKGROUND

Airport security screening research has investigated the many variables that affect security screeners' search and decision making during simulated threat-detection tasks. Although search and decision making are essential aspects of security screening, few studies have investigated the problem-solving knowledge and activities that support security screening task performance.

METHOD

Sixteen more-experienced and 24 less-experienced security screeners were observed as they performed x-ray screening in the field at an Australian international airport's departure security checkpoint. Participants wore eye-tracking glasses and delivered concurrent verbal protocol.

RESULTS

When interacting with other security screeners, more-experienced screeners demonstrated situational knowledge more than less-experienced screeners, whereas less-experienced screeners experienced more insufficient knowledge. Lag-sequential analysis using combined data from both screener groups showed that situational knowledge facilitated effective problem-solving activity to support search and decision making. Insufficient knowledge led screeners to seek assistance and defer decision making.

CONCLUSION

This study expands current understandings of airport security screening. It demonstrates that security screeners develop knowledge that is specific to problem solving. This knowledge assists effective problem-solving activity to support search and decision making, and to mitigate uncertainty during the x-ray screening task.

APPLICATION

Findings can inform future security screening processes, screener training, and technology support tools. Furthermore, findings are potentially transferable to other domains.

An Inland Shore Control Centre for Monitoring or Controlling Unmanned Inland Cargo Vessels

Augmenting the automation level of the inland waterway cargo transport sector, coupled with mechatronic innovation in this sector, could increase its competitiveness. This increase might potentially induce a sustainable paradigm shift in the road-dominated inland cargo transport sector. A key enabler of this envisaged shift may be an inland shore control centre (I-SCC) capable of remotely monitoring and controlling inland vessels. Accordingly, this study investigated the concept and design requirements to achieve an inland I-SCC that provides interaction services when supervising an unmanned surface vessel (USV). This I-SCC can help its operator to develop situational awareness and sensemaking. The conducted experiments offered insights into the performance of both the I-SCC system and its operator, and unlock research on the impact on ship sense and harmony when remotely controlling a USV. The Hull-To-Hull project extends the current I-SCC by providing enhanced motion control. This enhancement enables further performance insights and might improve the future monitoring of USVs. The successful I-SCC construction, the preliminary experiments, and the design-extension demonstrate that the I-SCC can serve as an experimental platform for both mechatronic innovation and human-automation integration research in the inland waterway sector, whilst additionally providing fruitful knowledge for adjacent research domains.

Novel Interface Designs for Patient Monitoring Applications in Critical Care Medicine: Human Factors Review

Background

The patient monitor (PM) is one of the most commonly used medical devices in hospitals worldwide. PMs are used to monitor patients’ vital signs in a wide variety of patient care settings, especially in critical care settings, such as intensive care units. An interesting observation is that the design of PMs has not significantly changed over the past 2 decades, with the layout and structure of PMs more or less unchanged, with incremental changes in design being made rather than transformational changes. Thus, we believe it well-timed to review the design of novel PM interfaces, with particular reference to usability and human factors.

Objective

This paper aims to review innovations in PM design proposed by researchers and explore how clinicians responded to these design changes.

Methods

A literature search of relevant databases, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, identified 16 related studies. A detailed description of the interface design and an analysis of each novel PM were carried out, including a detailed analysis of the structure of the different user interfaces, to inform future PM design. The test methodologies used to evaluate the different designs are also presented.

Results

Most of the studies included in this review identified some level of improvement in the clinician’s performance when using a novel display in comparison with the traditional PM. For instance, from the 16 reviewed studies, 12 studies identified an improvement in the detection and response times, and 10 studies identified an improvement in the accuracy or treatment efficiency. This indicates that novel displays have the potential to improve the clinical performance of nurses and doctors. However, the outcomes of some of these studies are weakened because of methodological deficiencies. These deficiencies are discussed in detail in this study.

Conclusions

More careful study design is warranted to investigate the user experience and usability of future novel PMs for real time vital sign monitoring, to establish whether or not they could be used successfully in critical care. A series of recommendations on how future novel PM designs and evaluations can be enhanced are provided.

