Roberto K. Champney

Using Emotions in Usability

Emotions are evermore present in discussions of product design and are becoming part of a usability practitioners repertoire of evaluation criteria. Nonetheless, emotions in design are far more than simply using satisfaction and frustration as criteria, noting how pleasant or unpleasant a product is, or listing a number of emotions elicited during an evaluation. Evaluating the emotional impact of a user interaction as part of a usability evaluation requires that emotions be adequately assessed and, most importantly, interpreted to identify their source. This article aims to present a method and process of Emotional Profiling to show how emotions may be utilized to aid usability professionals in further understanding the emotional reactions to human-system interactions, thereby identifying factors that enhance or detract from the user experience.

Recovery From Virtual Environment Exposure: Expected Time Course of Symptoms and Potential Readaptation Strategies

Objective: This study investigated potential means of facilitating a return to normal functioning following virtual environment (VE) exposure using a peg-in-hole exercise in recalibrating hand-eye coordination, a targeted gait movement (rail walking) in recalibrating vestibular (i.e., postural) aftereffects, and natural decay. Background: Despite technology advances and considerable efforts focused on the identification and quantification of VE aftereffects, few have addressed means for recuperation, the focus of the current study. Method: After 15 min—60 min of VE exposure and recalibatory exercises, hand-eye coordination and postural stability were assessed electronically, the former via a 3-D measure capturing pointing errors, and the latter by head and body oscillations while standing in the tandem Romberg position. Both measurements were collected immediately after VE exposure and every 15 min up to 1 hr thereafter. Results: Participants (more than 900 college students) who experienced the peg-in-hole readaptation strategy had a significant decrease (p < 0.000 in pointing errors following the exercise; the other two methods (i.e., rail walking, natural decay) showed no significant change. For posture, all groups showed significant improvement during the 15 minutes after VE exposure, yet none returned to baseline by 1 hr postexposure. Conclusion: Although hand-eye coordination readaptation strategies showed noticeable effects immediately after they were performed, aftereffects were not completely eliminated after 1 hr; hence further research on readaptation strategies is essential to achieve more substantial recalibratory gains in hand-eye coordination and posture. Additionally, hand-eye coordination and vestibular aftereffects may require a period exceeding the VE immersion time in order to recover. Application: These findings may serve as a guide in the development of monitoring policies following VE exposure.

A Method to Determine Optimal Simulator Training Time: Examining Performance Improvement Across the Learning Curve

Training simulators have become an integral part of training programs across both military and non military domains. A pressing issue, however, is when and how the systems should be integrated into an existing training curriculum. Currently, time spent in simulator training is usually driven by availability of the simulator or the planned class curriculum, rather than by any type of systematic evaluation of the incremental learning that occurs across time. One reason for this may be the lack of methodologies for evaluating the optimal training time spent in simulators. To address this, a methodology is presented which utilizes a continuous evaluation of performance across trials to identify a “plateau” in learning improvements as represented by a learning curve.

Sensory-Perceptual Objective Task (SPOT) Taxonomy: A Task Analysis Tool

Task Analyses serve multiple purposes in system design, yet even with the resource intensive nature of such processes, further insight is still needed for the design of multi-modal systems. A Sensory Task Analysis (STA) allows a very granular level task decomposition into sensory information and interaction capability requirements that allows the determination of how individuals in the domain gather information as well as act upon this information in the operational environment. To complete this, however, knowledge of both the domain task and human information processing theory is required. Herein is presented a sensory-perceptual task taxonomy, a task analysis tool that facilitates the decomposition of domain tasks into generalizable sensory perceptual and response task types that greatly facilitates this process. This paper discusses the development and components that make up this taxonomy and presents a proof of concept example of how it may be used in an operational military domain. A discussion of potential applications and how this taxonomy fits within a tool to define optimal system fidelity requirements is also presented.

