ABSTRACT
The deleterious impact on human performance of sustained workload, stress, and fatigue is well known. Context-specific computer assistance, or adaptive automation, provides a potential method for mitigating these effects in complex work environments, particularly since automation is already an aspect of many complex human-machine systems. In adaptive systems, those functions that can be performed either by the human operator or by automated subsystems are dynamically allocated during system operations, depending on context and operator needs. Adaptation can be based on the properties of the task, the environment, the operator’s performance, or their physiological state, and can be initiated by the system (adaptive automation) or the operator (adaptable automation). The goal is to regulate workload, stress, and fatigue in order to reduce their adverse effects and hence to optimize system performance. In this chapter we review the performance-enhancing effects of adaptive automation, focusing on balancing operator workload, reducing complacency, enhancing situation awareness, and improving safety. We also describe studies examining the effects of adaptive automation to minimize the effects of stress and fatigue. We conclude that adaptive automation is efficacious in a number of domains, but that additional work needs to be conducted to determine whether adaptation should remain in the hands of the operator or the system.