Defining information needs in neonatal resuscitation with work domain analysis

OBJECTIVE

To gain a deeper understanding of the information requirements of clinicians conducting neonatal resuscitation in the first 10 min after birth.

BACKGROUND

During the resuscitation of a newborn infant in the first minutes after birth, clinicians must monitor crucial physiological adjustments that are relatively unobservable, unpredictable, and highly variable. Clinicians' access to information regarding the physiological status of the infant is also crucial to determining which interventions are most appropriate. To design displays to support clinicians during newborn resuscitation, we must first carefully consider the information requirements.

METHODS

We conducted a work domain analysis (WDA) for the neonatal transition in the first 10 min after birth. We split the work domain into two 'subdomains'; the physiology of the neonatal transition, and the clinical resources supporting the neonatal transition. A WDA can reveal information requirements that are not yet supported by resources.

RESULTS

The physiological WDA acted as a conceptual tool to model the exact processes and functions that clinicians must monitor and potentially support during the neonatal transition. Importantly, the clinical resources WDA revealed several capabilities and limitations of the physical objects in the work domain-ultimately revealing which physiological functions currently have no existing sensor to provide clinicians with information regarding their status.

CONCLUSION

We propose two potential approaches to improving the clinician's information environment: (1) developing new sensors for the information we lack, and (2) employing principles of ecological interface design to present currently available information to the clinician in a more effective way.

Ideation using the "Design with Intent" toolkit: A case study applying a design toolkit to support creativity in developing vehicle interfaces for fuel-efficient driving

Everyday driving is a significant source of greenhouse gases and pollutants within developed nations. Finding ways to combat these emissions and minimise the impact of anthropometric climate change is a growing challenge for all research disciplines. This current paper explores the use of a design toolkit "Design with Intent" to generate ideas for in-vehicle interfaces designed to reduce fuel use and emissions. A preliminary interface validation assessment is also presented in order to assess whether the ideas generated were appropriate in encouraging behavioural change and of potential value. It is suggested that whilst further evaluation of the interfaces are required, the use of the "Design with Intent" toolkit facilitated the creative process, allowing engineers to conceive initial interface designs in a creative manner.

Heuristics for designing user-centric drug products: Lessons learned from Human Factors and Ergonomics

Even the most effective drug product may be used improperly and thus ultimately prove ineffective if it does not meet the perceptual, motor and cognitive capacities of its target users. Currently, no comprehensive guideline for systematically designing user‐centric drug products that would help prevent such limitations exists. We have compiled a list of approximate but nonetheless useful strategies—heuristics—for implementing a user‐centric design of drug products and drug product portfolios. First, we present a general heuristic for user‐centric design based on the framework of Human Factors and Ergonomics (HF/E). Then we demonstrate how to implement this general heuristic for older drug users (i.e., patients and caregivers aged 65 years and older) and with respect to three specific challenges (use‐cases) of medication management: (A) knowing what drug product to take/administer, (B) knowing how and when to take/administer it, and (C) actually taking/administering it. The presented heuristics can be applied prospectively to include existing knowledge about user‐centric design at every step during drug discovery, pharmaceutical drug development, and pre‐clinical and clinical trials. After a product has been released to the market, the heuristics may guide a retrospective analysis of medication errors and barriers to product usage as a basis for iteratively optimizing both the drug product and its portfolio over their life cycle.

Critical care information display approaches and design frameworks: A systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

To systematically review original user evaluations of patient information displays relevant to critical care and understand the impact of design frameworks and information presentation approaches on decision-making, efficiency, workload, and preferences of clinicians.

METHODS

We included studies that evaluated information displays designed to support real-time care decisions in critical care or anesthesiology using simulated tasks. We searched PubMed and IEEExplore from 1/1/1990 to 6/30/2018. The search strategy was developed iteratively with calibration against known references. Inclusion screening was completed independently by two authors. Extraction of display features, design processes, and evaluation method was completed by one and verified by a second author.

RESULTS

Fifty-six manuscripts evaluating 32 critical care and 22 anesthesia displays were included. Primary outcome metrics included clinician accuracy and efficiency in recognizing, diagnosing, and treating problems. Implementing user-centered design (UCD) processes, especially iterative evaluation and redesign, resulted in positive impact in outcomes such as accuracy and efficiency. Innovative display approaches that led to improved human-system performance in critical care included: (1) improving the integration and organization of information, (2) improving the representation of trend information, and (3) implementing graphical approaches to make relationships between data visible.

