BRAIN WAVE MEASURES OF WORKLOAD IN THE ADVANCED COCKPIT

IT IS WIDELY RECOGNIZED THAT BEHAVIORAL MEASURES OF WORKLOADARE INADEQUATE. EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS (ERPS) RECORDED FROM THE HUMAN SCALP ARE A PROMISING ALTERNATIVE IN THAT THEY HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO REFLECT SELECTIVE ATTENTION, EXPECTANCIES, AND DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES. MOST PREVIOUS ERP STUDIES OF WORKLOAD HAVE BURDENED THE SUBJECT WITH A CONTRIVED SECONDARY TASK. THE PRESENT STUDY, BY TAKING ACCOUNT OF THE NATURE OF WORKLOAD IN THE ADVANCED COCKPIT, EXAMINES ERP MEASURES THAT SHOULD REFLECT WORKLOAD UNDER SINGLE TASK CONDITIONS. SUBJECTS MONITOR AN ARRAY OF DIGITAL READOUTS FOR "ABNORMAL" VALUES. BY ATTENDING TO THE SEQUENCE OF CHANGING VALUES, THEY CAN PREDICT WHICH READOUTS ARE LIKELY TO "ALARM". UNDER LOW WORKLOAD CONDITION IT IS HYPOTHESIZED THAT THIS TREND INFORMATION WILL BE ATTENDED AND WILL ELICIT ENDOGENOUS ERP COMPONENTS. WHEN WORKLOAD IS HIGH, SUBJECTS MAY NOT HAVE SUFFICIENT PROCESSING RESOURCES TO ALLOCATE TO THIS TREND INFORMATION, SO THE ERPS WILL BE ALTERED. THIS STUDY YIELDS BASIC INFORMATION ON THE COGNITIVE PROCESSES THAT ARE REFLECTED IN THE ERP. IN ADDITION, IT EXTENDS THE USE OF ERPS AS A TOOL FOR WORKLOAD ASSESSMENT IN A PARADIGM THAT IS ANALOGOUS TO TASK DEMANDS IN THE ADVANCED COCKPIT.