Modelling How Humans Adapt to Task Demands in Safety-Critical Workplaces . This project aims to explain how human operators make decisions in complex work environments that require multiple tasks to be completed under time pressure. This project expects to achieve a significant theoretical and practical advance by developing and testing a computational model of the psychological processes that allow operators to adapt to the types of workplace task demands that can increase human error and the ....Modelling How Humans Adapt to Task Demands in Safety-Critical Workplaces . This project aims to explain how human operators make decisions in complex work environments that require multiple tasks to be completed under time pressure. This project expects to achieve a significant theoretical and practical advance by developing and testing a computational model of the psychological processes that allow operators to adapt to the types of workplace task demands that can increase human error and the risk of accidents. The expected outcome is a model that can explain operator decision-making and predict the conditions where operators are more likely to make delayed responses or errors. This should provide significant benefits by informing psychological theory and potentially reducing workplace incidents and accidents.Read moreRead less
Applying psychological science to prevent prospective memory error in simulations of air traffic control. The outcomes of this research will inform the design of interventions to prevent individuals from forgetting to perform actions in safety-critical work settings, strengthening Australia's reputation for extending basic science to applied domains.
Adapting Automation Transparency to Allow Accurate Use by Humans . The project will conduct the human factors research urgently required to discover how best to make automation in high-risk work settings more transparent and usable by humans. In safety-critical work contexts such as defence and aviation, automated decision aids improve human decision-making. Unfortunately however, catastrophic accidents have occurred because human operators have either not followed correct automated advice, or f ....Adapting Automation Transparency to Allow Accurate Use by Humans . The project will conduct the human factors research urgently required to discover how best to make automation in high-risk work settings more transparent and usable by humans. In safety-critical work contexts such as defence and aviation, automated decision aids improve human decision-making. Unfortunately however, catastrophic accidents have occurred because human operators have either not followed correct automated advice, or followed incorrect automated advice. A series of human factors studies using unmanned vehicle control, air traffic control, and submarine track management tasks (including testing experts in field settings) will discover how best to design transparent automation that can be safely and efficiently used by humans.Read moreRead less
Optimising the balance between task automation and human manual control. This project aims to discover how best to design automation to maximise performance, while ensuring that operators maintain the task awareness required to manually control previously automated tasks. In environments such as defence and aviation, automating tasks can improve performance, but many accidents have occurred because human operators have not adequately regained manual control when automation has failed. This proje ....Optimising the balance between task automation and human manual control. This project aims to discover how best to design automation to maximise performance, while ensuring that operators maintain the task awareness required to manually control previously automated tasks. In environments such as defence and aviation, automating tasks can improve performance, but many accidents have occurred because human operators have not adequately regained manual control when automation has failed. This project proposes a series of studies using simulations of submarine track management and air traffic control in laboratory and field settings that draw upon psychology and human factors. The project is designed to provide the strategic research that is required to discover how best to adapt the automation currently used in industrial settings.Read moreRead less
The role of relational information in the guidance of visual attention. The project aims to develop a new theory of attention that describes more accurately which items in the visual field can pop out and grab attention. The potential practical gains of the project are high, as it can lead to significant advancements in robotic vision, transport safety, and provide insights into clinical disorders such as ADHD.
Difficulties of monitoring for rare events. This project aims to identify cognitive and neural processes involved in sustaining attention to moving displays under monitoring conditions.People are poor at monitoring for rare events: they tend to miss infrequent targets. This is a problem in automated systems for transport, rail and air traffic control. If a computer error occurs, the operator needs to intervene quickly. This project will develop a tool for studying monitoring and determine patter ....Difficulties of monitoring for rare events. This project aims to identify cognitive and neural processes involved in sustaining attention to moving displays under monitoring conditions.People are poor at monitoring for rare events: they tend to miss infrequent targets. This is a problem in automated systems for transport, rail and air traffic control. If a computer error occurs, the operator needs to intervene quickly. This project will develop a tool for studying monitoring and determine patterns of brain activity that predict a lapse of attention. The results should contribute to theories of vigilance and improve performance in real-world monitoring situations.Read moreRead less