CONCLUSION

Our review affirms the value of key principles of UCD. Improved information presentation can facilitate faster information interpretation and more accurate diagnoses and treatment. Improvements to information organization and support for rapid interpretation of time-based relationships between related quantitative data is warranted. Designers and developers are encouraged to involve users in formal iterative design and evaluation activities in the design of electronic health records (EHRs), clinical informatics applications, and clinical devices.

A Comprehensive Survey of Driving Monitoring and Assistance Systems

Improving a vehicle driver's performance decreases the damage caused by, and chances of, road accidents. In recent decades, engineers and researchers have proposed several strategies to model and improve driving monitoring and assistance systems (DMAS). This work presents a comprehensive survey of the literature related to driving processes, the main reasons for road accidents, the methods of their early detection, and state-of-the-art strategies developed to assist drivers for a safe and comfortable driving experience. The studies focused on the three main elements of the driving process, viz. driver, vehicle, and driving environment are analytically reviewed in this work, and a comprehensive framework of DMAS, major research areas, and their interaction is explored. A well-designed DMAS improves the driving experience by continuously monitoring the critical parameters associated with the driver, vehicle, and surroundings by acquiring and processing the data obtained from multiple sensors. A discussion on the challenges associated with the current and future DMAS and their potential solutions is also presented.

Ecological Interface Design: Thirty-Plus Years of Refinement, Progress, and Potential

OBJECTIVE

The objective is to provide a review of ecological interface design (EID), to illustrate its value to human factors/ergonomics, and to identify areas for future research and development.

BACKGROUND

EID uses mature interface technologies to provide decision making and problem solving support. A variety of theoretical concepts and analytical tools have been developed to meet the associated challenges. EID provides support that is simultaneously grounded in the practical realities of a work domain and tailored to human capabilities and limitations.

METHOD

EID's theoretical foundation is discussed briefly. Concrete examples of ecological and traditional interfaces are provided. Different categories of work domains are described, as well as the associated implications for interface design. A targeted literature review is conducted and the experimental outcomes are summarized. A representative evaluation is discussed, and interpretations of performance are provided.

RESULTS

The evidence reveals that EID has been remarkably successful in significantly improving performance for work domains with constraints that are law driven (e.g., process control). In contrast, work domains that are intent-driven (e.g., information retrieval) have, by and large, been ignored. Also, few studies have addressed nonvisual displays.

CONCLUSION

EID has not yet realized its potential to improve safety and efficiency across the entire continuum of work domains.

APPLICATION

EID provides a single integrated framework that is (a) sufficiently comprehensive to deal with complicated work domains and (b) capable of producing innovative support that will generalize to actual work settings.

A Novel Auditory Display for Neonatal Resuscitation: Laboratory Studies Simulating Pulse Oximetry in the First 10 Minutes After Birth

OBJECTIVE

We tested whether enhanced sonifications would improve participants' ability to judge the oxygen saturation levels (SpO₂) of simulated neonates in the first 10 min after birth.

BACKGROUND

During the resuscitation of a newborn infant, clinicians must keep the neonate's SpO₂ levels within the target range, however the boundaries for the target range change each minute during the first 10 min after birth. Resuscitation places significant demand on the clinician's visual attention, and the pulse oximeter's sonification could provide eyes-free monitoring. However, clinicians have difficulty judging SpO₂ levels using the current sonification.

METHOD

In two experiments, nonclinicians' ability to detect SpO₂ range and direction-while performing continuous arithmetic problems-was tested with enhanced versus conventional sonifications. In Experiment 1, tremolo signaled when SpO₂ had deviated below or above the target range. In Experiment 2, tremolo plus brightness signaled when SpO₂ was above target range, and tremolo alone when SpO₂ was below target range.

RESULTS

The tremolo sonification improved range identification accuracy over the conventional display (81% vs. 63%, p < .001). The tremolo plus brightness sonification further improved range identification accuracy over the conventional display (92% vs. 62%, p <.001). In both experiments, there was no difference across conditions in arithmetic task accuracy ( p >.05).

