Level of automation effects on situation awareness and functional specificity in automation reliance
Adam G. Smith, Greg A. Jamieson · PsycEXTRA Dataset · 2012
This thesis investigates the relationships between performance, workload, and situation awareness at varying levels of automation.The relationships observed in this study are compared to a description put forth to formalize the conventional interpretation of the trade-off between the benefits of automation during routine operation and the costs under conditions of automation failure.The original work stipulated that this "routinefailure trade-off" is likely a simplification affected by contextual factors.This work therefore aimed to i) provide empirical evidence to support or refute the trade-off and ii) to identify possible extenuating factors.The results generally supported the routine-failure trade-off, and considered in light of the functional structure of the task suggested that the relationships between goals and individual functions specific to a given task seem to affect the overall costs and benefits of automation through the mechanism of selective reliance.Further work is required to validate the findings of this study.iii