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Objective An experiment used workload capacity analysis to quantify automation usage strategy across different task difficulty and display format types in a speeded task. Background Workload capacity measures the efficiency of concurrent information processing and can serve as a gauge of automation usage strategy in speeded decision tasks. The present study used workload capacity analysis to investigate automation usage strategy while information display format and task difficulty were manipulated. Method Subjects performed a speeded judgment task assisted by an automated aid that issued decision cues at varying onset times. Response time distributions were converted to measures of workload capacity. Results Two variants of a workload capacity measure, CzOR and CzAND, gave evidence that operators moderated their own decision times both in anticipation of and following the arrival of the aid's diagnosis under difficult task conditions regardless of display format. Conclusion Assistance from an automated decision aid may cause operators to delay their own responses in a speeded decision task, producing joint response time distributions that are slower than optimal. Application Even when it renders its own judgments quickly and with high accuracy, an automated decision aid may slow responses from a user. Automation designers should consider the relative costs and benefits of response accuracy and time when choosing whether and how to implement an automated decision aid.

Objective An experiment used the workload capacity measure C( t) to quantify the processing efficiency of human–automation teams and identify operators' automation usage strategies in a speeded decision task. Background Although response accuracy rates and related measures are often used to measure the influence of an automated decision aid on human performance, aids can also influence response speed. Mean response times (RTs), however, conflate the influence of the human operator and the automated aid on team performance and may mask changes in the operator's performance strategy under aided conditions. The present study used a measure of parallel processing efficiency, or workload capacity, derived from empirical RT distributions as a novel gauge of human–automation performance and automation dependence in a speeded task. Method Participants performed a speeded probabilistic decision task with and without the assistance of an automated aid. RT distributions were used to calculate two variants of a workload capacity measure, COR( t) and CAND( t). Results Capacity measures gave evidence that a diagnosis from the automated aid speeded human participants' responses, and that participants did not moderate their own decision times in anticipation of diagnoses from the aid. Conclusion and Application Workload capacity provides a sensitive and informative measure of human–automation performance and operators' automation dependence in speeded tasks.

Objective: An experiment aimed to test whether design of symbology to produce visual search asymmetries might facilitate target detection in cluttered displays. Background: A visual search asymmetry exists between two stimuli when a target of one type is found efficiently among distractors of the second type but a target of the second type is found with difficulty among distractors of the first type. Asymmetries have generally been studied within relatively sparse displays. In the present study, the authors tested whether an asymmetry driven by stimulus familiarity persists within heavily cluttered imagery. Method: In this study, 10 participants performed a visual search task using stimuli (canonical vs. reversed Ns) known to produce a search asymmetry. Search stimuli were embedded within geospatial images containing either low or high levels of clutter. A decision theoretic index of sensitivity served as the dependent measure. Results: The search asymmetry was robust against the presence of heavy display clutter. Specifically, sensitivity was greater when the target was a reversed N rather than an N, and this pattern remained within cluttered displays. Time-accuracy analysis revealed that the search asymmetry increased the rate of information accumulation roughly equally within low- and high- clutter images. Conclusion: Search asymmetries are robust against heavy, spatially continuous visual clutter. Application: Design of display symbology to produce visual search asymmetries can offset the costs of visual clutter, maximizing detectability of task-critical information in complex displays.

Objective and backgroundTrust is a critical factor that influences the success or failure of human–automation interaction in a variety of professional domains such as transportation, military, and healthcare. The unprecedented COVID-19 crisis will likely accelerate the implementation of automation and create unique problems involving human–automation trust for naïve users of automated technologies in the future.MethodWe briefly review factors that can influence the development of human–automation trust amidst and following the COVID-19 pandemic. We focus on two theories on human-automation trust and how naïve users develop and maintain their trust in unfamiliar technologies.ResultsThe current review identifies user workload and perceived risk as critical factors that will impact human–automation trust during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both theories predict that it is important for naïve users to accumulate and analyze behavioral evidence of automated technologies to maintain appropriate trust levels as the pandemic progresses.Conclusion and applicationTheories of human–automation trust inform trajectories of trust development toward unfamiliar technologies for naïve users. In application, manufacturers and distributers should focus on communicating system information effectively to retain users who may be "forced" to use unfamiliar technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ObjectiveThe present study examines the effect of an existing driver training program, FOrward Concentration and Attention Learning (FOCAL) on young drivers' calibration, drivers' ability to estimate the length of their in-vehicle glances while driving, using two different measures, normalized difference scores and Brier Scores.BackgroundYoung drivers are poor at maintaining attention to the forward roadway while driving a vehicle. Additionally, drivers may overestimate their attention maintenance abilities. Driver training programs such as FOCAL may train target skills such as attention maintenance but also might serve as a promising way to reduce errors in drivers' calibration of their self-perceived attention maintenance behaviors in comparison to their actual performance.MethodThirty-six participants completed either FOCAL or a Placebo training program, immediately followed by driving simulator evaluations of their attention maintenance performance. In the evaluation drive, participants navigated four driving simulator scenarios during which their eyes were tracked. In each scenario, participants performed a map task on a tablet simulating an in-vehicle infotainment system.ResultsFOCAL-trained drivers maintained their attention to the forward roadway more and reported better calibration using the normalized difference measure than Placebo-trained drivers. However, the Brier scores did not distinguish the two groups on their calibration.ConclusionThe study implies that FOCAL has the potential to improve not only attention maintenance skills but also calibration of the skills for young drivers.ApplicationDriver training programs may be designed to train not only targeted higher cognitive skills but also driver calibration—both critical for driving safety in young drivers.

