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Into the Wild: Neuroergonomic Differentiation of Hand-Held and Augmented Reality Wearable Displays during Outdoor Navigation with Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Into the Wild: Neuroergonomic Differentiation of Hand-Held and Augmented Reality Wearable Displays during Outdoor Navigation with Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy

Ryan McKendrick, Raja Parasuraman, Rabia Murtza, Alice Formwalt, Wendy Baccus, Martin Paczynski and Hasan Ayaz
Frontiers in human neuroscience, v 10(2016), pp 216-216
18 May 2016
PMID: 27242480
url
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2016.00216View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Neuroscience fNIRS working memory mental workload spatial navigation head-mounted display situation awareness neuroergonomics
Highly mobile computing devices promise to improve quality of life, productivity, and performance. Increased situation awareness and reduced mental workload are two potential means by which this can be accomplished. However, it is difficult to measure these concepts in the “wild”. We employed ultra-portable battery operated and wireless functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to non-invasively measure hemodynamic changes in the brain’s Prefrontal cortex (PFC). Measurements were taken during navigation of a college campus with either a hand-held display, or an Augmented reality wearable display (ARWD). Hemodynamic measures were also paired with secondary tasks of visual perception and auditory working memory to provide behavioral assessment of situation awareness and mental workload. Navigating with an augmented reality wearable display produced the least workload during the auditory working memory task, and a trend for improved situation awareness in our measures of prefrontal hemodynamics. The hemodynamics associated with errors were also different between the two devices. Errors with an augmented reality wearable display were associated with increased prefrontal activity and the opposite was observed for the hand-held display. This suggests that the cognitive mechanisms underlying errors between the two devices differ. These findings show fNIRS is a valuable tool for assessing new technology in ecologically valid settings and that ARWDs offer benefits with regards to mental workload while navigating, and potentially superior situation awareness with improved display design.

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Neurosciences
Psychology
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