Displays for Seeing without Looking

Abstract

A laboratory study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of peripheral vision displays for presenting dynamic tracking information during difficult control tasks such as landing high speed aircraft or rendezvousing spacecraft. It was hypothesized that peripheral displays could be successfully used to improve performance provided visual switching between information sources is normally an essential part of such tasks. Visual switching consists of eye movement, accommodation, and convergence. The hypothesis was tested by comparing the performance on a two dimensional compensatory tracking task under conditions in which the requirements for visual switching and the provisions of peripheral displays were systematically varied and controlled. The study clearly demonstrated that tracking performance deteriorates as visual switching increases and that peripheral displays can be used to overcome its adverse effects.