Cognitive analysis and modeling of an ambulance dispatch task

Simulating complex natural tasks in the laboratory can be facilitated by a thorough analysis and modeling of the environment and tasks in the field. A field study is conducted to determine the workload of ambulance dispatchers in the province of Groningen. The results of the study are used to build a spatial navigation and planning task that is simulated in the laboratory. A major advantage of the virtual environment is that it allows for controlled experimentation. The results of the approach of analysis and of the development of a laboratory task environment are described in this article