The Importance of Attention to Detail in Aviation - Research Paper Example

The importance of attention to detail in aviation Thesis: Attention plays a crucial role in aviation. A multi-channel information processing, environmental challenges and multi-task completion of a pilot may prevent him from a successful aviation tasks performance. Thus, mental models development, cognitive abilities improvement and other practices directed on attention improvement would benefit for a pilot’s and aircrews’ perfect performance in aviation. Outline: A) Introduction B) General Discussion: 1) Attention improvement strategies in aviation; 2) Attention and information processing in aviation; 3) Dealing with inattentiveness in aviation; C) Conclusion. Introduction The role of attention in aviation is of crucial importance. It is relevant to consider a concept of attention in aviation with regards to the main role it plays for a pilot: attention is required for a pilot’s ability to process multi-channels of information and several tasks’ performance at a time. In case a pilot stays inattentive his work is full of errors. Moreover: “The effective management of the crews resources is extremely critical, particularly in task load situations. A major factor in effectively managing these resources is ensuring that all aspects of the situation are being attended to avoiding attention narrowing and neglect of important information and tasks” (Garland et al 1999, p. 219). What is attention in aviation? This concept should be clarified in details. The role of attention in aviation can be explained by the following facts: a pilot is developing his situation awareness and decision making process and these abilities are limited by attention and memory capabilities. Therefore, an improvement of memory capacity and attention is of crucial importance for pilots. A challenging environment of aviation, information overload, complexity of tasks, different tasks can exceed a pilot’s attention. Problems with attention led to 31% of failures and errors in aviation tasks performance. The common mistake of a pilot is the following: “[pilots] employ a process of information sampling to circumvent attention limits, attending to information in rapid sequence following a pattern dictated by long-term memory concerning the relative priorities and the frequency with which information changes” (Garland et al 1999, p. 221). Therefore, it is necessary to employ certain measures in order to overcome memory and attention challenges. A proper attention of pilots would contribute greatly to successful completion of tasks. Attention improvement strategies in aviation A proper sampling of information is the first stage of failures avoidance. Formation of non-optimal information processing strategies is based on a lack of correct perception of the statistical features of elements outside, (b) visual prevalence of objects perception, and (c) a limited nature of a human memory (Garland 1999, p. 222). Consequently, inaccurate sampling of information occurs. Moreover, information sampling may create a feeling of inefficient tasks performance. We start our discussion about the important role of attention in aviation from the information processing stage. It is the first stage of a pilot’s performance in aviation and it should be completed successfully and to the fullest extent. Otherwise all other tasks would not be fulfilled completely. Channelized attention of pilots, a possibility to be distracted by outer sources and environmental changes or challenges, task saturation, and hard work about a certain task may be considered as special factors causing attention distraction. “Companies purchase more airplanes, but feel a shortage of pilots. In addition, the qualification of existing pilots should meet new, much higher requirements, because the world in the XXI century has changed and encourages aviation to pay much more attention to flight safety” (”Demand for pilots in the near future will increase and the requirements will be raised”). A lack of attention causes a negative impact on pilots in the following cases: 56% of respondents felt a lack of attention for primary flight instruments and 28% spent extra attention for the target plane during combat (Kahneman & Treisman, 1984). Moreover, “it is assumed that attention was probably directed to other factors that the pilots erroneously felt to be more important, because their SA was either outdated or incorrectly perceived in the first place” (Kahneman & Treisman 1984, p. 45). Thus, in the process of information processing it is very important for pilots to analyze obtained information in the priority ranking. Therefore, it is relevant to develop mental models for pilots and aircrews. It is generally accepted tendency to implement memory stores (e.g. schemata, special mental models) (Garlnad et al, 1999). In such a way, it is possible to overcome difficulties and challenges, which may occur in previously existent situations and learned environments. For example, in practice these models work in the following way: an aircrew represents the system they are dealing with by means of a mental model. In case, a mental model is well-developed, it may be further implemented in directing attention and information classification in the process of perception of a pilot and aircrew. Moreover, a properly-developed mental model directs attention of individuals on proper reactions under conditions of extreme environment. Long-term stores of information require a small amount of attention. Information processing for pilots is usually outlined in terms data-driven and goal-driven processes. In the first kind of information processes, environmental factors and outer factors are checked. Moreover, pilots, like other people may act as the majority of goal-driven people: “In this mode, situation awareness is affected by the aircrews goals and expectations, which influence how attention is directed, how information is