Evaluating the Accuracy of Solving the Simplest Sensory-Cognitive Tasks by the Operator of Ergatic Sys-tems

Introduction. The use of training complexes and simulators is now considered to be an effective means of preparing operators of complex technological systems. At the same time, there is a considerable divergence in the composition of the technical equipment applied in the training complexes, which raises the question of dependence between training results and technologies used. The study is aimed at evaluating the accuracy of solving the simplest sensory-cognitive tasks significant for effective professional activity in conditions of information perception in virtual environments and from electronic displays. The hypothesis was tested about the dependence of the results of solving sensory-cognitive tasks on the modality of information presentation. The object of the study is elementary sensory-cognitive tasks based on the assessment of the center of mass of geometric objects. These tasks were chosen as typical ones faced by operators involved in the loading and unloading process. Such a task encompasses a sensory component in terms of geometric shape assessment and a cognitive one. The methods for solving the problem are those of cluster analysis including the t-SNE dimensionality reduction technique and the K-means unsupervised machine learning algorithm that allow the identification of patterns in the experiment results. Results. The analysis revealed no statistically significant differences in the results of measuring either the accuracy of the perception of geometric object sizes and shapes or the speed of this process when using different modalities of presenting video information to the operator. This indicates that the way the information is presented does not affect the results. Conclusion. It has been established that immersion in virtual environments does not have a significant negative or positive effect on the accuracy of the operator’s perception of the sizes and shapes of geometric objects. Given the other advantages of virtual environments, it can be assumed that training manipulator operators in guidance tasks in virtual environments will have minor advantages compared to their training them in simulators based on electronic displays, primarily perhaps due to the element of novelty.