ABSTRACT
While automated systems can improve safety and efficiency, these systems can also result in reduced vigilance and reduced situational awareness. As a result of these drawbacks of automation, some research has explored the possibility of adaptive automation as a way to dynamically change function allocation during system operations. Previous research has shown that cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV), as measured by Transcranial Doppler Sonography (TCD), is sensitive to changes in task demand. Because of these findings, TCD may be a neuroergonomic measure that can be used to assess attentional resource allocation during task performance and is a candidate to add to the battery of measures that can implement adaptive automation. In the current study, participants performed long duration, supervisory control tasks under varying levels of taskload. In one group, enemy threats increased once late in the simulation, and in another group enemy threats increased at two points, once early and once late within the scenario. All participants 291completed a comparison condition in which there was no increase in the number of enemy threats; they incurred at a steady pace. Performance was assessed by the ability of the operator to protect a no-fly zone over the course of the scenarios. The percentage of red-zone enemy incursions was higher during the transition conditions and cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) increased in a similar manner. The results are interpreted in terms of a resource theory of task performance.
