Search Results

The present paper provides a general review of trends in vehicle information display designs, specifically “dashboards,” noting that the purpose of those dashboard displays is to provide information that allows for safe and lawful operation of those vehicles. The author describes how these trends appear to have been driven by a combination of historical precedents including vehicle interior design, available vehicle display technology, and, later, by development of vehicle data busses. The paper describes human factors and cognitive neuroscience issues that affect an operator's ability to read gauges in a dashboard display. The paper reports the results of the author's 2008 research where 71 of 101 survey respondents indicated that they find it hard to read their recreational vehicle gauges. It describes participants' significantly positive responses to the author's dashboard display prototype developed using human factors and cognitive neuroscience principles.

Operator attention has been a significant focus of human factors research in recent years. This research has clarified how electronic devices and other stimuli can become distractions for vehicle operators. The research has defined a condition known as “distracted driving,” characterized by interruption of the sequence of cognitive processes essential for safe operation of a vehicle. Although “attention” has been the most often mentioned of these cognitive processes, they also include perception, memory, cognition, and planful behavior. These processes are the “cognitive demands” of safe vehicle operation. There is another issue, similar to distracted driving, that may hamper safe operation of a vehicle. That issue is the “cognitive load” of human-machine interface devices, including instrument clusters. The present paper explores the effects of cognitive load on operator response speed. It describes a novel method for displaying systems datums designed to manage cognitive load.