Is That What I Think It Is? Impact of Screen Size on User Ability to Identify Human Activities.

Soldiers on the modern battlefield are taking advantage of aerial surveillance systems to provide better situation awareness while limiting their exposure to the enemy. The efficacy of this technology is a function of the human factors considerations inherent in the design. This study investigated the impact of display size on Soldiers’ situation awareness in a target detection and identification task using a 2 (screen sizes) × 3 (# of personnel in scenario) × 5 (activity types) full factorial design. Accuracy, response time, and confidence data were collected from 56 participants who observed 30 scenarios. No significant difference was found for display size but certain activities were more difficult to identify. Implications of the results and recommendations for additional research are discussed.