Making the Design Process More Usable: Aligning Design with User Performance

One key drawback when evaluating usability return on investment (ROI) is that the assessment criteria are often subjective, making it difficult for members of a development team to buy in to the need to support usability-derived redesign recommendations. It is thus necessary to convey to the development team the importance of design for usability in a format that is universally understandable. The use of measurable usability requirements to assess usability ROI was found to be an effective approach to align design with operational performance and at the same time justify the need for redesign to the development team. This approach should result in better development team cohesion, as well as superior end product performance, which captures and supports the needs of end users and other stake holders alike. In the current effort, this alignment process is described, and the utility of the approach is demonstrated by its application in a field case study of the successful design of a software application.

Mixed Reality Training of Military Tasks: Comparison of Two Approaches Through Reactions from Subject Matter Experts

This paper discusses a training-based comparison of two mixed reality military trainers utilizing simulation elements that are categorized on different areas of the virtuality continuum. The comparison encompassed exposing subject matter experts (SMEs) to the training systems. Independent groups of SMEs interacted with each system through conducting expert system evaluations. Independent groups of military officers experienced each system for call for fire/close air support training. Following these exposures, participants were queried on the constructs of simulator sickness, training utility, simulator fidelity, usability, and immersion. The results are contrasted and discussed. The outcomes of this comparison serve to promote discussion among the scientific community concerning the training tradeoffs affected by the virtuality continuum.

Augmented Reality Training of Military Tasks: Reactions from Subject Matter Experts

The purpose of this research effort was to understand the training utility of augmented reality and simulation-based training capabilities in an outdoor field environment. Specifically, this research focused on evaluating the training efficacy of the Augmented Immersive Team Training (AITT) system, a portable augmented reality training solution that targets Forward Observer (FO) tasks associated with a Call for Fire (CFF) mission. The assessment focused on evaluating training utility, satisfaction, usability, simulator sickness, presence, immersion and appropriateness of the fidelity cues provided by the AITT system. Data were gathered via questionnaires. The results of this study provided insight for formative evolution of the AITT system design and may have implications to other similar technologies.

An examination of virtual environment training fidelity on training effectiveness

Live training is a vital component of military training. Unfortunately it can be expensive, resource intensive, of limited accessibility or impossible to achieve due to the risks involved. Virtual environment (VEs) training environments can provide trainees with opportunities to practice key skills and work out performance issues in a more cost effective environment, which may lead to more efficient use of live training time. The current study explored this premise by conducting a transfer of training study that examined the question of whether pre-training in low and/or high fidelity VEs can lead to time savings and improved performance in live training environments. In this study, four-person teams received training on a room clearing task either on a low fidelity VE, a high fidelity VE, or no pre-training at all, after receiving familiarisation on the task. After training, all groups transferred to a live shoothouse for 20 test trials. Results suggest that high fidelity VE pre-training may facilitate both faster skill acquisition and better performance in a transfer environment. Although sample size may have prevented the findings from reaching statistical significance, the effects were consistent and of moderate to high effect sizes, suggesting an effect is present.

A Performance-Based Training Evaluation for an Augmented Virtuality Call for Fire Training System

A Call for Fire is a complex task requiring specialized training and is performed by a Joint Forward Observer (JFO). As newer technologies become available, innovative ways of incorporating mixed reality into simulation-based training becomes possible. One such approach is through augmented virtuality (AV). AV mixes a heavily virtual environment with interactive objects in the real world, which differs from augmented reality in that the latter overlays virtual elements into a representation of the real world. An AV Call for Fire Simulator was developed in order to assess the efficacy of AV technology for simulation-based training in the JFO training course. This paper describes a training effectiveness evaluation conducted to assess the overall effectiveness of AV integration into current training standards and methodologies.

A Human Experience Approach to Optimizing Simulator Fidelity

A key element of designing simulation based training systems is the need to identify what elements of the operational task experience need to be replicated in the simulation environment (i.e., simulator fidelity). Too much fidelity may result in overly expensive systems that do not necessarily provide better training. Too little or the wrong kind of fidelity may result in systems that do not support the required training. Thus, a careful balance is needed to achieve the best return on training investment (ROTI). A challenge is that this process is far from straight forward and often involves subjective assessments by subject matter experts or human factors professionals. A more objective process for identifying the value of the right level of fidelity is needed. The human experience-based approach to fidelity optimization presented herein seeks to address this challenge by supplementing a traditional task analysis with a tool to objectively identify the necessary experiential cues required to support a task.