An experimental study on the effects of task complexity and knowledge and experience level on SA, TSA and workload

Abstract

With the improvement of digital level of main control rooms (MCRs) of nuclear power plants (NPPs), the issue of situation awareness (SA) of operator becomes particularly prominent in NPP operations. More and more scholars have done some research on SA and team situation awareness (TSA). In order to explore the effects of performance shaping factors (PSFs) on SA, TSA and workload, the effects of task complexity and operators’ knowledge and experience level on operators’ SA, TSA and workload were studied through simulator experiments. The results show significant effects on the operators’ SA and TSA levels. The higher the complexity of task, the lower the level of operators’ SA and TSA; and the higher the level of knowledge and experience, the higher the level of operators’ SA and TSA. Experiments also show that task complexity and the level of knowledge and experience have a significant impact on the operator's workload. The higher the task complexity is, the higher the operator’s workload level is, and the higher the knowledge and experience level is, the lower the workload level of the operator is. The research results provide a theoretical basis for improving the level of SA and reducing workload, and provide theoretical and experimental guidance for identifying the impacts of PSF on SA, TSA and workload.