A Simulator Study of the Effect of Information Load and Datalink on Crew Error

1994 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-70
Author(s):  
Dennis G. Hrebec ◽  
Susan E. Infield ◽  
Susan Rhodes ◽  
Fred E. Fiedler
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Control ◽  
Load Condition ◽  
Information Load ◽  
Communication Modality ◽  
Voice Communications ◽  
Fixed Base ◽  
Independent Variable ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Flight Deck ◽  
High Information

This study investigated the effects of air traffic control (ATC) induced information load and ATC communication modality on crew error in a fixed-base Boeing 747-400 flight deck simulator. To accomplish this, data from an experiment conducted by Boeing (Logan, et al., 1992) were re-analyzed. In this experiment, flightcrews engaged in two high-fidelity, full-mission scenarios. For this re-analysis, the variability in the amount of information ATC transmitted to the crew in the scheduled clearances was examined as an independent variable. To quantify this measure of information load, each scheduled ATC clearance was decomposed into mutually exclusive informational units called propositions. Each proposition consisted of one discrete “chunk” of information. On average, ATC clearances in the high information load condition contained more than two and a half times as many propositions as clearances in the low information load condition. Flightcrews made significantly more errors, and more errors per proposition, in the high information load condition than in the low information load condition. This indicates that it was the density of the information, or how many propositions were packed into each clearance, and not just the quantity of information which affected crew performance. Another manipulated variable was ATC communication modality. Each flightcrew participated in one scenario using a standard voice communications modality exclusively and in the other scenario using a combination of voice and digital DataLink. Though flightcrew error was significantly lower in the DataLink condition than the voice condition, this tendency was moderated by information load. In the low information load condition, flightcrews committed approximately the same number of errors in the voice and DataLink conditions, but in the high information load condition, flightcrews committed many more errors in the voice condition than the DataLink condition.

Effects of Modality on Interrupted Flight Deck Performance: Implications for Data Link

1998 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kara A. Latorella
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Control ◽  
Interface Design ◽  
Information Service ◽  
Basic Research ◽  
Auditory Task ◽  
Pilot Performance ◽  
Data Link ◽  
Fixed Base ◽  
Commercial Flight ◽  
Flight Deck

Externally-imposed tasks frequently interrupt ongoing task performance in the commercial flight deck. While normally managed without consequence, basic research as well as aviation accident and incident investigations show that interruptions can negatively affect performance and safety. This research investigates the influence of interruption and interrupted task modality on pilot performance in a simulated commercial flight deck. Fourteen current commercial airline pilots performed approach scenarios in a fixed-base flight simulator. Air traffic control instructions, conveyed either aurally or visually ( via a data link system) interrupted a visual task (obtaining information from the Flight Management System) and an auditory task (listening to the automated terminal information service recording). Some results confirm the hypothesized performance advantage of cross-modality conditions, more compelling nature of auditory interruptions, and interruption-resistance of auditory ongoing tasks. However, taken together, results suggest the four interaction conditions had different effects on pilot performance. These results have implications for the design of data link systems, and for facilitating interruption management through interface design, aiding, and training programs.

Event-Related Brain Potentials and Intermodal Divided Attention

1985 ◽  
Vol 29 (10) ◽  
pp. 971-975 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raja Parasuraman
Keyword(s):  
Divided Attention ◽  
Mental Workload ◽  
Fast Rate ◽  
Attention Allocation ◽  
Information Load ◽  
Brain Potentials ◽  
Negative Shift ◽  
Processing Resources ◽  
Load Conditions ◽  
High Information

Attention allocation to visual and auditory channels under high-information load was examined by recording event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Ten subjects monitored an audiovisual display of intermittent 2-degree circles presented centrally and 1000-Hz tones presented binaurally. Subjects had to detect targets in both channels while dividing attention to ecah channel in varying proportions. Each subject had a minimum of 20 hours practice at the task. POC analysis indicated a tradeoff in processing resources between the visual and auditory channels. The N160 and P250 components of the visual ERP, and a slow negative shift potential associated with the auditory N100 component, varied in amplitude as processing resources were allocated to the visual or auditory channel. Both these sets of results were obtained only when stimuli were presented at a fast rate. The results suggest that intermodality divided attention influences both modality-specific and modality-nonspecific ERP components in practised subjects under high-information load conditions. The implications of the results for models of processing resources and the evaluation of mental workload are discussed.

Effects of Music Information Load on a Reading Comprehension Task

1989 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 531-534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derrick M. Kiger
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Information Load ◽  
School Students ◽  
Comprehension Task ◽  
Female High School ◽  
Music Information ◽  
High Information

27 male and 27 female high school students read a passage of literature in the presence of silence, low information-load, or high information-load music. Comprehension was best in the first music condition, worst in the last condition.

