Influence of mental fatigue caused by simulated flight tasks on uncertainty decision making

Objective To investigate the characteristics of uncertainty decision making and to elucidate the theoretical basis for reducing the flight mistakes under mental fatigue. Methods One hundred and twenty male undergraduate military students were averagely and randomly divided into experimental and control groups. The experimental group completed decision making tasks with induced mental fatigue while the control group directly accomplished them without the induction. The subjective fatigue and the task completion scores of two groups were compared. Results Mental fatigue was successfully induced: after simulated flight tasks the subjective fatigue scale scores of experimental group were significantly higher than those before the task (t=15.92, P 0.05) but the risk decision (F=10.89, P 0.05). Conclusions Mental fatigue makes individuals insensitive to risk (loss and punishment). The population of mental fatigue may easily pay more attention to short-term interests than to long-term losses. Mental fatigue could lead flying personnel to make impulsive and risky aviation decisions and endanger aviation safety. Key words: Mental fatigue; Decision making; Questionnaires; Simulated flight task; Iowa gambling task