perceived, and how it is interpreted” (Muthard & Wickens 2005, p. 43). Therefore, a proper development of attention skills and memory capabilities would contribute greatly to a better understanding of a pilot’s goals. “Noticeably more attention is paid to the personal qualities of the pilots, not only to their age, physical condition and knowledge. In the XXI century, when aviation is in the center of attention, aircraft pilots must comply with certain personal requirements that affect a pilot’s job. More and more attention is drawn to the behavioral and human values, and the way of thinking, because that is what determines a pilot’s behavior and affects decisions at the critical moments.” (”Demand for pilots in the near future will increase and the requirements will be raised”). A successful performance in aviation may be reached when pilots are able to process numerous channels of information. Attention limits may be overcome by automaticity. In case when actions become habitual and routine, a low level of attention is required. In case some slight differences occur, then pilots may fail to carry out habitual actions. Therefore, situation awareness is one of the primary steps to preserve attention. Because of the fact that attention and working memory are often limited pilots may fail to perform successfully in a highly-demanding field of aviation. Attention and information processing in aviation Thus, there are four main components for attention occurrence and processing for pilots: resources (mental energy), confusion (a mixture of cross-talks of concurrent tasks), integration and selection (Wickens, 1987). The relevance of mechanisms regulating attention will be correlated with their necessity for aviation design. The difficulty at the first stage, which is mentioned above as “resources” can be explained by the following factors: the difficulty to predict future performance; to evaluate the status of instruments required for future performance; to regulate a primary task of stabilization. Psychologists claim that at this stage interference between two tasks occurs and it is difficult to concentrate on a pilot’s attention on the dominant task. A different level of attention paid to different resources can be clarified by an increase in the demand of one task and a decrease in a demand for another task. A good example of this difficulty is when turbulence is being increased, it does not influence on pilot communications, but it influences on the perceptual-motor and spatial activities. In accordance with Wickens (1987) it is necessary to differentiate between the most needed resources in the following way: resources implemented for cognitive and perceptual activities to the greater extent than for response activities. Verbal linguistic processing and spatial processing require special resources as well. Therefore, attention paid to every stage of these tasks performance meets with a complex aviation performance. Visual selective attention is another important factor for pilots. A limited nature of developed models for attention development among pilots should be emphasized. An eye fixation on a particular instrument should occur only if the instrument is important or convenient for performance of a certain action or task. Peripheral vision of a pilot serves as a proper resource of required information. Still, there are too many cases of pilot’s inattentiveness. Such kind of neglect can be clarified in the following terms: “a high level of stress leads to a perceptual or cognitive collapse of attention and the events or stimuli which become "tunneled out" are more likely to be less expected and more surprising” (Wickens, 1986). As far as we can see, a negative impact of the environmental challenges may prevent a pilot and aircrews from a proper concentration of attention on special tasks. Moreover, a lack of their attention may not only lead to errors in tasks performance, but also to attention level decrease and habitual inattentiveness, which is inacceptable in aviation, because it is the research and scientific field requiring attention to the smallest detail. Dealing with inattentiveness in aviation There are several options to explain such incidents of inattentiveness: on the one hand when there are two items in a closer proximity, this may lead to some challenges in selective processing. The development of HUD was in compliance with the principles of attention support. Consequently, a visual overlap was developed with regards to a pilot’s needs for him to be able to monitor parallel and critical events (Garland et al, 1999). Another attempt to decrease the distance between two domains was made in HUD development as well. Nevertheless, it is emphasized that this attempt was not rather beneficial. The problems of tunneling remained the same. A human attention to aviation system design was developed in numerous theoretical models (Wickens, 1987, 1986; Garland et al, 1999). Still, there is a wide gap between the problems a pilot comes across under a high stress or too complicated tasks performance. The most favorable background for the discussion of attention is the aircraft cockpit. Attention theory is perfectly reflected on this background. The demands of the cockpit should be well-developed with regards to attention theory. Moreover, on the basis of collected data from aviation design, we have summarized the most crucial measures that should be taken in correlation between attention theories and aviation. How the pilots should deal with clutter? This question may seem to be naïve, but in reality it is quite interesting to discuss this question. A pilot comes across numerous challenges during fight: “separate data bases displayed in adjacent panels, overlaid or integrated data bases with and without highlighting, and data bases that can be rendered or erased, one at a time in the same display region (e.g., multi-function displays, or “decluttered” displays)” (Wickens, 1986). Therefore, in