07 Mai – Thesis defense - Théodore Letouzé
14 h ENSC - By videoconference
Creation of methods to take into account and to study the representations of the operators for the design and improvement of Interfaces Human System.
The objective of this thesis is a study of decision-making processes in complex dynamic and time-constrained environments, applied to aeronautics (civil aviation pilots).
We started our approach with a broad analysis of the literature. This work allowed us to: specify the specificities linked to environmental conditions (uncertainty, risk, resilience); study the cognitive capacities brought into play in a dynamic situation (attention, memory, cognitive resources and modelling, planning); define the decision-making processes (situation awareness, mental representation, theory of mind).
We have concluded that decision-making is based on an internalized mental representation of the world. This representation is based both on past experiences and their structuring in the memory in an explicit but also unconscious way.
On the basis of these results, we therefore sought to implement a method that would allow us to analyse both these conscious elements of the mental representation of the situation for aircraft pilots, but also to explore its tacit aspects.
The study of the literature, as well as our experience from previous or related studies, directed us towards methods derived from psychology such as self-confrontation interviews. It is on this basis that we have designed a method of mental representation analysis dedicated to the problems of human-system interaction. This method, called MERIA for Mental Representation Impact Analysis, allows us to create a chronicle of the decision-making activity giving access to the implicit aspects of decision-making.
This method has been tested on a panel of 30 airline pilots and 3 types of airliner cockpit interfaces (based on the A320). These experiments were carried out in two experimental series as part of the European Horizon 2020 "Future Sky Safety - Human Performance Envelope" project and are continuing as part of the CO2TEAM (Cleansky2) project. The aim of these projects is to carry out an evaluation and modelling of the various parameters that are considered in measuring the performance of an operator in interaction with a system.
Thanks to the MERIA methodology, we were able to validate that certain interfaces or interaction modalities favoured more relevant/performing mental representations with regard to the situations of use.
The results presented here are based on the work carried out under the Future Sky Safety program, funded by the Horizon 2020 research and innovation program of the European Union under Grant Agreement No 640597.
