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Interpersonal Physiological Synchrony in Mixed Reality Manufacturing Environments: Evaluating Shared Mental Models in
Khalid Bello1, Israa Azzam2, Farid El Breidi3
1Center for Human Systems Engineering, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Louisville, Louisville, USA.
Summary
Physiological synchrony, measured by heart rate and variability, correlates with team cognition in mixed reality manufacturing. This can monitor team performance and improve training by identifying breakdowns in shared understanding.
Area of Science:
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Occupational Psychology
- Physiological Computing
Background:
- Collaborative work in mixed reality (MR) environments presents unique challenges for team coordination and shared understanding.
- Traditional methods for assessing team cognition may not capture the nuances of real-time interaction dynamics in immersive settings.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between interpersonal physiological synchrony and shared mental models (SMMs) in MR manufacturing teams.
- To determine if physiological synchrony can serve as a real-time indicator of team cognition and performance.
- To explore the impact of team size (dyads vs. triads) on physiological alignment and SMMs.
Main Methods:
- Collected heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) data from participants in collaborative MR manufacturing tasks.
- Assessed team-level shared mental models (SMMs) using established measurement techniques.
- Analyzed the correlation between physiological synchrony metrics and SMM scores.
- Compared physiological synchrony and SMMs between dyadic and triadic teams.
Main Results:
- Real-time physiological alignment (synchrony) was found to be a significant correlate of team cognition (SMMs) in MR environments.
- Physiological synchrony measures effectively distinguished between high- and low-performing teams.
- Triadic teams demonstrated stronger physiological alignment and more robust SMMs compared to dyadic teams.
Conclusions:
- Interpersonal physiological synchrony offers a non-intrusive, real-time measure of team interaction quality and cognitive alignment in MR.
- Physiological monitoring can enhance occupational training and performance monitoring in manufacturing by identifying coordination breakdowns.
- Team structuring, particularly favoring triads over dyads, may optimize physiological synchrony and shared understanding in MR collaboration.
Keywords:
Shared mental modelsheart rateheart rate variabilitymixed realitynonlinear dynamical systemsphysiological synchronyteamwork