CONCLUSION

Using the enhanced sonifications, participants identified SpO₂ range more accurately despite a continuous distractor task.

APPLICATION

An enhanced pulse oximetry sonification could help clinicians multitask more effectively during neonatal resuscitations.

Ecological Interface Design for Computer Network Defense

OBJECTIVE

A prototype ecological interface for computer network defense (CND) was developed.

BACKGROUND

Concerns about CND run high. Although there is a vast literature on CND, there is some indication that this research is not being translated into operational contexts. Part of the reason may be that CND has historically been treated as a strictly technical problem, rather than as a socio-technical problem.

METHODS

The cognitive systems engineering (CSE)/ecological interface design (EID) framework was used in the analysis and design of the prototype interface. A brief overview of CSE/EID is provided. EID principles of design (i.e., direct perception, direct manipulation and visual momentum) are described and illustrated through concrete examples from the ecological interface.

RESULTS

Key features of the ecological interface include (a) a wide variety of alternative visual displays, (b) controls that allow easy, dynamic reconfiguration of these displays, (c) visual highlighting of functionally related information across displays, (d) control mechanisms to selectively filter massive data sets, and (e) the capability for easy expansion. Cyber attacks from a well-known data set are illustrated through screen shots.

CONCLUSION

CND support needs to be developed with a triadic focus (i.e., humans interacting with technology to accomplish work) if it is to be effective. Iterative design and formal evaluation is also required. The discipline of human factors has a long tradition of success on both counts; it is time that HF became fully involved in CND.

APPLICATION

Direct application in supporting cyber analysts.

Information-Pooling Bias in Collaborative Security Incident Correlation Analysis

OBJECTIVE

Incident correlation is a vital step in the cybersecurity threat detection process. This article presents research on the effect of group-level information-pooling bias on collaborative incident correlation analysis in a synthetic task environment.

BACKGROUND

Past research has shown that uneven information distribution biases people to share information that is known to most team members and prevents them from sharing any unique information available with them. The effect of such biases on security team collaborations are largely unknown.

METHOD

Thirty 3-person teams performed two threat detection missions involving information sharing and correlating security incidents. Incidents were predistributed to each person in the team based on the hidden profile paradigm. Participant teams, randomly assigned to three experimental groups, used different collaboration aids during Mission 2.

RESULTS

Communication analysis revealed that participant teams were 3 times more likely to discuss security incidents commonly known to the majority. Unaided team collaboration was inefficient in finding associations between security incidents uniquely available to each member of the team. Visualizations that augment perceptual processing and recognition memory were found to mitigate the bias.

CONCLUSION

The data suggest that (a) security analyst teams, when conducting collaborative correlation analysis, could be inefficient in pooling unique information from their peers; (b) employing off-the-shelf collaboration tools in cybersecurity defense environments is inadequate; and (c) collaborative security visualization tools developed considering the human cognitive limitations of security analysts is necessary.

APPLICATION

Potential applications of this research include development of team training procedures and collaboration tool development for security analysts.

Examining Cybersecurity of Cyberphysical Systems for Critical Infrastructures Through Work Domain Analysis

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to apply work domain analysis for cybersecurity assessment and design of supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems.

BACKGROUND

Adoption of information and communication technology in cyberphysical systems (CPSs) for critical infrastructures enables automated and distributed control but introduces cybersecurity risk. Many CPSs employ SCADA industrial control systems that have become the target of cyberattacks, which inflict physical damage without use of force. Given that absolute security is not feasible for complex systems, cyberintrusions that introduce unanticipated events will occur; a proper response will in turn require human adaptive ability. Therefore, analysis techniques that can support security assessment and human factors engineering are invaluable for defending CPSs.

METHOD

We conducted work domain analysis using the abstraction hierarchy (AH) to model a generic SCADA implementation to identify the functional structures and means-ends relations. We then adopted a case study approach examining the Stuxnet cyberattack by developing and integrating AHs for the uranium enrichment process, SCADA implementation, and malware to investigate the interactions between the three aspects of cybersecurity in CPSs.

