Enhancing Air Traffic Control Displays with Principles of Conceptualization in Perception and Language Tim Clausner University of Maryland Center for Advance Study of Language Evan Palmer, Chris Brown & Carolina Bates Wichita State University Phil Kellman UCLA

Air Traffic Control Displays Today Two perceptual channels: Graphical for location and heading Alphanumeric for altitude

Depth Cues (Size and Contrast) Smaller Lighter Larger Darker

Altitude Correlated Depth Cues (Palmer, Clausner & Kellman, ACM Trans Appl. Perception) Hypothesis: Hypothesis: Magnitude of spatial altitude can be visualized as perceptual cues of size and contrast Altitude Bands (hundreds feet) No Cues Size Contrast Size & Contrast Altitude

Visual Search Method Perceptual cues were expected to enhance visual search for conflicts. Size & ContrastContrast Only No CueSize ContrastSize & Contrast

Student participants (N=40) searched for a conflict

Feedback

2 aircraft 7 aircraft 12 aircraft

Results 2 aircraft 7 aircraft 12 aircraft No-Cue

Results No-CueSize-CueContrast-CueCombined-Cue 2 aircraft 7 aircraft 12 aircraft

Results No-CueSize-CueContrast-CueCombined-Cue 2 aircraft 7 aircraft 12 aircraft

Results No-CueSize-CueContrast-CueCombined-Cue 2 aircraft 7 aircraft 12 aircraft

Conclusions Size and contrast cues enhanced search performance, equivalent to processing 5 more aircraft, for a given level of performance. Size & Contrast cues were consistent with depth cues. Depth-consistent cues reduced missed conflicts.

Why did SIZE and CONTRAST cues enhance performance? Depth LARGER & DARKER IS CLOSER Magnitude Metaphor MORE IS UP

Experiment 2 ( Palmer, Clausner, Kellman. Human Factors Erg. Soc. 2009) Above Below Depth-ConsistentDepth-Inconsistent

Experiment 2 Method Above Below Depth-ConsistentDepth-Inconsistent

Vantage Point Instruction

Displays MORE IS UPMORE IS DOWN

Visual Search Procedure Participants (N = 80) were instructed to imagine the scene from the vantage point, they bodily experienced in training.

Equivalent Displays: MORE IS UP From ABOVE Depth-Consistent From BELOW Depth-Inconsistent

Equivalent Displays: MORE IS UP p =.026 Proportion Correct From ABOVE Depth-Consistent From BELOW Depth-Inconsistent

Equivalent Displays: MORE IS DOWN From ABOVE Depth-Inconsistent From BELOW Depth-Consistent

Equivalent Displays: MORE IS DOWN p >.89 Proportion Correct From ABOVE Depth-Inconsistent From BELOW Depth-Consistent

Conclusions Conflict detection performance varied with imagined vantage point. Performance was best when Size & Contrast cues are depth-consistent AND match a MORE IS UP metaphor, imagined from above.

Experiment 3 Color vs. Contrast COLORCONTRAST

Displays COLORCONTRAST

Results Color encoding of altitude yielded better conflict detection than contrast coding. COLORCONTRAST

Results Performance varied with vantage point, for contrast cues but not color cues. COLORCONTRAST From ABOVE From BELOW

Experiment 4 SHAPE vs. SIZE SHAPESIZE

Displays SHAPESIZE

Results Shape cues yielded better performance than size cues SHAPESIZE

Experiment 4 Results Performance did not vary with vantage point SHAPESIZE From ABOVE From BELOW

Conclusions Some perceptual cues interacted with Imagined Perspective Enhanced ability to detect conflicts in these displays is due to more than display features. Perceptual cues engaged Depth Processes AND Conceptual Metaphors Some cues may be more natural than others. Explaining and predicting enhanced visualization must consider the cognitive processes that display features engage.

US Patent #7,408,552 European Patent # PAPERS Clausner (2002). How conceptual metaphors are productive of spatial- graphical expressions. Proc. Cognitive Science Society. (pp ). Clausner & Croft (1999). Domains and image schemas. Cognitive Linguistics, 10, Palmer, Brown, Bates, Kellman, & Clausner (2009). Imagined viewpoints modulate visual search in air traffic control displays. Human Factors and Ergonomic Society. Palmer, Clausner & Kellman (2008). Enhancing Air Traffic Control Displays via Perceptual Cues. ACM: Trans. Applied Perception 5, 1-22.

Color cues for altitude may compete with other color encodings