NASA's Taxiway Navigation and Situational Awareness (T-NASA) in-cockpit Electronic Moving Map (EMM) has been found to improve the efficiency and safety of airport surface operations. Its design also leads to a paradox: the EMM requires the pilot to look head-down into the cockpit, diverting attention away from the primary, out-the-window (OTW) view. The present study examined the potential benefits of pilots attending to the EMM only when directed by either audio or visual "head-up" callouts. The callouts were presented in either a general ("check map") or specific ("turn right onto Bravo") form. The visual attention effects of these callouts were assessed using an eye tracking system during a medium fidelity, part-task ground taxi simulation. Performance and behavioral eye-tracking data revealed that the presence of callouts, especially audio specific, reduced the visual attention demand of the EMM, while maintaining the same level of taxi efficiency and improved levels of navigation accuracy and incursion detection performance relative to the no-callout condition.
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