RESULTS

The AHs for modeling a generic SCADA implementation and studying the Stuxnet cyberattack are useful for mapping attack vectors, identifying deficiencies in security processes and features, and evaluating proposed security solutions with respect to system objectives.

CONCLUSION

Work domain analysis is an effective analytical method for studying cybersecurity of CPSs for critical infrastructures in a psychologically relevant manner.

APPLICATION

Work domain analysis should be applied to assess cybersecurity risk and inform engineering and user interface design.

Keeping the Lights On Across the Continent

Operators need new visualizations to help them monitor increasingly complex power grids at wider geographical scopes. We developed a work domain analysis of power grid operations from interviews, focus groups, and observations. The work domain analysis helped determine information requirements for a wide-area monitoring design concept that follows ecological interface design principles. We validated the design concept in a usability evaluation, achieving an above-benchmark System Usability Scale score of 77 out of 90. This work domain analysis and ecological interface design process will equally apply to the design of other power grid monitoring displays.

Procedure and information displays in advanced nuclear control rooms: experimental evaluation of an integrated design

In the main control rooms of nuclear power plants, operators frequently have to switch between procedure displays and system information displays. In this study, we proposed an operation-unit-based integrated design, which combines the two displays to facilitate the synthesis of information. We grouped actions that complete a single goal into operation units and showed these operation units on the displays of system states. In addition, we used different levels of visual salience to highlight the current unit and provided a list of execution history records. A laboratory experiment, with 42 students performing a simulated procedure to deal with unexpected high pressuriser level, was conducted to compare this design against an action-based integrated design and the existing separated-displays design. The results indicate that our operation-unit-based integrated design yields the best performance in terms of time and completion rate and helped more participants to detect unexpected system failures. Practitioner Summary: In current nuclear control rooms, operators frequently have to switch between procedure and system information displays. We developed an integrated design that incorporates procedure information into system displays. A laboratory study showed that the proposed design significantly improved participants' performance and increased the probability of detecting unexpected system failures.

Factors in an end user security expertise instrument

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to identify factors that determine computer and security expertise in end users. They can be significant determinants of human behaviour and interactions in the security and privacy context. Standardized, externally valid instruments for measuring end-user security expertise are non-existent.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire encompassing skills and knowledge-based questions was developed to identify critical factors that constitute expertise in end users. Exploratory factor analysis was applied on the results from 898 participants from a wide range of populations. Cluster analysis was applied to characterize the relationship between computer and security expertise. Ordered logistic regression models were applied to measure efficacy of the proposed security and computing factors in predicting user comprehension of security concepts: phishing and certificates.

Findings

There are levels to peoples’ computer and security expertise that could be reasonably measured and operationalized. Four factors that constitute computer security-related skills and knowledge are, namely, basic computer skills, advanced computer skills, security knowledge and advanced security skills, and these are identified as determinants of computer expertise.

Practical implications

Findings from this work can be used to guide the design of security interfaces such that it caters to people with different expertise levels and does not force users to exercise more cognitive processes than required.

Originality/value

This work identified four factors that constitute security expertise in end users. Findings from this work were integrated to propose a framework called Security SRK for guiding further research on security expertise. This work posits that security expertise instrument for end user should measure three cognitive dimensions: security skills, rules and knowledge.

Implementation of a novel taxonomy based on cognitive work analysis in the assessment of safety performance

PURPOSE

The aim of this study was to examine how the developed taxonomy of cognitive work analysis (CWA) can be applied in combination with statistical analysis regarding different sociotechnical categories.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This study applied a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Workers (n = 120) and managers (n = 85) in the chemical industry were asked in a questionnaire how different occupational safety and health (OSH) measures were being implemented. The exploration of the qualitative CWA taxonomy consisted of an analysis of the following topics: (a) work domain; (b) control task; (c) strategies; (d) social organization and cooperation; (e) worker competencies.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

The following hypotheses were supported - activities of the management had positive impacts on the aggregated variables: near-accident investigation and instructions (H₁); OSH training (H₂); operations, technical processes and safe use of chemicals (H₃); use of personal protective equipment (H₄); measuring, follow-up and prevention of major accidents (H₅). The CWA taxonomy was applied in mixed methods when testing H₁-H₅. A special approach is to analyze the work demands of complex sociotechnical systems with the taxonomy of CWA. In problem-solving, the CWA taxonomy should seek to capitalize on the strengths and minimize the limitations of safety performance.

