Operator Functional State: Measure It with Attention Intensity and Selectivity, Explain It with Cognitive Control

To improve the safety and the performance of operators involved in risky and demanding missions, human-machine cooperation should be dynamically adapted, in terms of dialogue or function allocation. To support this reconfigurable cooperation, a crucial point is to assess online the operator’s ability to keep performing the mission, to anticipate and predict potential future performance impairments, as well as to be able to activate appropriate countermeasures in time. Thus, the paper explores the concept of Operator Functional State (OFS) developed by Hockey in 2003, by articulating it with underlying cognitive and attentional states, as well as with the notion of cognitive control modes.