Automation Challenges of Socio-technical Systems

1 Synchronization of Stimuli with Heart Rate: a New Challenge to Control Attentional Dissonances

1.1. Introduction

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye” [DES 43]. This quote is the perfect introduction to this chapter, which contains an approach to evaluating the impact of the synchronization of demands with heart beats in terms of the occurrence of attentional dissonances.

An accident or an incident is often due to a combination of human, technical, environmental or organizational factors. Two levels of gaps are generally envisaged [VAN 03]: a behavioral gap, for example when the actual behavior of a human operator is not as expected, and a situational gap, for example when the true consequences of behavior are not as expected. To simplify these risk analyses, acceptability thresholds are defined in order to determine whether such and such a gap must be processed. Yet, this approach neglects gaps of low amplitude or frequency that could sometimes provide an explanation of the occurrence of some undesirable events. These margins can, in the long term, be associated with dangerous situations.

The concept of dissonance, generated voluntarily or involuntarily, with or without the knowledge of its real or possible consequences, responds to this problem. It allows consideration of imperceptible signals that can generate risks such as these.

The occurrence of a dissonance can be associated with physiological measurements ...