EEG-Based Cognitive Control Behaviour Assessment: an Ecological study with Professional Air Traffic Controllers

Several models defining different types of cognitive human behaviour are available. For this work, we have selected the Skill, Rule and Knowledge (SRK) model proposed by Rasmussen in 1983. This model is currently broadly used in safety critical domains, such as the aviation. Nowadays, there are no tools able to assess at which level of cognitive control the operator is dealing with the considered task, that is if he/she is performing the task as an automated routine (skill level), as procedures-based activity (rule level), or as a problem-solving process (knowledge level). Several studies tried to model the SRK behaviours from a Human Factor perspective. Despite such studies, there are no evidences in which such behaviours have been evaluated from a neurophysiological point of view, for example, by considering brain activity variations across the different SRK levels. Therefore, the proposed study aimed to investigate the use of neurophysiological signals to assess the cognitive control behaviours accordingly to the SRK taxonomy. The results of the study, performed on 37 professional Air Traffic Controllers, demonstrated that specific brain features could characterize and discriminate the different SRK levels, therefore enabling an objective assessment of the degree of cognitive control behaviours in realistic settings.

Cognitive work analysis: An influential legacy extending beyond human factors and engineering

Jens Rasmussen's multifaceted legacy includes cognitive work analysis (CWA), a framework for the analysis, design, and evaluation of complex sociotechnical systems. After considering the framework's origins, this paper reviews its progress, predictably covering experimental research on ecological interface design, case studies of the application of CWA to human factors and engineering problems in industry, and methods and modelling tools for CWA. Emphasis is placed, however, on studying the nexus between some of the recent results obtained with CWA and the original field studies of human problem-solving that motivated the framework's development. Of particular interest is a case study of the use of CWA for military doctrine development, a problem commonly regarded as lying outside the fields of human factors and engineering. It is concluded that the value of CWA, even for such diverse problems, is likely to result from its conceptual grounding in empirical observations of patterns of human reasoning in complex systems.

Representing energy efficiency diagnosis strategies in cognitive work analysis

This article describes challenges encountered in applying Jens Rasmussen's Cognitive Work Analysis (CWA) framework to the practice of energy efficiency Monitoring & Targeting (M&T). Eight theoretic issues encountered in the analysis are described with respect to Rasmussen's work and the modeling solutions we adopted. We grappled with how to usefully apply Work Domain Analysis (WDA) to analyze categories of domains with secondary purposes and no ideal grain of decomposition. This difficulty encouraged us to pursue Control Task (ConTA) and Strategies (StrA) analysis, which are under-explored as bases for interface design. In ConTA we found M&T was best represented by two interlinked work functions; one controlling energy, the other maintaining knowledge representations. From StrA, we identified a popular representation-dependent strategy and inferred information required to diagnose faults in system performance and knowledge representation. This article presents and discusses excerpts from our analysis, and outlines their application to diagnosis support tools.

Cognitive control level of action for analyzing verbal reports in educative clinical simulation situations

BACKGROUND

Several methods and theoretical frameworks have been proposed for efficient debriefing after clinical simulation sessions. In these studies, however, the cognitive processes underlying the debriefing stage are not directly addressed. Cognitive control constitutes a conceptual link between behavior and reflection on behavior to apprehend debriefing cognitively.

OBJECTIVES

Our goal was to analyze cognitive control from verbal reports using the Skill-Rule-Knowledge model. This model considers different cognitive control levels from skill-based to rule-based and knowledge-based control.

DESIGN

An experiment was conducted with teams of nursing students who were confronted with emergency scenarios during high-fidelity simulation sessions.

SETTINGS

Participants' descriptions of their actions were asked in the course of the simulation scenarios or during the debriefing stage.

PARTICIPANTS

52 nursing students working in 26 pairs participated in this study.

METHODS

Participants were divided into two groups: an "in situ" group in which they had to describe their actions at different moments of a deteriorating patient scenario, and a "debriefing" group, in which, at the same moments, they had to describe their actions displayed on a video recording. In addition to a cognitive analysis, the teams' clinical performance was measured.

