A complexity study of human-machine interaction on motion platforms

This paper presents a quantitative complexity theory for human-machine interaction and validates the developed theory through experiments. Based on work in basic research an information-theoretic complexity measure C is introduced The main advantage of the novel measure is that it solely relies on information theoretic quantities and is independent from possibly unreliable subjective ratings or psychophysiological measurements. The validity of the complexity measure is studied through interactive visual search experiments with electronic chart displays for vessel navigation and control. The experiments were carried out in a high fidelity marine simulator with 30 participants. The platform motion and the ambient light conditions were varied systematically. The results show a significantly lower interaction complexity when the simulator is put in sea state characteristics and the operator is facing considerable motion forces. In addition, significantly lower complexity values were observed, if the ambient light intensity is reduced from 800 Lux (daylight) to 30 Lux (twilight). Under the daylight condition the average complexity reduction due to the platform motion was 10%. However, under the twilight condition there was a stronger average complexity reduction with 17%. Therefore, the novel complexity theory seems to be a valid approach for the quantitative assessment of human machine interaction on motion platforms