Brain interaction during cooperation: Evaluating local properties of multiple-brain network

Subjects’ interaction is the core of most human activities. This is the reason why a lack of coordination is often the cause of missing goals, more than individual failure. While there are different subjective and objective measures to assess the level of mental effort required by subjects while facing a situation that is getting harder, that is, mental workload, to define an objective measure based on how and if team members are interacting is not so straightforward. In this study, behavioral, subjective and synchronized electroencephalographic data were collected from couples involved in a cooperative task to describe the relationship between task difficulty and team coordination, in the sense of interaction aimed at cooperatively performing the assignment. Multiple-brain connectivity analysis provided information about the whole interacting system. The results showed that averaged local properties of a brain network were affected by task difficulty. In particular, strength changed significantly with task difficulty and clustering coefficients strongly correlated with the workload itself. In particular, a higher workload corresponded to lower clustering values over the central and parietal brain areas. Such results has been interpreted as less efficient organization of the network when the subjects’ activities, due to high workload tendencies, were less coordinated

A Mixed Method Approach to Collegiate Aviation Self-Assessment of G-Load on Landing: Pilot Perception Versus Reality

Because there is no universal definition of a hard landing, pilots themselves must determine if a landing was hard enough to require an unscheduled maintenance inspection. Large, transport category aircraft are equipped with flight data monitoring (FDM) as a secondary data source that can help pilots determine if a hard landing occurred, but FDM is not commonplace in general aviation. It is important for a pilot to be able to differentiate between a firm landing that does not cause damage to the aircraft and hard landing that potentially could cause damage to the aircraft by means of vestibular, visual, and proprioceptive cues. Self-assessment of these cues helps pilots determine if the landing should be considered a hard landing. Self-assessments are subjective and depending upon metacognitive level, a pilot may fall prey to self-serving bias. To determine if self-serving bias is present in the aviation domain, participants completed a survey on landing perceptions. Additionally, flight data monitoring equipment provided actual landing data. Results suggest that self-serving bias is not common in the aviation domain unlike existing literature suggests. Many participants were unable to accurately perceive landing G-load, indicating that FDM equipment provides reliable data

Investigation of Pilots\u27 Visual Entropy and Eye Fixations for Simulated Flights Consisted of Multiple Take-Offs and Landings

Eye movement characteristics might provide insights on pilots\u27 mental fatigue during prolonged flight. The visual entropy, eye fixation numbers, and eye fixation durations of ten novice pilots and ten expert pilots were analyzed for a four-hour simulated flight task consisting of four consecutive flight legs. Each flight leg lasted approximately one hour and contained five flight phases: takeoff, climb, cruise, descend, and landing. The pilots maneuvered the simulated B-52 aircraft following instrument flight rules (IFR) in a moderate-fidelity Microsoft Flight Simulator environment. Our results indicate that experts’ eye movement characteristics were significantly different from those of novices. In detail, novices\u27 eye movements were more random, produced longer eye fixation durations, and had fewer eye fixation numbers on the areas of interest (AOIs) than the experts. In addition, the repetitive task (i.e., four consecutive flights) significantly impacted the eye movement characteristics for both experts and novices. Visual entropy and eye fixation duration increased, while eye fixation numbers decreased for both groups as the repetition index increased. Finally, the flight phases also affected eye movement characteristics. The results show that both experts\u27 and novices\u27 visual entropies were relatively higher during climb, cruise, and descend phases, whereas those were relatively lower during the takeoff and landing phases. The present results provide a foundation for us to better understand the similarities and dissimilarities of eye movement characteristics between the experts and novices for a prolonged flight. Lastly, potential scaffolding training methods and pilot anomaly alerting systems, derived from such eye movements, are introduced

Aerospace Medicine and Biology. A continuing bibliography with indexes

This bibliography lists 244 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in February 1981. Aerospace medicine and aerobiology topics are included. Listings for physiological factors, astronaut performance, control theory, artificial intelligence, and cybernetics are included

Optimising aircraft taxi speed: Design and evaluation of new means to present information on a head-up display

The objective of this study was to design and evaluate new means of complying to time constraints by presenting aircraft target taxi speeds on a head-up display (HUD). Four different HUD presentations were iteratively developed from paper sketches into digital prototypes. Each HUD presentation reflected different levels of information presentation. A subsequent evaluation included 32 pilots, with varying flight experience, in usability tests. The participants subjectively assessed which information was most useful to comply with time constraints. The assessment was based on six themes including information, workload, situational awareness, stress, support and usability. The evaluation consisted of computer-simulated taxi-runs, self-assessments and statistical analysis. Information provided by a graphical vertical tape descriptive/predictive HUD presentation, including alpha-numerical information redundancy, was rated most useful. Differences between novice and expert pilots can be resolved by incorporating combinations of graphics and alpha-numeric presentations. The findings can be applied for further studies of combining navigational and time-keeping HUD support during taxi

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 324)

This bibliography lists 200 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during May, 1989. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance

Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes, supplement 217, March 1981

Approximately 130 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in February 1981 are included in this bibliography. Topics include aerospace medicine and biology

