Citation

Staszewski JJ, Davison AD, Dippel DJ, Tischuk JA. Proc. Hum. Factors Ergon. Soc. Annu. Meet. 2008; 52(4): 343-347.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/154193120805200431

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Previous research on training and work analysis shows that expert knowledge represents a valuable resource for addressing use-inspired research questions and solving practical problems in these areas. Here, the body of principles, theory, and methods expertise research has accumulated were used to guide exploration of a new approach to a significant practical problem: Can human vision supplement the information that handheld landmine detection equipment provides its operators to increase detection rates and reduce the hazard of the task? The goal was to acquire objective, foundational knowledge on which visual detection training could be based. A representative set of defused landmines were buried at a field site with bare soil and vegetated surfaces using doctrinal procedures. High-resolution photographs of the ground surface were taken for approximately one month starting in April 2006. An analysis exploiting the perceptual sensitivity of expert observers showed signature photos to experts from related domains with instructions to identify the cues and patterns that defined the signatures. Analysis of experts' verbal descriptions identified a small set of easily communicable cues that characterize signatures and their changes over the duration of observation. Findings illustrate the value of exploiting the knowledge based perceptual selectivity of experts to identify critical features in perceptually complex domains and tasks.

Language: en