A Brain-Based Adaptive Automation System and Situation Awareness: The Role of Complacency Potential

The present study assessed situation awareness with individuals who differed in automation complacency potential using a brain-based adaptive automation system. All participants were administered a measure of complacency potential and performed a suite of tasks while monitoring several displays. A biocybernetic system was used to switch tasks between automatic and manual modes. For half of the participants, a psychophysiological index of engagement derived from their own EEG signals was used to control the task mode switches. The remaining participants operated under a pattern of task mode switches that were not derived from their EEG signals, but instead from records created by the participants in the other group. The results indicated that those individuals predisposed toward automation complacency demonstrated lower levels of situation awareness. Further, the lowest levels of situation awareness were observed for those participants predisposed toward automation complacency operating under a pattern of task mode switches generated by the other group. These findings suggest that adaptive automation may have the potential to reduce the effects of complacency by increasing available attentional capacity and in turn, improving situation awareness.