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The present experiments examined the effects of two neuroergonomic methods—molecular genetics and transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS)—on skill acquisition in complex multitasking environments. The results of the first experiment showed that a variant of a common dopamine gene, COMT, interacted with training in supervisory control of unmanned vehicles. Individuals with the Met allele of the COMT gene showed greater trained-related gains in performance than those with the Val allele, consistent with the role of COMT in regulating dopamine availability and executive function. In the second experiment, stimulation of dorsal and ventral frontoparietal attention networks with tDCS accelerated acquisition of multitasking skill on the Space Fortress game. These findings indicate that novel neuroergonomic methods can supplement more traditional training methods for the development of expertise in complex tasks.

Automation complacency has been considered by some to result from a state of mindlessness. An attentional framework offered by Parasuraman and Manzey (2010) has suggested that automation bias and complacency may be overlapping functions of the same central cognitive process, with attentional resources as the shared mechanism. Non-invasive brain stimulation methods present novel ways to manipulate attentional resources and influence operator allocation of attention. Study results indicate that positive stimulation affects complex task performance, although not necessarily evenly across task function. Stimulation effects on complacency potential may be modulated by an operator’s automation bias. This has broad implications for interface design, as well cognitive theory of human-automation interaction.

The proliferation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in civil and military domains has spurred increasingly complex automation design for augmenting operator abilities, reducing workload, and increasing mission effectiveness. We describe the Adaptive Interface Management System (AIMS), an intelligent adaptive delegation interface for controlling and monitoring multiple unmanned vehicles, with a mixed-initiative team model language. A study was conducted to assess understanding of this model language and whether participants exhibited calibrated trust in the intelligent automation. Results showed that operators had accurate memory for role responsibility and were well calibrated to the automation. Adaptive automation design approaches like the one described in this paper can be useful to create mixedinitiative human-robot teams.

Supervisory control of multiple autonomous vehicles raises many issues concerning the balance of system autonomy with human interaction for optimal operator situation awareness and system performance. An unmanned vehicle simulation designed to manipulate the application of automation was used to evaluate participants’ performance on image analysis tasks under two automation control schemes: adaptable (level of automation directly manipulated by participant throughout trials) and adaptive (level of automation adapted as a function of participants’ performance on four types of tasks). The results showed that while adaptable automation increased workload, it also improved change detection, as well as operator confidence in task-related decision-making.

Many usability software packages exist to serve the needs of user experience practitioners. However, these options are often expensive and possess steep learning curves. The purpose of this paper is to provide novice practitioners a usability toolkit that is easy to use, versatile, and affordable. Using basic presentation software, PowerPoint™, graduate students in a usability and redesign course performed card sorting tasks with several users and used the results to create website prototypes for usability testing. The detailed methods for deploying these usability techniques via PowerPoint™, as well as the benefits of these methods, will be explored.

Objective: We examined whether a gene known to influence dopamine availability in the prefrontal cortex is associated with individual differences in learning a supervisory control task. Background: Methods are needed for selection and training of human operators who can effectively supervise multiple unmanned vehicles (UVs). Compared to the valine (Val) allele, the methionine (Met) allele of the COMT gene has been linked to superior executive function, but it is not known whether it is associated with training-related effects in multi-UV supervisory control performance. Method: Ninety-nine healthy adults were genotyped for the COMT Val158Met single nucleotide polymorphism (rs4680) and divided into Met/Met, Val/Met, and Val/Val groups. Participants supervised six UVs in an air defense mission requiring them to attack incoming enemy aircraft and protect a no-fly zone from intruders in conditions of low and high task load (numbers of enemy aircraft). Training effects were examined across four blocks of trials in each task load condition. Results: Compared to the Val/Met and Val/Val groups, Met/Met individuals exhibited a greater increase in enemy targets destroyed and greater reduction in enemy red zone incursions across training blocks. Conclusion: Individuals with the COMT Met/Met genotype can acquire skill in executive function tasks, such as multi-UV supervisory control, to a higher level and/or faster than other genotype groups. Application: Potential applications of this research include the development of individualized training methods for operators of multi-UV systems and selecting personnel for complex supervisory control tasks.