Attentional Issues with Superimposed Symbology: Formats for Scene-Linked Displays

Details

• Creators:
  Foyle, David C. ; McCann, Robert S. ; Shelden, Stephen G.
• Corporate Contributors:
  Ames Research Center
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Attention Attentional Tunneling Cognition Differential Motion Head Up Displays Human Factors Information Display Systems Motion Perception Research Scene-linked Heads Up Display (HUD) Symbology Superimposed Symbology

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• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.21949/1403577
• Resource Type:
  Proceedings
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Operations Branch
• NTL Classification:
  NTL-AVIATION-Aviation Human Factors
• Abstract:
  The head-up display (HUD) has been shown to be a superior presentation method
  
  for flight path symbology over that of traditional flight director. Recent
  
  studies, however, have shown that there are specific performance problems
  
  associated with HUDs. During simulated landing with superimposed HUD symbology,
  
  pilots took 2.5 seconds longer to respond to an unexpected runway incursion
  
  when the symbology was presented head-up than when head-down. This extends and
  
  replicates previous research showing that superimposed HUD symbology may lead to
  
  attentional tunneling and inefficient processing of the out-the-window scene.
  
  In operational usage, superimposed symbology on a HUD is mostly presented at a
  
  fixed, specific location on the HUD combiner, while the world scene behind it
  
  pitches, yaws, and rolls in response to aircraft motion. McCann, Lynch, Foyle
  
  and Johnston (1993) measured the time it takes to switch between the world
  
  scene and the superimposed HUD symbology. They found that differential motion
  
  between the superimposed HUD symbology and the out-the-window scene led to
  
  increased attentional switching time, and concluded that this differential
  
  motion may be the primary driver behind attentional tunneling. If the primary
  
  cause of attentional tunneling is differential motion between the HUD symbology
  
  and the world, then removing the differential motion cues should minimize the
  
  attentional tunneling problem. One design option that achieves this goal is to
  
  replace conventional HUD symbols with virtual symbols that appear to be
  
  physically part of the world. Although rendered in graphics on the HUD, these
  
  "scene-linked" symbols are drawn, and move, as virtual objects in the
  
  out-the-window scene. As the aircraft moves through the world, the
  
  scene-linked symbols undergo the positional visual transformations as real
  
  objects. There are no differential motion cues to cause the visual system to
  
  interpret the virtual symbols as separate from the world. In the absence of
  
  these cues, attentional tunneling should be prevented, enhancing the ability
  
  to process scene-linked HUD symbology in parallel with real-world information.
  
  6p.
  
  
• Format:
  PDF
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:83e1feeb366b4332ac2e920d6eb4e98fba0bbd4dde4318b85329123211a8bfd2
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/12816/dot_12816_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 36.94 KB ]