{"title":"Working memory capacity prevents pilots' loss of situation awareness in distraction scenarios——An eye-movement study","authors":"Xudong Xie , Jiazhong Yang , Yuan Li , Ming Ji","doi":"10.1016/j.ergon.2024.103667","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Numerous flight accidents have been attributed to pilots' lack of situation awareness (SA), with distraction being a significant contributing factor. Therefore, identifying factors that may protect pilots' SA under distraction conditions and explore their mechanisms is crucial for promoting aviation safety. This study empirically investigates the effects of individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) on pilots' SA when performing secondary tasks. The pilots were divided into two groups based on their performance on the WMC test and were asked to complete a simulated cockpit monitoring task under three secondary task difficulty conditions (no task, low-difficulty task, and high-difficulty task). SA in the simulated monitoring tasks was measured using the Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique (SAGAT), and eye movement data were collected to analyze visual behaviors and attention allocation. Results showed that the difficulty of secondary task significantly impacted overall SA, the perceptual level of SA and dwell times; however, secondary task difficulty did not affect the perceptual level of SA in pilots with high WMC. These results suggest that WMC protects pilots' perceptual level SA when they perform secondary tasks. This study provides additional insights into the mechanisms of working memory in protecting SA and offers theoretical guidance for the design of complex technical systems and pilot psychological selection, which can help promote aviation safety.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50317,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics","volume":"104 ","pages":"Article 103667"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169814124001239","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ENGINEERING, INDUSTRIAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Numerous flight accidents have been attributed to pilots' lack of situation awareness (SA), with distraction being a significant contributing factor. Therefore, identifying factors that may protect pilots' SA under distraction conditions and explore their mechanisms is crucial for promoting aviation safety. This study empirically investigates the effects of individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) on pilots' SA when performing secondary tasks. The pilots were divided into two groups based on their performance on the WMC test and were asked to complete a simulated cockpit monitoring task under three secondary task difficulty conditions (no task, low-difficulty task, and high-difficulty task). SA in the simulated monitoring tasks was measured using the Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique (SAGAT), and eye movement data were collected to analyze visual behaviors and attention allocation. Results showed that the difficulty of secondary task significantly impacted overall SA, the perceptual level of SA and dwell times; however, secondary task difficulty did not affect the perceptual level of SA in pilots with high WMC. These results suggest that WMC protects pilots' perceptual level SA when they perform secondary tasks. This study provides additional insights into the mechanisms of working memory in protecting SA and offers theoretical guidance for the design of complex technical systems and pilot psychological selection, which can help promote aviation safety.
许多飞行事故都归咎于飞行员缺乏态势感知(SA),而分心是一个重要的诱因。因此,确定在分心条件下保护飞行员态势感知的因素并探索其机制对于促进航空安全至关重要。本研究实证调查了工作记忆能力(WMC)的个体差异对飞行员执行次要任务时的 SA 的影响。根据飞行员在工作记忆容量测试中的表现将他们分为两组,并要求他们在三种次要任务难度条件下(无任务、低难度任务和高难度任务)完成模拟驾驶舱监控任务。在模拟监控任务中,使用情境意识总体评估技术(SAGAT)测量SA,并收集眼动数据来分析视觉行为和注意力分配。结果表明,次要任务的难度对总体SA、SA的感知水平和停留时间有显著影响;然而,次要任务的难度并不影响高WMC飞行员的SA感知水平。这些结果表明,当飞行员执行次要任务时,WMC 可以保护飞行员的感知水平 SA。本研究为工作记忆保护SA的机制提供了更多见解,为复杂技术系统的设计和飞行员心理选择提供了理论指导,有助于促进航空安全。
期刊介绍:
The journal publishes original contributions that add to our understanding of the role of humans in today systems and the interactions thereof with various system components. The journal typically covers the following areas: industrial and occupational ergonomics, design of systems, tools and equipment, human performance measurement and modeling, human productivity, humans in technologically complex systems, and safety. The focus of the articles includes basic theoretical advances, applications, case studies, new methodologies and procedures; and empirical studies.