Cognitive models applied to human effectiveness in national security environments (ergonomics of augmented cognition system design and application).

In complex simulation systems where humans interact with computer-generated agents, information display and the interplay of virtual agents have become dominant media and modalities of interface design. This design strategy is reflected in augmented reality (AR), an environment where humans interact with computer-generated agents in real-time. AR systems can generate large amount of information, multiple solutions in less time, and perform far better in time-constrained problem solving. The capabilities of AR have been leveraged to augment cognition in human information processing. In this sort of augmented cognition (AC) work system, while technology has become the main source for information acquisition from the environment, the human sensory and memory capacities have failed to cope with the magnitude and scale of information they encounter. This situation generates opportunity for excessive cognitive workloads, a major factor in degraded human performance. From the human effectiveness point of view, research is needed to develop, model, and validate simulation tools that can measure the effectiveness of an AR technology used to support the amplification of human cognition. These tools will allow us to predict human performance for tasks executed under an AC tool construct. This paper presents an exploration of ergonomics issues relevant to AR and AC systems design. Additionally, proposed research to investigate those ergonomic issues is discussed