order to deal with huge amount of information and to stay aside from environmental hazards, it is possible for a pilot to focus his attention on a single data base and after a review or processing of it to switch his attention to other data bases (Wickens, 1986). A practical implementation of the abovementioned recommendation can be found in perfection of visual delivery and verbal representation of specific information. From this perspective, discreet information is better perceived and delivered, but it will require additional attention expenses for a current continuous visual task performance. Another option is to develop a selective attention of a pilot. The model of SEEV (Salience, Effort, Expectancy, and Value) is derived from the Attention Situation Awareness (A-SA) model (Wickens, 1987). This model helps to assess and scan information with regards to a situation’s analysis and further performance. The SEEV model was developed by a special NASA grant on the experimental basis. An emphasis is made on a visual scan data. The issues of attentional tunneling and attentional narrowing may lead to inattentiveness, failures, unexpected events occurrence etc (Muthard and Wickens, 2005). Moreover, it is often claimed in the current researches and studies that automation of a pilot’s information processing stages (such as attentional filtering, integration and inference, choice, and response execution) will benefit for a pilot’s response and control actions. Moreover, to intensify and advance contributions of attentional theories into aviation, it is relevant to complement them by intelligent information management or target cueing alarm systems (Kahneman and Treisman, 1984). Thus, a distribution of attention in the environment would be compensated. Moreover, in dynamic environment a distribution of a pilot’s attention may vary. Situation awareness may be challenged in this case. Moreover, challenges of attention may occur in the process of information processing. The concurrent factors of information processing are the following: costs spent on various types of information processing; an implementation of mechanisms responsible for the visibility, divided, focused and selective attention (Wickens and Muthard, 2005); the difference between levels o external impacts and variability of the display conditions. For example, the following situation describes potential threats caused by a lack of attention of a pilot: with the increase of outside traffic load, the auditory perception of both CDTI and data link information was challenged (Muthard and Wickens, 2005). The visual demand of the abovementioned devices was rather challenging for a pilot. Attention of a pilot was distracted from the outside horizon viewing by visual attention required by these devices. Consequently, shorter dwells appeared on the instrument panel. In this case it is desirable for the pilots to “protect their scanning to the instrument panel, from the increased demands of other concurrent task elements” (Muthard and Wickens 2005, p. 64) in order to save longer communications strings from the delivery of auditory ATC information. A failure of a proper attention paid to collective aviation tasks performance in aviating may be better compensated by the single modality conditions. Consequently, from 80s till nowadays researches and studies were focused on human factors in aviation have been mainly focused on the important role of attention in the field of aviation. Conclusion This research paper is focused on the important role of attention in aviation. Basing on the works of contemporary researches and studies on human factors in aviation, the role of attention was determined. It has been found out that a proper attention of a pilot to tasks performance, situational awareness development and other actions is a guarantee of his successful performance in aviation. Attention plays a very important role in aviation. Therefore, basing on the results of this research paper, we can claim that it is important to develop mental models, cognitive ability skills, memory capabilities among pilots in order to fulfill their job more effectively. With this respect, further developments of information processing models, information development and processing strategies would benefit for a correct perception of data sets and relevant reactions to the environment. A proper sampling of information is the first stage of failures avoidance. From a practical perspective, an improvement in mental models development for pilots and aircrews should occur. Moreover, an emphasis should be made on attention skills development and memory capabilities improvement. A multi-channeled information processing is of high importance for pilots and it is relevant to develop this skill. Therefore, by means of automaticity, memory skills development and practical strategies improvement directed on attention improvement, pilots and aircrews may reach success in aviation. Works cited 1. Garland, Daniel J., Wise, John A. V., Hopkin, David. Handbook of Aviation Human Factors. Mahwah, NJ, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1999. 2. ”Demand for pilots in the near future will increase and the requirements will be raised” available at http://aviationcv.com/demand-for-pilots-in-the-near-future-will-increase-and-the-requirements-will-be-raised.html 3. Kahneman D. & Treisman A. M. Changing views of attention and automaticity. In R. Parasuraman & R. Davies (Eds.), Varieties of attention (pp. 29-61). New York: Academic Press, 1984. 4. Muthard, E. K., & Wickens, C. D. Display Size Contamination of Attentional and Spatial Tasks: An Evaluation of Display Minification and Axis Compression, AHFD-05-12/NASA-05-3, 2005. 5. Wickens, C.D. Human factors -in psychology. In P. Hancock (Ed.), Amsterdam: N. Holland Pub. Co., 1987. 6. Wickens, C.D. Technical Report (on Human Factors in Aviation). University of Illinois, Cognitive Psychophysiology Lab, 1986. Read More