initial contact

Rick Heybroek (LOFTwork_at_CompuServe.COM)
Mon, 4 Aug 1997 17:30:35 -0400


Hi all,

Mark Pitt said:
>>>Has anyone done research to collect data pertaining to the relationship
between pilot mental capacity and workload?<<<

Do you mean mental workload? I assume so. How would you distinguish
between capacity and workload? In a sense, the field of mental workload is
an attempt to define capacity (which becomes obvious if you try to define a
metric for capacity other than the ability to perform work - they exist,
but have more to do with aptitude and problem-solving...)

The literature on mental workload is enormous and covers:
- physiological metrics or indicators (such as evoked
response potential, heart-rate variability, saccade length index etc.)
- subjective (NASA TLX, POSWAT, Cooper-Harper and dozens more)
- network modeling (MicroSaint is the best known) and
cognitive resourcing e.g. VACP, Wickens & Liu Conflicted Resource Model
etc.

Perhaps if you could explain a bit more about what you want to do with the
data we could be more specific about research findings.

Regards,

Rick Heybroek

LOFTwork limited