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Background Two- and three-dimensional spatial displays of traffic, weather, and terrain are expected to become common on flight decks in the next 10 years. These displays are also expected to provide information such as heading, altitude (for 2-D displays), speed, expected flight path, threat/conflict level, etc., and ATC airspace restrictions. A significant requirement of such cockpit displays is that they provide the necessary information and "situational awareness" without forcing the pilots into a "heads-down" mode. That is, these displays must not require prolonged withdrawal of attention from primary flight tasks. Optimal displays need to be designed such that they enhance attention to critical elements, and thus allow greater efficiency during periodic monitoring. Two of the primary determinants of attention on displays are simple salience and display organization, or structure. Determining how these two properties influence attention individually, and in combination, will aid in the design of more optimal displays. Objectives The goal of this project is to measure attentional distribution over a spatial display as a function of salience (various forms of highlighting), and as a function of display structure (frames of reference and grouping properties), and then to generate a corresponding predictive model of attentional distribution. Approach Experiments will be run correlating highlighting characteristics (intensity, motion, color) and display structure (grouping, absolute vs. relative reference frame) with measurements of information detection accuracy /latency, information retention, and also with eye-movements. This data will then be used to develop predictive models of attentional allocation for display design. Level 3 Milestones [Note: The current budget for this project
will not allow for completion of the milestone schedule shown
here. Current FY99 budget is only $35K. Anticipated cuts in FY00-FY04
will result in elimination of this sub-task] Point of Contact
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