OpenMATB: A Multi-Attribute Task Battery promoting task customization, software extensibility and experiment replicabili
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OpenMATB: A Multi-Attribute Task Battery promoting task customization, software extensibility and experiment replicability J. Cegarra 1 & B. Valéry 1 & E. Avril 1 & C. Calmettes 1 & J. Navarro 2,3
# The Psychonomic Society, Inc. 2020
Abstract OpenMATB is an open-source variant of the Multi-Attribute Task Battery (MATB) and is available under a free software license. MATB consists of a set of tasks representative of those performed in aircraft piloting. It is used, in particular, to study the effect of automation on decision-making, mental workload, and vigilance. Since the publication of MATB 20 years ago, the subject of automation has grown considerably in importance. After introducing the task battery, this article highlights three main requirements for an up-to-date implementation of MATB. First, there is a need for task customization, to make it possible to change the values, appearance or integrated components (such as rating scales) of the tasks. Second, researchers need software extensibility to enable them to integrate specific features, such as synchronization with psychophysiological devices. Third, to achieve experiment replicability, it is necessary that the source code and the scenario files are easily available and auditable. In the present paper, we explain how these aspects are implemented in OpenMATB by presenting the software architecture and features, while placing special emphasis on the crucial role of the plugin system and the simplicity of the format used in the script files. Finally, we present a number of general trends for the future study of automation in human factors research and ergonomics. Keywords Task battery . Microworld . Aircraft piloting . Task customization . Software extensibility . Experiment replicability
Introduction First presented as a NASA Technical memorandum (Comstock & Arnegard, 1992), the Multi-Attribute Task Battery (MATB) contains a set of interactive tasks that are representative of those performed during aircraft piloting. It was designed at the NASA Ames Research Center as part of a more general software development project, following the Workload/PerformANcE Simulation (Window/PANES; King, Keifer, & Hart, 1989), a simulation of flying tasks, and the Strategic Control of Response Efficiency (SCORE; Hancock & Winge, 1988), a task battery for the analysis of strategic behaviors (see also Arnegard, 1991). MATB
* J. Cegarra [email protected] 1
Laboratoire Sciences de la Cognition, Technologie, Ergonomie (SCoTE EA 7420), Université de Toulouse, INU Champollion, Albi, France
2
Laboratoire d’Etude des Mécanismes Cognitifs (LEMC EA 3082), Université Lyon 2, Lyon, France
3
Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France
coherently reduces real-life piloting tasks to a format permitting the required level of experimental control. It requires participants to engage in four tasks presented simultaneously on a computer screen. These consist of (1) a monitoring task, (2) a tracking task, (3) an auditory communication task, and (4) a resource management task
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