The Effect of Active and Passive Control on Air Traffic Controller Dynamic Memory

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of automated and passive control on air traffic controller dynamic memory. The study consisted of two experiments, each involving a realistic ATC scenario for radar approach control with a mix of arriving and departing traffic. In Experiment I, the subjects performed manual control of the traffic while, in Experiment II, the scenario was highly automated and the subjects were tasked with only monitoring the situation. The dynamic memory performance was measured by interrupting the scenario and having the subjects recall the traffic situation at the moment of simulation interruption. The accuracy of recall was compared between the manual and automated scenarios. It was anticipated that subjects exercising manual control would have superior recall ability and a picture. This would have significant implications on the design of automated systems for ATC and the role of the human controller within the ATC system

Multiple Identity Tracking and Motion Extrapolation

Multiple Identity Tracking (MIT) is a research paradigm in which individuals track the location and individual identity information of several moving objects in the environment. The present study is an examination of how individuals are able to extrapolate the future movement of moving objects while they are masked. There has been conflicting research on the source of a decline in tracking ability; either the amount of time an object is occluded for, or the distance an object moved during an occlusion. Additionally, previous research has not included the use of a secondary visual search task in a mask. Our design was modeled after a task of a pilot, who has to divide his or her attention between flight information on a head-up display (HUD) and traffic information on a horizontal situation display (HSD), while maintaining good situation awareness on both sources of information

Human Reliability Analysis in Healthcare

The problem of human error in healthcare is well documented. Other domains (such as transportation and energy) have used techniques and methods from the engineering disciplines to analyze and ultimately reduce instances of error. In New York State (NYS), the Department of Health (DOH) requires the use of one such method, Root Cause Analysis (RCA), in investigating and reporting the occurrence of and response to sentinel events by hospitals. Despite the use of the RCA technique in an attempt to identify and mitigate the root causes of error, the problem of human error contributing to sentinel events persists. Experts in Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) contend that human performance is too complex to be represented by models used in engineering systems reliability. A method to analyze human erroneous actions was created that considers operator context and control based on a model of human cognition. The technique, called the Cognitive Reliability and Error Analysis Method (CREAM), was used to reanalyze 58 sentinel event cases Rochester General Hospital previously analyzed using RCA. Despite serious data limitations, our results reveal an apparent gap between RCA and CREAM analyses. We suggest that the gap highlights incomplete RCA that minimizes or does not appreciate the role that organizational factors play in contributing to the sentinel events. Due to data limitations, we cannot identify specific interventions to mitigate risk for sentinel events. However, we make several recommendations for improving the RCA process at Rochester General Hospital in an effort to improve the validity of the analyses data for further study

Conflict Detection in Air Traffic Conrol: Distuinguishing Between Judgments of Conflict Risk and Intervention Decisions

This paper seeks to make a distinction between cognitive processes involved in conflict risk judgment and those involved in conflict avoidance decisions (controllers’ interventions for separation assurance). First, we conducted a systematic review of the conflict detection literature to identify studies that focused on conflict risk assessments and studies that focused on conflict avoidance (intervention). We then report empirical data pertaining to controller intervention judgments. Studies on conflict avoidance have rarely described the intervention decision making process and its interaction with the conflict risk assessment process, whereas our data indicated differences in terms of information processing between judgments of conflict risk and intervention judgments. We provide recommendation for future studies on conflict detection and conflict avoidance. These findings also have implications for the development of automated conflict detection tools

Tracking the Identity of Moving Words: Stimulus Complexity and Familiarity Affects Tracking Accuracy

In two experiments, participants tracked the identity and location of moving words. The task bears resemblance to one performed by air traffic controllers who track multiple moving aircraft, where they are identified with relatively complex alphanumeric call signs. In Experiment 1, stimulus familiarity was manipulated by comparing the tracking of familiar words and pseudowords. In Experiment 2, also stimulus complexity was varied by having the participants track short and long words. Stimulus complexity affected tracking: short words were easier to track than long words. Moreover, familiarity of identity affected tracking of short words (short familiar words were easier to track than short pseudo‐words) but not of long words. The results are interpreted within the framework of the MOMIT model. Mathematical simulations suggest that observers may not have enough time for full identification of complex identities in a dynamic situation. Practical implications of the results for air traffic control are discussed.</p

The Effectiveness of a Personal Computer Aviation Training Device (PCATD), a Flight Training Device (FTD), and an Airplane in Conducting Instrument Proficiency Checks

This project evaluated the effectiveness of a personal computer aviation training device (PCATD), a flight training device (FTD) and an airplane for conducting an instrument proficiency check (IPC). The study compared the performance of pilots receiving an IPC in a PCATD, in a FTD and in an airplane (IPC #1) with performance on a later IPC in an airplane (IPC #2). Chi-square tests were used to analyze the IPC #1 and IPC #2 data to determine whether the treatment (assignment to group) had an effect on the pass/fail ratio for the IPC #1 and IPC #2 flights respectively. The treatment effect on the IPC #1 and IPC #2 pass/fail ratios were not statistically significant. A series of planned-comparison tests were performed both between the experimental groups and between subjects within each experimental group. The PCATD group was compared to the Airplane group and to the FTD group, the Airplane group to the FTD group. None of these comparisons showed statistically significant (a \u3c .05) differences between groups. These findings provide compelling evidence for permitting the use of PCATDs to give IPCs

Attention control in a demanding dynamic time-sharing environment: An eye-tracking study

In this study, we examined different models of cognitive control in dynamic time-sharing situations. We investigated attentional allocation by registering participants’ eye movements while they performed a new time-sharing task that forced them to solve resource conflicts between subtasks through prioritization. Participants were monitoring four subtasks each requiring different amounts of visual attention and response frequencies. Participants’ attention allocation was operationalized in terms of the time spent dwelling on subtasks, the rate they visually sampled the tasks, and the duration of dwells. Additionally, the accuracy of responses and efficiency of time-sharing were estimated. In Experiment 1, we studied adaptation to a time-sharing environment in which priority order of the subtasks was kept constant from trial to trial. We found that the participants sampled the most important subtasks more frequently, spent more time on them, and shifted their gaze earlier to them than to less important subtasks. That is, they allocated their attention according to the subtask priorities. In Experiment 2, subtask priorities changed from trial to trial. Despite the higher demands of the constantly changing situation, participants again adapted to the varying priorities of the subtasks almost instantly. Our results suggest that performance in complex and dynamic time-sharing situations is not managed by a system relying on liberal resource allocation policies and gradual learning. Instead, the participants’ rapid adaptation is more consistent with tighter executive and authoritative control and intelligent use of prioritization information.</p