RESULTS

The cognitive control level in the debriefing group was generally higher than in the in situ group. Good team performance was associated with a high level of cognitive control after a patient's significant state deterioration.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings are in conformity with the "Skill-Rule-Knowledge" model. The debriefing stage allows a deeper reflection on action compared with the in situ condition. If an abnormal event occurs as an adverse event, then participants' mental processes tend to migrate towards knowledge-based control. This migration particularly concerns students with the best clinical performance. Thus, this cognitive framework can help to strengthen the analysis of verbal reports.

Rasmussen number greater than one

This essay describes the ramifying influence of Jens Rasmussen, illustrating how his work lives on through people whom he has influenced, even though they may have never directly collaborated. I approach this in three ways: a social network analysis of the 'Rasmussen number' (an analogue of the Erdös number); and two citations network analyses based on different search domains and different network structures.

Ecological interface design and system safety: One facet of Rasmussen's legacy

The focus of this manuscript is on cognitive systems engineering/ecological interface design (CSE/EID) and the role that this framework may play in improving system safety. First, the decision making and problem solving literatures are reviewed with an eye towards informational needs that are required to support these activities. The utility of two of Rasmussen's analytical tools (i.e., the abstraction and aggregation hierarchies) in conducting work domain analyses to identify associated information (i.e., categories and relationships) is discussed. The importance of designing ecological displays and interfaces that span the informational categories in the abstraction hierarchy is described and concrete examples are provided. The potential role that ecological interfaces can play in providing effective decision making (i.e., preventing accidents) and problem solving (i.e., dealing with accidents) support, thereby improving the safety of our socio-technical systems, is explored.

Interactive visualizations for decision support: Application of Rasmussen's abstraction-aggregation hierarchy

Data visualization has of late received an enormous amount of attention from both researchers and practitioners. Even the popular press often includes impressive visualizations of various data sets. Interactive visualizations frequently include data visualizations, but they differ in that users employ the visualizations to make inferences, reach conclusions, and make decisions that result in changed and/or new visualizations. Data visualizations emphasize "what is," but interactive visualizations address "what if." In this way, interactive visualizations are often intended for decision support. This article addresses the design of interactive visualizations for decision support. An overall methodology is presented; central to this methodology is Jens Rasmussen's abstraction-aggregation hierarchy. The results of two applications and evaluations of the outcomes of using this methodology are discussed. The first application focused on interactive visualizations for helicopter maintenance. The second application addressed "enterprise diagnostics" in the automobile industry where subjects were asked to diagnose the cause of failed automobile brands. The results of these two applications are used to assess the efficacy of the proposed methodology.

Cognitive engineering and health informatics: Applications and intersections

Cognitive engineering is an applied field with roots in both cognitive science and engineering that has been used to support design of information displays, decision support, human-automation interaction, and training in numerous high risk domains ranging from nuclear power plant control to transportation and defense systems. Cognitive engineering provides a set of structured, analytic methods for data collection and analysis that intersect with and complement methods of Cognitive Informatics. These methods support discovery of aspects of the work that make performance challenging, as well as the knowledge, skills, and strategies that experts use to meet those challenges. Importantly, cognitive engineering methods provide novel representations that highlight the inherent complexities of the work domain and traceable links between the results of cognitive analyses and actionable design requirements. This article provides an overview of relevant cognitive engineering methods, and illustrates how they have been applied to the design of health information technology (HIT) systems. Additionally, although cognitive engineering methods have been applied in the design of user-centered informatics systems, methods drawn from informatics are not typically incorporated into a cognitive engineering analysis. This article presents a discussion regarding ways in which data-rich methods can inform cognitive engineering.

Applications of Ecological Interface Design for Engineering Course Design

Instructional course design in engineering poses a challenge for many practitioners given the lack of defined rules and complicated interactions between the goals of maximizing student learning and satisfying administrative requirements. The aim of this work was to create a proof-of-concept for the application of Ecological Interface Design (EID) to a complex intentional system, specifically the development of a theoretical interface for university-level engineering course design. This work reviews the establishment and application of an abstraction hierarchy for considering pedagogical principles (Bloom’s Taxonomy and Active Learning Pyramid) in conjunction with organizational rules for the University of Toronto. Presented are also selections from a preliminary interface mock-up which addresses learning outcomes, activity and content selection, and timetable scheduling.

