Abstract
Our research aimed to investigate the effectiveness of auditory, visual, and audiovisual warning signals for capturing the attention of the pilot, and how stimulus onset asynchronies (SOA) in audiovisual stimuli affect pilots perceiving the bimodal warning signals under different perceptual load conditions. In experiment 1 of the low perceptual load condition, participants discriminated the location (right vs. left) of visual targets preceded by five different types of warning signals. In experiment 2 of high perceptual load, participants completed the location task identical to a low load condition and a digit detection task in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) stream. The main effect of warning signals in two experiments showed that visual and auditory cues presented simultaneously (AV) could effectively and efficiently arouse the attention of the pilots in high and low load conditions. Specifically, auditory (A), AV, and visual preceding auditory stimulus by 100 ms (VA100) increased the spatial orientation to a valid position in low load conditions. With the increase in visual perceptual load, auditory preceding the visual stimulus by 100 ms (AV100) and A warning signals had stronger spatial orientation. The results are expected to theoretically support the optimization design of the cockpit display interface, contributing to immediate flight crew awareness.
Highlights
Pilots make use of information from the inner cockpit and outside the aircraft
The present study examines how temporal characteristics affect pilots perceiving bimodal warning signals under different perceptual loads
The accuracy of A (97.4%) was significantly higher than that of AV (95.6%, p = 0.007), AV100 (92.7%, p < 0.001), and visual preceding auditory stimulus by 100 ms (VA100) (94.8%, p = 0.009); The accuracy of AV (95.6%) was significantly higher than AV100 (92.7%, p < 0.001); The accuracy of V (97.2%) was significantly higher than AV (95.6%, p = 0.013), AV100 (92.7%, p < 0.001), and VA100 (94.8%, p = 0.019)
Summary
Pilots make use of information from the inner cockpit and outside the aircraft. About 80% of the information comes from the visual modality. Pilots often suffer from visual signal overload, which may lead to flight accidents or dangerous situations. Audible information has been employed in the design of the cockpit to cope with visual overload, especially in the domain of warning signals. It stipulates that warnings and caution alerts in the cockpit should provide prompt cues through no less than two distinct senses
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