Attention and Information Access Effort in Head-Up Displays

摘要

Head-up displays, or HUDs, have been around for quite some time, particularly in the military cockpit, where their assistance in combat operations has been invaluable. Their introduction into civil aviation has been more recent, but still successful while their appearance as a support for general aviation is more recent still. In spite of their enthusiastic acceptance by pilots, some concern remains regarding both optical issues and possible attentional issues. The latter relate both to the clutter caused by overlapping HUD imagery against the background and the possibility of cognitive capture, by which the compelling nature of the HUD images inhibit the detection of other critical events. To examine these attentional questions, we have completed a series of six simulation studies at Illinois, examining the pilot's information processing and flight performance when using HUDs. These studies have focused in particular on the perception and attentional factors involved as pilots fly with HUDs in both low and high visibility conditions. Our research program is designed to address two issues. From a more basic perspective, we are trying to develop and validate a model of visual attention relevant to the processing of the overlapping images produced when the HUD is viewed against the background scene. The model is based on the contrast between space-based and object-based theories of visual attention. From a more applied perspective, our goal is to answer the designer's questions: how much information should go on a HUD, what should that information be, and how should it be formatted In carrying out the six studies associated with this program we have identified a number of important dichotomies, pertaining to information, display, and pilot processing mechanisms.