Measuring Cognitive Efficiency of Novel Speedometer Displays

Abstract

Cognitive efficiency has been defined as the ratio of display informativeness to mental workload required for processing information. In the study, we used Cognitive Efficiency (CE) metric to measure the efficiency of novel speedometer displays which were previously used to aid multitask performance in driving. The study also investigated whether encoding information into ‘beat pattern’, a redundant dimension, improves the cognitive efficiency of the displays. The level of cognitive efficiency was found to be similar among the ambient-visual, auditory, and tactile speedometer displays and it increased largely when information was encoded into a redundant beat pattern of the auditory display. In addition, the cognitive efficiency of novel speedometer display was sensitive to contextual factors such as wind effects. These findings enlarge our understanding of multifactor constructs of cognitive efficiency, which are expected to be more predictive of multitask performance than the measure of each of its constituent components.

Digital, analogue, or redundant speedometers for truck driving: Impact on visual distraction, efficiency and usability

“…For example, adding in auditory feedback could improve the amount of visual attention that the driver attributes to the driving scene (to menu navigation for a secondary interface: Tardieu et al, 2015; for an ADAS interface: Houtenbos et al, 2017; for warning interfaces: Biondi et al, 2017) or improve the driver's satisfaction level (Jakus et al, 2015). For our topic, multimodal speedometers have been investigated (Yang & Ferris, 2016) and other designs of visually redundant speedometers were explored, such as speedometers that mix a digital display and ambient colour (Ustwo, 2016). Findings concluded that performances were good for ambient-visual, auditory, and tactile speedometer displays, and that redundancy with an auditory display, such as beat pattern, was beneficial (Yang & Ferris, 2016).…”

“…For our topic, multimodal speedometers have been investigated (Yang & Ferris, 2016) and other designs of visually redundant speedometers were explored, such as speedometers that mix a digital display and ambient colour (Ustwo, 2016). Findings concluded that performances were good for ambient-visual, auditory, and tactile speedometer displays, and that redundancy with an auditory display, such as beat pattern, was beneficial (Yang & Ferris, 2016). Another solution might be to investigate dynamic interfaces, in order to provide additional relevant information (May, 2013;Davidsson & Alm, 2014).…”