A Framework for Considering Spatial-Temporal Representation Design in Air Traffic Control

In this paper we present a framework for considering the design of information visualisations intended to support 4D or spatial-temporal reasoning in Air Traffic Control. The Spatial-Temporal Framework was developed based on a cognitive task analysis of approach controllers. This work was conducted as part of a to develop a novel 4D interface for a possible future ATC system. A 4D interface is one that incorporates the visualisation of 3D space and time. The framework allows us to identify the spatial properties of a tactical ATC situation: objects, constraints and relationships; and how they are affected by the temporal attributes of the past, present, projected and intended actions. It is envisaged that this framework can provide guidance for our consideration and analytic assessment of new visualisation designs for a 4D interface.

The Srk Inventory: A Tool for Structuring and Capturing a Worker Competencies Analysis

Worker Competencies Analysis (WCA) is the fifth and final phase of the Cognitive Work Analysis (CWA) framework. Unlike the earlier four phases, there is a dearth of published work illustrating how WCA is conducted within the context of CWA. The lack of concrete examples of the application of WCA has both practical and pedagogical ramifications, making it difficult to perform and understand this phase of analysis. This paper attempts to address this gap. Following a review of the CWA framework, WCA is introduced with the Skill, Rules, and Knowledge (SRK) taxonomy. Then, a methodological tool for structuring and capturing the execution of WCA—the SRK Inventory—is presented. Finally, a practical application of the SRK Inventory to a TRACON microworld is discussed. This paper is intended to serve as a resource to future CWA practitioners and researchers, and to stimulate discussion of methods and tools for better supporting WCA activities.

Strategies for Bridging the Gap between Analysis and Design for Ecological Interface Design

Creating effective graphic displays using Ecological Interface Design (EID) can be a challenging endeavor. Thus far, there has been little guidance in the literature to decrease the gap that exists between EID analysis and design. This paper presents strategies to help bridge this gap. First, a visual thesaurus provides alternative graphic objects and display formats for showing single variables, single-variable constraints, multivariate constraints, and structural constraints (i.e., means-ends, part-whole, and causal/topological relationships). Second, a number of lessons learned have been identified to improve efficiency in the process and provide further refinements to the display design. These strategies can decrease the effort involved in creating EID displays, but do not completely remove creativity from the design process. Future research includes further developing generic and industry-specific graphic forms for the visual thesaurus, while embedding effective design practices.

Fixation and Attention Allocation in Anesthesiology Crisis Management: An Abstraction Hierarchy Perspective

The abstraction hierarchy analysis tool developed by Vicente and Rasmussen (1992) for Ecological Interface Design (EID) provides an in depth understanding of work domain constraints and information requirements. EID and work domain analysis (WDA) have been successfully applied in several fields. However, application in the medical domain has proven to be much more difficult. This study examines the relationships between three components within the OR: the surgical team, medical equipment, and the patient. It is hypothesized that crisis management failure in the OR is due to attentional mis-allocation and can be undone by re-directing team members' attention to the appropriate level of information structure. We propose a novel structure, based on existing work domain models for the operating room, to analyze the behavior of OR teams and map their attention allocation within the abstraction hierarchy to explain fixation during medical problem solving and crisis management.

Bridging the Gap Between Cognitive Work Analysis and Ecological Interface Design

The Cognitive Work Analysis and Ecological Interface Design frameworks have garnered a great deal of attention in recent years. The former is used to analyze a complex work domain to identify the behavior-shaping constraints imposed by the work domain, control tasks, strategies, operator competencies, and socio-organizational factors. The latter informs the design of operator interfaces for complex systems. Although the two frameworks overlap, a gap remains between the analysis and design stages. This article shows one path across that gap. Aspects of both frameworks were applied to the design of an ecological interface for a petrochemical process. We discuss how the project was completed under realistic time and budget constraints, review several unanticipated obstacles that we encountered, and relate design examples to help overcome the gap between analysis and design.