Objective: The aim of this study was to illustrate how a consideration of glance sequences to in-vehicle tasks and their associated distributions can be informative. Background: The rapid growth in the number of nomadic technologies and in-vehicle devices has the potential to create complex, visually intensive tasks for drivers that may incur long in-vehicle glances. Such glances place drivers at increased risk of a motor vehicle crash. Method: We used eye-glance data from a study of distraction training programs to examine the change in glance duration distributions across consecutive glances during the performance of various in-vehicle tasks. Results: The sequential analysis across trained and untrained drivers showed that the proportion of late-sequence glances longer than a 2-s threshold among untrained drivers was almost double the number of such glances for the trained drivers, that the third and later glances were particularly problematic, and that training reduced the proportion of early- and later-sequence glances. Conclusion: Examining how the duration of off-road glances varies as a function of their order in a sequence of glances and the visual demands of the task can offer important insights into the change in the distracting potential of in-vehicle tasks across glances and the effects of training. Application: The sequential analysis of in-vehicle glance data can be useful for researchers and practitioners and has implications for the development and evaluation of training programs as well as for task and interface design.

Objective: This study provides a theoretical link between trust and the compliance–reliance paradigm. We propose that for trust mediation to occur, the operator must be presented with a salient choice, and there must be an element of risk for dependence. Background: Research suggests that false alarms and misses affect dependence via two independent processes, hypothesized as trust in signals and trust in nonsignals. These two trust types manifest in categorically different behaviors: compliance and reliance. Method: Eighty-eight participants completed a primary flight task and a secondary signaling system task. Participants evaluated their trust according to the informational bases of trust: performance, process, and purpose. Participants were in a high- or low-risk group. Signaling systems varied by reliability (90%, 60%) within subjects and error bias (false alarm prone, miss prone) between subjects. Results: False-alarm rate affected compliance but not reliance. Miss rate affected reliance but not compliance. Mediation analyses indicated that trust mediated the relationship between false-alarm rate and compliance. Bayesian mediation analyses favored evidence indicating trust did not mediate miss rate and reliance. Conditional indirect effects indicated that factors of trust mediated the relationship between false-alarm rate and compliance (i.e., purpose) and reliance (i.e., process) but only in the high-risk group. Conclusion: The compliance–reliance paradigm is not the reflection of two types of trust. Application: This research could be used to update training and design recommendations that are based upon the assumption that trust causes operator responses regardless of error bias.

Objective This study examined the impact of monitoring instructions when using an automated driving system (ADS) and road obstructions on post take-over performance in near-miss scenarios. Background Past research indicates partial ADS reduces the driver's situation awareness and degrades post take-over performance. Connected vehicle technology may alert drivers to impending hazards in time to safely avoid near-miss events. Method Forty-eight licensed drivers using ADS were randomly assigned to either the active driving or passive driving condition. Participants navigated eight scenarios with or without a visual obstruction in a distributed driving simulator. The experimenter drove the other simulated vehicle to manually cause near-miss events. Participants' mean longitudinal velocity, standard deviation of longitudinal velocity, and mean longitudinal acceleration were measured. Results Participants in passive ADS group showed greater, and more variable, deceleration rates than those in the active ADS group. Despite a reliable audiovisual warning, participants failed to slow down in the red-light running scenario when the conflict vehicle was occluded. Participant's trust in the automated driving system did not vary between the beginning and end of the experiment. Conclusion Drivers interacting with ADS in a passive manner may continue to show increased and more variable deceleration rates in near-miss scenarios even with reliable connected vehicle technology. Future research may focus on interactive effects of automated and connected driving technologies on drivers' ability to anticipate and safely navigate near-miss scenarios. Application Designers of automated and connected vehicle technologies may consider different timing and types of cues to inform the drivers of imminent hazard in high-risk scenarios for near-miss events.

Objective We examined the effectiveness of a second exposure to ACCEL, a novel driving training program, on latent hazard anticipation (HA) performance several months after their first exposure. Background Past research has demonstrated that PC-based driver training programs can improve latent HA performance in young novice drivers, but these improvements are below the ceiling level. Method Twenty-five participants were randomly assigned to either the Placebo group, the ACCEL-1 group, or the ACCEL-2 group. Following the completion of the assigned training program, participants drove a series of eighteen scenarios incorporating latent hazards in a high-fidelity driving simulator with their eyes tracked. Participants returned two to six months following the first session and completed either the placebo program (ACCEL-1 and Placebo groups), or a second dose of training program (ACCEL-2 group), again followed by simulated evaluation drives. Results The ACCEL-2 group showed improved HA performance compared to the ACCEL-1 and Placebo groups in the second evaluation. Conclusion ACCEL enhances young novice drivers' latent HA performance. The effectiveness of ACCEL is retained up to 6 months, and a second dose further improves HA performance. Application Policy makers should consider requiring such training before the completion of graduate driver license programs. Young novice drivers that do not show successful latent HA performance could be required to complete additional training before being allowed to drive without restrictions.