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The effectiveness of ego-centered (mving map) and earth-centered (mving plane) displays was studied with subjects monitoring an animated aircraft situational awareness display. Other independent variables were subject experience (aircrew vs non-aircrew) and path complexity (straight vs turning).Periodically, the display blanked and probe questions were asked concerning the relationship of the aircraft to the simulated world. Questions included judgements about angles, distances, time and terrain. Simple paths elicited a 28 percent lower error rate than did complex paths. Wving map displays had a 32 percent lower error rate than moving plane displays. No other significant effects were observed.Subjective ratings by subjects after the experiment revealed unanimus preference for the moving plane display and that the moving plane condition was believed to be easier1 This contradiction indicates subjective data is limited in determining display effectiveness.

The objective of this research was to demonstrate the validity of signal detection theory to the assessment (visual discrimination) of displayed color symbology. The area of application of the research results is in the design specification of color coded symbology to be overlayed on moving map, situational awareness displays. A symbol detection experiment was designed to determine how far apart, in CIE/UCS color space, symbol and background color must be in order for observers to detect that a symbol is present against the background. Six trained observers viewed a number of systematically varied symbol/background color combinations and were required to make one of six responses along a continuum from “symbol definitely present” to “symbol definitely not present”. The analyses of the d' and Beta signal detection measures yielded different patterns of results, suggesting that this paradigm was successful in separating the cognitive and sensory/perceptual factors associated with color-on-color target detection. In addition, the shape of the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves indicated that the assumptions underlying the signal detection paradigm were met.

Twelve subjects performed the airplane task, a test of spatial ability, in order to determine whether or not the task is suitable for inclusion in the CTS battery. Subjects performed 12 trials of the task on four consecutive days. Both performance and subjective measures were recorded. Three significantly different loading levels were obtained using the rear, front, and bottom views of the plane. It was concluded that the airplane task appears to be suitable for inclusion in the CTS.