Combining electrodermal responses and cardiovascular measures for probing adaptive automation during simulated flight

Adaptive automation increases the operator's workload in case of hypovigilance and takes over more responsibility if workload becomes too high. Two consecutive studies were conducted to construct a biocybernetic adaptive system for a professional flight simulator, based on autonomic measures. Workload was varied through different stages of turbulences. In a first study with 18 participants, electrodermal responses of experimental subjects oscillated very close to the individual set point, demonstrating that workload level was adjusted as a result of adaptive control, which was not the case in yoked control subjects without adaptive automation. Combining electrodermal responses with heart rate variability in a second study with 48 participants further enhanced the adaptive power which was seen in even smaller set point deviations for the experimental compared to the yoked control group. We conclude that the level of arousal can be adjusted to avoid hypovigilance by combining autonomic measures in a closed loop.