The Use of Eye Tracking as a Measure of Situation Awareness in Power System Control Rooms

Power systems control rooms are fast-paced, dynamic environments that require operators to maintain awareness of numerous pieces of information. A construct that has been previously used to examine operator ability to process and retain information is situation awareness. It is the process by which information is perceived, comprehended, and then used to project events that may likely occur. It is often measured using observational or self-report methods. In recent times, however, researchers have started using physiological measures such as eye tracking to measure situation awareness. In this paper, we report a pilot study exploring the use of eye tracking metrics to evaluate situation awareness in the operation of a test power system within the confines of a typical control room. Eye tracking results are compared to the results of a Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA), with elaboration of their implications.