Designing information fusion for the encoding of visual–spatial information

Abstract

In a simulated aircraft navigation task, a fusion technique known as triangulation was used to improve the accuracy and onscreen availability of location information from two separate radars. Three experiments investigated whether the reduced cognitive processing required to extract information from the fused environment led to impoverished retention of visual–spatial information. Experienced pilots and students completed various simulated flight missions and were required to make a number of location estimates. Following a retention interval, memory for locations was assessed. Experiment 1 demonstrated, in an applied setting, that the retention of fused information was problematic and Experiment 2 replicated this finding under laboratory conditions. Experiment 3 successfully improved the retention of fused information by limiting its availability within the interface, which it is argued, shifted participants' strategies from over-reliance on the display as an external memory source to more memory-dependent interaction. These results are discussed within the context of intelligent interface design and effective human–machine interaction.

Keywords:

• human–machine interaction
• information fusion
• adaptive memory
• transfer-appropriate processing

Acknowledgements

The research reported here was supported by the UK Ministry of Defence, Data and Information Fusion: Defence and Technology Centre. We would like to thank Martin Ferry, Richard Hammett and Liz Fricker of QinetiQ, Farnborough, UK for technical support during Experiment 1. In addition, we would like to acknowledge the useful suggestions from two anonymous referees.