A Tool to Facilitate Learning in a Complex Manual Control Task

Abstract

A tool has been developed to investigate and to facilitate learning processes in complex perceptual-motor tasks. The tool is based on the docking maneuver, a demanding manual control task, in which a target object has to be positioned by manipulating six degrees of freedom. The task difficulty can be varied from easy to very demanding. On the basis of the performance the difficulty may be adapted and feedback may be given to the trainee. The tool can be used either in an automatic rule-based mode or as a training aid for instructors. For monitoring the learning process not only performance data are collected, but also subjective ratings and psychophysiological measures. Cardiovascular measures, verbal callouts, voice frequencies, and Event Related Potentials (ERPs) were collected as indicators of arousal, situation awareness, perceived situation control, and mental load, respectively. This multi-level approach yields more insight into the problems, the effort and strain of the trainee. The tool was successfully tested during the Mars500 project in which a long-term space flight (Moscow, IBMP) was simulated. The feasibility of a flight-embedded P300 assessment as a correlate of free cognitive capacity was successfully investigated in laboratory experiments. The tool provides new possibilities for research, not only on docking training, but also on manual control learning in general (e.g. controlling a robot arm).