ABSTRACT
A simulated process plant was used to investigate the use of displays to enhance team situation awareness and hence performance. Teams with shared displays performed better if they did not need to maintain situation awareness with questioning. Thus the benefits of shared displays lay in maintaining performance when faults arose by reducing the need for complex team interactions to develop situation awareness and negotiate action. The influence of shared displays on team performance has been studied for a number of years. This study develops earlier work by investigating the effect on the team process and situation awareness in teams under routine task performance and when unexpected errors arise. Participants will work in pairs to operate a process plant with either shared or non-shared displays. Their communication will be coded in order to investigate their interactions. The difference in performance between shared and non-shared displays was greater when unexpected faults arose.