CRT text VS. VHF voice: Effects of Communication Modality in Single-Pilot Cockpits

1998 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 414-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan F. Stokes ◽  
Joshua Downs
Keyword(s):  
Text Messages ◽  
Communication Modality ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Ground Station ◽  
Voice Communications ◽  
Flight Operations ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Integrated Communications

Communications datalink, the transmission of messages as screen-displayed text between cockpits and ground stations, appears to offer both advantages and disadvantages compared to conventional VHF voice communications. The study reported here examines both the communication and performance of integrated communications datalink in single pilot instrument flight operations. Sixteen pilots flew two cross-country instrument flights in an AST complex-aircraft flight simulator with a moving map, traffic, and datalinked message display. In the conventional voice condition experimenters played the role of ATC controllers speaking over the radio. In the datalinked condition, controllers operated a computerized ‘ground station’, sending and receiving text messages on screen. Pilot communications, control and performance data were monitored for each phase of flight, as well as the interaction of pilot expertise and workload. The results suggest that communications datalink may widen the performance gap between experienced and inexperienced aviators, and that delayed responses are such that operational difficulties could occur, not least in busy airspace.

scholarly journals Vast amounts of encoded items nullify but do not reverse the effect of sleep on declarative memory

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca D. Kolibius ◽  
Jan Born ◽  
Gordon B. Feld
Keyword(s):  
Detrimental Effect ◽  
Declarative Memory ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Equivalence Testing ◽  
Information Load ◽  
Upper Limit ◽  
Null Effect ◽  
High Information

AbstractSleep strengthens memories by repeatedly reactivating associated neuron ensembles. Our studies show that although long-term memory for a medium number of word-pairs (160) benefits from sleep, a large number (320) does not. This suggest an upper limit to the amount of information that has access to sleep-dependent declarative memory consolidation, which is possibly linked to the availability of reactivation opportunities. Due to competing processes of global forgetting that are active during sleep, we hypothesised that even larger amounts of information would enhance the proportion of information that is actively forgotten during sleep. In the present study, we aimed to induce such forgetting by challenging the sleeping brain with vast amounts of to be remembered information. For this, 80 participants learned a very large number of 640 word-pairs over the course of an entire day and then either slept or stayed awake during the night. Recall was tested after another night of regular sleep. Results revealed comparable retention rates between the sleep and wake groups. Although this null-effect can be reconciled the concept of limited capacities available for sleep-dependent consolidation, it contradicts our hypothesis that sleep would increase forgetting compared to the wake group. Additional exploratory analyses relying on equivalence testing and Bayesian statistics reveal that there is evidence against sleep having a detrimental effect on the retention of declarative memory at high information loads. We argue that forgetting occurs in both wake and sleep states through different mechanisms, i.e., through increased interference and through global synaptic downscaling, respectively. Both of these processes might scale similarly with information load.

scholarly journals Busy and confused? High risk of missed alerts in the cockpit: an electrophysiological study

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mickael Causse ◽  
Fabrice Parmentier ◽  
Damien Mouratille ◽  
Dorothee Thibaut ◽  
Marie Kisselenko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Control ◽  
Electrophysiological Study ◽  
Load Condition ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Detection Performance ◽  
Target Tone ◽  
Brain Response ◽  
Mental Load ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Tone Detection

Of evolutionary importance, the ability to react to unexpected auditory stimuli remains critical today, especially in settings such as aircraft cockpits or air traffic control towers, characterized by high mental and auditory loads. Evidences show that both factors can negatively impact auditory attention and prevent appropriate reactions in hazardous situations. In the present study, sixty participants performed a simulated aviation task, varying in terms of mental load (no, low, high mental load), that was embedded with a concurrent tone detection paradigm, in which auditory load was manipulated by the number of different tones (1, 2 or 3). We measured both detection performance (miss, false alarm) and brain activity (event-related potentials) related to the target tone. Our results showed that both mental and auditory loads affected tone detection performance. Importantly, their combined effects had a massive impact on the percentage of missed target tones. While, in the no mental load condition, miss rate was very low with 1 (0.53%) and 2 tones (1.11%), it increased drastically with 3 tones (24.44%), and this effect was accentuated as mental load increased, yielding to the higher miss rate in the 3-tone paradigm under high mental load conditions (68.64%). Increased mental load, auditory load, and miss rate, were all associated with disrupted brain response to the target tone as showed by reductions of the P3b amplitude. In sum, our results highlight the importance of balancing mental and auditory loads to maintain or improve efficient reactions to alarms in complex environment.

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