Effect of Control-Display Compatibility on the Mental Workload of Submarine Helmsmen

The purpose of the study is to analyse the directional compatibility of control-display design and its effects on the mental workload of helmsmen. An experiment is then carried out on a simulator designed by a world leader in military naval shipbuilding. This experiment follows a unique scenario including four usual submarine maneuvers. It is achieved by two groups, each carrying out a perceptual-motor task on a specific steering control-display configuration, proposed by the naval shipbuilder (one with a standard numeric display and one with a new visual-spatial representation, both tasks controlled by the same joystick). The findings of this study show that the control-display compatibility produces increased mental workload when a direction-of-motion stereotype is violated (upward-forward relationship).

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