Presentation
Quantifying Mental Workload in Rail Traffic Control: An Eye-tracking Investigation under varying Task Demands and Expertise Levels
DescriptionRail traffic controllers perform a myriad of tasks from passive monitoring of the rail traffic systems to short-term intervention either to rectify an issue or to respond to an uncertain situation. Measuring their mental demands, and the effects of workload on their performance and safety of the system is critically important. Therefore, using eye-tracking metrics and DLR-Workload Assessment Tool (DLR-WAT) we measured and analyzed the mental workload of 9 novice and 9 expert traffic controllers as they performed traffic control tasks in a rail traffic simulator while managing sparse versus dense train traffic and solving safety issues on the tracks. Eye tracking metrics identified workload in high difficulty tasks whereas DLR-WAT scores signified the differences between novices and experts. DLR-WAT was also useful in identifying different functions of a task. Integrating eye tracking metrics with subjective measures of workload can help in better understanding the dynamic interplay between task difficulty and differences in between individuals in the control center.
Event Type
Lecture
TimeWednesday, October 15th11:50am - 12:10pm CDT
LocationGrand Hall L
Surface Transportation