IEEE Systems, Man and Cybernetics Magazine - January 2022 - 7

mounted on top of the table. These
eye-trackers also required some
calibration for better performance.
Before the actual trial began, it
Using the visual
assessment of
management (RESMAN), and communication
(COMM) tasks.
SYSMON task interface is prewas
necessary to record the baseline
parameters from the physiological
tools for each subject in
relaxed condition. Therefore, they
were requested to sit in a relaxed
mood for 5 min to collect the baseline
data. After that, they were
requested to complete a NASA-TLX
workload questionnaire for the
actual experiment. The questionnaire
was categorized according to
the levels of cognitive load to successfully
complete them, such as low cognitive load trial
condition, moderate cognitive load trial condition, and
high cognitive load trial condition. Each trial lasted for
5 min. The trial started from the low level of cognitive load
following the moderate and then high cognitive load,
chronologically. After the participant completed the questionnaire,
the end of the trial was signaled.
Finally, all of the physiological tools attached to the
participant's body were removed carefully and the participant
was requested to give his feedback about the experiment
before leaving the private room.
Experimental Environment
MATB-II is a software environment designed to measure
cognitive workload [39]. For the purpose of this study, Wang
et al.'s [40] MATB-II protocol was chosen to be employed. As
presented in Table 1, this protocol classified the task loads
in low, moderate, and high levels. As described in Table 1,
the task load was categorized through the quantity of
events presented to the participant. Low task load is comprised
of less events and high tasks contain more events.
With the help of this task interface, the workload of an
unmanned aerial vehicle operator is manipulated with
four different tasks that require distinct functions of cognition.
Aside from the difficulty levels, the procedures of
the tasks (i.e., single-, dual-, and multitask design) can also
be manipulated in MATB-II, which provides great flexibility.
Figure 1 demonstrates the three tasks of MATB-II
including the systems monitoring (SYSMON), resource
Table 1. MATB-II parameters.
Low Load
Five events (three NASA504 and
two others)
tendency algorithm
for analyzing the
basic characteristics
of a data set before
forming statistical
models is a great idea.
sented in the top left corner of the
figure. For this task, the participant
must keep a watchful eye on the
" warning " alerts (F5-6 and F5) and
scales (F1-4). During SYSMON
events, the state of the alerts and
scales will change from their initial
visual values (colors) state
(e.g., F5 deviating from green to
clear background fill). When these
visual changes occur, the alert or
scale must be reverted back to
their original states via mouse
click by the participant within the shortest possible
time. So, in a SYSMON task, the quantity of the alerts to
which the participant needs to respond determines the
task load.
A RESMAN task interface is located at the bottom
middle section of the figure. Here, the participant is
expected to take care of the fuel distribution of the
ship so that the fuel level of the two primary tanks
don't go out of the required fuel range (2500 ± 150) as
the ship uses up the " fuel " resource with the passage of
time. But the primary tanks cannot be directly fueled
up. There are secondary tanks that are connected to
the primary tanks and through a number of pumps, can
be fueled up by the participant. The difficulty here is
that the pumps are incapacitated during the RESMAN
events, which prevents the normal flow of the fuel.
Hence, the participant must think up insightful strategies
for fighting out the pump failures to make sure
that the primary tanks have the fuel within specific
range. Here, the simultaneous failures of multiple
pumps preventing the regular flow of fuel control the
task load.
Finally, the COMM task interface resides in bottom
left section of the figure. In this task, there are four radio
stations with corresponding frequencies. During the
COMM events, there will be audio messages instructing
the participant to change the frequency of any particular
station. But the participant must be careful of the call
sign that pops up during the audio message. The audio
Moderate Load
High Load
SysMon 15 events (five F5, five F6, five F1/2/3/4) 30 events (10 F5, 10 F6, 10 F1/2/3/4)
Comm
15 events (nine NASA504 and
six others)
ResMon One pump in pumps 1-8 fail and fix for
eight times, total 160 s of fail time
Two pump in pumps 1-8 fail and fix
simultaneously, total 160 s of fail time
45 events (15 F5, 15 F6, 15 F1/2/3/4)
25 events (15 NASA504 and 10 others)
Three pumps in pumps 1-8 fail and fix
simultaneously for eight times, total
160 s of fail time
January 2022 IEEE SYSTEMS, MAN, & CYBERNETICS MAGAZINE
7
IEEE Systems, Man and Cybernetics Magazine - January 2022

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