"I always know what's going on." Assessing the Relationship between Perceived and Actual Situation Awareness across Different Scenarios

Effective performance in a situation relies on having a good awareness of that situation or at least, if SA is poor, being aware that this is the case. This study examined the bias (tendency to accept or reject available information) and actual and perceived SA of firefighters across two different situations The data suggested that, although actual SA and bia varied across the situations, perceived SA remained relatively constant. This raises the possibility that individuals may have a ‘resting level’ of perceived SA and that the tasks used in this study were effective in manipulating actual SA while perceived SA remained at the resting level

"I always know what's going on." Assessing the Relationship between Perceived and Actual Situation Awareness across Different Scenarios

Effective performance in a situation relies on having a good awareness of that situation or at least, if SA is poor, being aware that this is the case. This study examined the bias (tendency to accept or reject available information) and actual and perceived SA of firefighters across two different situations The data suggested that, although actual SA and bia varied across the situations, perceived SA remained relatively constant. This raises the possibility that individuals may have a ‘resting level’ of perceived SA and that the tasks used in this study were effective in manipulating actual SA while perceived SA remained at the resting level

The human brain in fireground decision-making: trustworthy firefighting equipment?

The research programme to date has involved studies of the response of Fire and Rescue (FRS) crew and commanders in fireground training situations and simulations (tabletop, BA and incident command exercises). The studies have revealed patterns and tendencies with potentially serious consequences for real FRS situations. The main conclusion from these studies is that the fire personnel involved were well-trained professionals with good “Situation Awareness” (SA) or knowledge of the incident under study, but there was also evidence of “bias” in decision-making leading to either a tunneling or broadening of focus that may respectively produce “miss” or “false alarm” errors. This tendency is linked to the limits of the human brain under pressure and could explain tragic errors of decision-making such as may have occurred in real-life fire incidents

Establishment of a core outcome set for burn care research: development and international consensus

Objective: To develop a core outcome set for international burn research.Design: Development and international consensus, from April 2017 to November 2019.Methods: Candidate outcomes were identified from systematic reviews and stakeholder interviews. Through a Delphi survey, international clinicians, researchers, and UK patients prioritised outcomes. Anonymised feedback aimed to achieve consensus. Pre-defined criteria for retaining outcomes were agreed. A consensus meeting with voting was held to finalise the core outcome set.Results: Data source examination identified 1021 unique outcomes grouped into 88 candidate outcomes. Stakeholders in round 1 of the survey, included 668 health professionals from 77 countries (18% from low or low middle income countries) and 126 UK patients or carers. After round 1, one outcome was discarded, and 13 new outcomes added. After round 2, 69 items were discarded, leaving 31 outcomes for the consensus meeting. Outcome merging and voting, in two rounds, with prespecified thresholds agreed seven core outcomes: death, specified complications, ability to do daily tasks, wound healing, neuropathic pain and itch, psychological wellbeing, and return to school or work.Conclusions: This core outcome set caters for global burn research, and future trials are recommended to include measures of these outcomes

Reduced auditory steady state responses in autism spectrum disorder

Background Auditory steady state responses (ASSRs) are elicited by clicktrains or amplitude-modulated tones, which entrain auditory cortex at their specific modulation rate. Previous research has reported reductions in ASSRs at 40 Hz for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) participants and first-degree relatives of people diagnosed with ASD (Mol Autism. 2011;2:11, Biol Psychiatry. 2007;62:192–197). Methods Using a 1.5 s-long auditory clicktrain stimulus, designed to elicit an ASSR at 40 Hz, this study attempted to replicate and extend these findings. Magnetencephalography (MEG) data were collected from 18 adolescent ASD participants and 18 typically developing controls. Results The ASSR localised to bilateral primary auditory regions. Regions of interest were thus defined in left and right primary auditory cortex (A1). While the transient gamma-band response (tGBR) from 0-0.1 s following presentation of the clicktrain stimulus was not different between groups, for either left or right A1, the ASD group had reduced oscillatory power at 40 Hz from 0.5 to 1.5 s post-stimulus onset, for both left and right A1. Additionally, the ASD group had reduced inter-trial coherence (phase consistency over trials) at 40 Hz from 0.64-0.82 s for right A1 and 1.04-1.22 s for left A1. Limitations In this study, we did not conduct a clinical autism assessment (e.g. the ADOS), and therefore, it remains unclear whether ASSR power and/or ITC are associated with the clinical symptoms of ASD. Conclusion Overall, our results support a specific reduction in ASSR oscillatory power and inter-trial coherence in ASD, rather than a generalised deficit in gamma-band responses. We argue that this could reflect a developmentally relevant reduction in non-linear neural processing

Brain oscillations and connectivity in autism spectrum disorders (ASD):new approaches to methodology, measurement and modelling

Although atypical social behaviour remains a key characterisation of ASD, the presence ofsensory and perceptual abnormalities has been given a more central role in recentclassification changes. An understanding of the origins of such aberrations could thus prove afruitful focus for ASD research. Early neurocognitive models of ASD suggested that thestudy of high frequency activity in the brain as a measure of cortical connectivity mightprovide the key to understanding the neural correlates of sensory and perceptual deviations inASD. As our review shows, the findings from subsequent research have been inconsistent,with a lack of agreement about the nature of any high frequency disturbances in ASD brains.Based on the application of new techniques using more sophisticated measures of brainsynchronisation, direction of information flow, and invoking the coupling between high andlow frequency bands, we propose a framework which could reconcile apparently conflictingfindings in this area and would be consistent both with emerging neurocognitive models ofautism and with the heterogeneity of the condition