Cognitive Aid Design Using Augmented Reality to Support Attention

We propose to research and develop a cognitive aid to support performance of rare tasks, tasks that cannot be trained at length prior to flight, and any task that would be adversely affected by distraction or attention overload. Many of these tasks are complex, occur in cramped or filled environments, and require detection of patterns, incorporation of feedback into the next steps of the task, and high focus of attention. A preliminary list of these tasks across the 12 phases of an expedition to Mars can be found in the 2018 NASA final report by Stuster, Adolf, Byrne, and Greene. Some previously developed cognitive aids have incorporated augmented reality elements (such as the NASA supported IDEAS (Integrated Display and Environmental Awareness System) and NASA Sidekick)). Cognitive aids with augmented reality elements support attention by adding to the environment: this includes alarms, screen movement, highlighting, and other attention-capture methods. We focus our study and development of novel augmented reality incorporated into a cognitive aid: de-emphasis of auditory and visual clutter and distractions. The term for this type of aid is Diminished Reality (DR). This form of aid targets the cognitive processes most likely to be affected by long-term spaceflight: difficulty focusing, inhibiting distractors, and locating spatial information crucial to the task. DR displays and interaction techniques will be developed by Human–computer interaction (HCI) researchers and graduate students in human factors psychology. Prototypes will be tested with human subjects on the complex task of setting up novel medical equipment, an appropriately complex task listed in the 2018 Mars Expedition Task List. An advanced prototype will be user-tested by space-knowledgeable individuals at Johnson Space Center. Deliverables will include a prototype of the aid and generalized principles and guidelines for future incorporation of de-emphasis augmentations into cognitive aids.

Stuster, J, Adolf J, Byrne V, Greene M. (2018). Human exploration of Mars: Preliminary lists of crew tasks. NASA/CR-2018-220043. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20190001401

This work will benefit the field of psychology by adding to the literature on the impact of stressors, interruptions, and distractions on human performance of complex, novel tasks. This work will benefit the field of computing by investigating these effects in the new technology of "diminished reality" (DR). Similar to augmented reality, DR uses computers and displays to change the appearance of the physical world. In DR, this means by altering or removing objects or sounds. This alteration occurs with various diminishment methods, from outright erasure to desaturation to blurring or to semi-transparency. Auditory stimuli are treated similarly, ranging from silence to diminishment of volume or changes in the spatial nature of the audio. The outcomes of our research will be to inform the design of DR technologies so that they may support work in space or on the ground -- anywhere that diminishment of distraction is desirable.

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