THE EFFECTS OF WEATHER RECOGNITION TRAINING ON GENERAL AVIATION PILOT SITUATION ASSESSMENT AND TACTICAL DECISION MAKING WHEN CONFRONTED WITH ADVERSE WEATHER CONDITIONS

Previous general aviation (GA) accident studies showed that decision errors were more associated with fatal GA accidents than other kinds of human errors, and weather related accidents, especially continued visual flight rules (VFR) flight into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC), remained the major cause of fatal GA accidents. Thus, finding the underlying causes of GA pilots\u27 decision errors and continued VFR flight into adverse weather conditions are needed to reduce weather related GA accidents as well as fatal GA accidents. Causal factors and hypotheses of weather related GA accidents show that knowledge, experience, motivation, and weather information frequently have been referred as causal factors of weather-related GA accidents. Among causal hypotheses, situation assessment and risk assessment hypotheses have been cited frequently as the causes of weather related GA accidents. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of weather recognition training on GA pilots\u27 situation assessment and tactical decision making under gradually aggravating weather conditions. To meet this purpose, WeatherWise and an X-Plane 9 flight simulation program has been used. WeatherWise is a computer based weather training program developed by Wiggins et al. (2000) to improve GA pilot weather-related decision making, and was approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for free public use. Pilot situation assessment is a pilot\u27s understanding of a current flight state, and was evaluated in terms of weather assessment and risk assessment. Weather assessment is the pilot\u27s ability to recognize or estimate the changes in visibility, ceiling, and weather condition. Risk assessment is the understanding of the risks associated with flying in adverse weather conditions, and was measured in terms of risk perception and risk tolerance using the Hazardous Event Scale, personal weather minimums, and the Aviation Safety Attitude Scale. Pilot situation assessment was measured by a post experiment questionnaire. Pilot tactical decision making is in flight judgment, and was evaluated in terms of decision accuracy and decision confidence. Decision accuracy was evaluated by measuring the distance that a pilot has flown from an optimal divert point to an actual divert point, and the distance a pilot has flown into adverse weather conditions. Decision confidence is the pilot\u27s confidence level in making diverting decisions when the pilot encounters adverse weather, and was measured by subjective rating method. Findings of the study indicated that the WeatherWise training group exhibited significantly higher weather assessment as measured by ceiling estimation ability and decision accuracy as measured by flown distance into adverse weather condition than the control group, but no significant differences were found in their risk assessment and decision confidence. Although the effects of weather training on the risk assessment were not significantly different between the two groups, participants in the WeatherWise training group was more conservative toward flying into adverse weather condition than the control group. It was hypothesized to find a positive relationship between pilots\u27 situation assessments and their tactical decision-making because situation assessment forms a basis for decision making; however, positive relationship was found only between pilots\u27 ceiling estimation and flown distances into adverse weather in this study. Thus, it can be concluded that the weather training was effective at least in part to pilot situation assessment and tactical decision making. In addition, considering the weather training was just one-time 30 minute training, long-term effects of weather training should be conducted to find further relationship between pilot situation assessment and tactical decision making. The results of this study can be expanded not only to GA pilots but also to commercial airline pilots and military pilots for various reasons. First, all pilots are expected to acquire weather recognition skills and knowledge to ensure a safe flight regardless of their flight types because the nature of weather condition changes is dynamic and hard to predict during the flight. Second, although those aircrafts are well equipped with navigation aid systems and weather display radar, they do not provide real–time weather information, and they sometimes malfunction. In conclusion, it is expected that this study will be helpful for GA pilots to understand the effects of weather recognition training on weather decision making, and eventually help them assess a situation correctly and make a timely in–flight decision. It is believed that this study will help to establish a sound foundation for weather training program and has the potential to reduce weather-related GA accidents by implementing weather training during flight training

Intraocular pressure responses to a virtual reality shooting simulation in active-duty members of the Spanish Army: The influence of task complexity

Ocular physiology is sensitive to cognitively demanding tasks. However, it is unknown whether the intraocular pressure is also affected by the cognitive demands of military operations. The main objective was to determine the impact of a virtual reality shooting simulation with two levels of complexity on intraocular pressure levels in military personnel. Eighteen active-duty members of the Spanish Army and eighteen civilians performed two 4 min simulated shooting tasks with two levels of complexity using a virtual reality. In the “easy” task participants performed a simulated shoot when the stimulus (military with a rifle) appeared, while in the “difficult” task the stimulus randomly was a military with a rifle or with his hands on the air and participants were instructed to respond only when the military with a rifle appeared. Intraocular pressure was measured with a rebound tonometer before and immediately after each task. Complementarily, perceived levels of mental load and shooting performance (reaction time) were assessed. Intraocular pressure was greater after completing the more complex task in both military personnel (p-value < 0.01, Cohen´s d = 1.19) and civilians (p-value < 0.01, Cohen´s d = 1.16). Also, perceived levels of task load and reaction time were higher in the difficult compared to the easy shooting tasks (both p < 0.001). The rise in intraocular pressure is positively associated with the cognitive demands of simulated military operations. The potential application of this finding is the development of objective tools based on intraocular pressure for the evaluation of the mental state in real-world contexts, permitting to improve soldiers´safety and performance.CEMIX (Centro Mixto UGR-MADOC, Army of Spain) 5/4/20 TR-COMBAT