Military Psychology: Situation Awareness

1. Military Psychology:Situation Awareness Dr. Steve Kass University of West Florida

2. Situation Awareness Definitions Is SA a construct, phenomenon, process, or product? • Situation Awareness • “The perception of the elements in the environment within a volume of time and space, the comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of their status in the near future (Endsley, 1988) • -“Skilled behavior that encompasses the processes by which task-relevant information is extracted, integrated, assessed, and acted upon”(Kass, Herschler, & Companion, 1991). • “Continuous extraction of environmental information, integration of this information with previous knowledge to form a coherent mental picture, and the use of that picture in directing further perception and anticipating future events”(Dominguez, 1994).

3. Levels of SA Levels of SA 1 – Awareness of information 2 – Comprehension of its meaning 3 – Projection of future status

4. Situation Awareness Components Components of SA • Spatial Awareness • Loss of SA – GLOC, spatial disorientation • System Awareness • Loss of SA – insufficient scan, distraction, lack of checklist • Task Awareness • Loss of SA – Competing tasks, poor task management, lack of vigilance

5. Rasmussen’s Skill-, Rule-, and Knowledge-based performance model High Novice Analytic Performance Attentional Demand Intuitive Expert Low Automatic

6. Situation Awareness Model • System Capability • Interface Design • Stress & Workload • Complexity • Automation Task/System Factors Feedback SITUATION AWARENESS Projection of Future Status Level 3 Perception of elements in Current Situation Level 1 Performance Of Actions Compre-hension of current Situation Level 2 State of the Environment DECISION Individual Factors Information Processing Mechanisms • Goals & Objectives • Preconceptions • (Expectations) Long Term Memory Stores Automaticity • Abilities • Experience • Training

7. Measuring SA Mental Models Typical Constructs measured in trying to assess SA SA Pattern Recognition Performance Working Memory Attention Workload

8. Factors Affecting Loss ofSituation Awareness • Attention • attentional demands of controlled processes (k-based performance) • Pattern Recognition • inability to perceive pattern of cues (recognition-primed DM) • Workload • tasks too demanding or too many at once • Mental models • inadequate understanding of system or state • Working Memory • failure to adequately “chunk” information

9. Attention • Narrowing of attention under stress (high workload) adversely impacts SA • Examples: • Commercial plane crashes in the Everglades when aircrew becomes fixated on a warning light while the plane slowly descends into the ground. • Outfielder for the Mets tosses ball to a fan after making the second out while runner on base easily scores.

10. Pattern Recognition Perceptual Recognition – comparing incoming stimulus information with stored knowledge in order to categorize the information. QB reading pattern of defense

11. Workload • Workload often used as a surrogate measure for SA. • Note reference to workload in SA measures such as CLSA and NASA TLX

12. Mental Models Mental Models – how people mentally represent the task they are performing • Represent & organize info by interconnected chunks (schema) • Experts organize schemata into larger, more meaningful/ easy to access chunks. • Novices may not see all relevant connections • Use mnemonic devices to help novices organize and retrieve info

13. 747 cockpit Working Memory • Ability to “chunk” information may be what distinguishes expert decision-making from that of novices • Magical number 7 IBMUSANBCGREUWF Experts recall larger chunks of information (more chess pieces) when they recognize a meaningful pattern. When the pattern is random, performance same as novices. Commercial pilots may have to monitor and react to up to 400 instruments and gauges.

14. Types of SA Measures • Subjective Ratings • E.g., China Lake SA Rating Scale, Situation Awareness Rating Technique, SA Supervisory Rating Form • Performance-based • Ability to regain control from dangerous attitudes • Query • SAGAT

15. Situation Awareness Rating Technique Low High Demand on attentional resources Supply of attentional resources Under-standing of situation

16. Performance-Based Measures of SA • Performance-based SA measures • ex: Ability to correct from unusual attitude (in simulator)

17. Query-based Measures of SA • SAGAT – Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique • Halt simulation • Black-out displays • Randomly selected questions • Pilot recall

18. Problem of SA Measurement SA is Difficult to measure: Self-report measures - Only aware of what you are aware of Performance-based measures – Intrusive, measure affects performance Query-based – might only tap memory 6 O’Clock Problem – Can not assess your awareness of the things you are not aware of.

19. Experiment: Driver Situation Awarenessas a factor of Experience Level & Cell Phone Usage Kass, Cole, & Stanny, 2007

20. Experiment: Driver Situation Awarenessas a factor of Experience Level & Cell Phone Usage Driving Infractions Kass, Cole, & Stanny, 2007

21. ImprovingSituation Awareness • Cue Filtering– eliminate irrelevant cues (clutter) that interfere with accurate assessment of situation • Augmented Displays– displays that highlight or overlay actual information to make it more salient • Spatial Organization– arranging displays to capitalize on spatial relationships (e.g., pop-out effect) • Automate Status Updates– as the environment changes the system should warn the user of change • Train Users to Improve Attention?

22. Cue Filtering for Improving SA • Removal of clutter (irrelevant cues) in training allows learner to identify relevant cues better • Real-world “clutter” can then be gradually phased back into training.

23. Spatial Organization in Display Design for Improving SA • Display design capitalizing on spatial relationships • “Pop-out effect”

24. Tactile Situation Awareness System Tactile stimulation used to prevent spatial disorientation Tactile cues can provide status updates regardless of where attention is currently focused Human factors application of tactile research

25. Tactile Situation Awareness System (TSAS) • Map surrounding space to the torso tactually • Intuitive in three dimensions • Non-visual • Non-competing • Continuous source • Utilizes “seat of the pants” sense

26. TSAS Performance MeansRMSE TSAS Off On No M = 4.55 SD = 3.55 M = 4.33 SD = 3.48 Secondary Task M = 7.24 SD = 3.73 M = 5.75 SD = 3.06 Yes • RMSE for helicopter hover under 20/200 viewing conditions (White out) • Secondary task was a simple arithmetic task

27. Augmented Reality Displays • Augmented Displays - display that improves upon reality by superimposing info over actual environment • ex: thermal imaging color codes objects by temperature HUDs superimpose display information on the PVA

28. Mindfulness Training and SA? • Few, if any, attempts to improve SA have focused on the human component of the human-machine systems • Research idea: mindfulness training to increase ability to concentrate and improve attention

29. Experiment: Mindfulness & SAImpact of mindfulness training on situation awareness while driving • Mindfulness – Moving and sharpening the focus of awareness within the field of consciousness. • Concentration – Actively maintaining one’s controlled focus of attention for designated periods of time • Mindfulness training – Buddhist Psychology Class • Control group – Experimental Psychology Class SA questions correct (out of 9)

30. Experiment: Mindfulness & SAImpact of mindfulness training on situation awareness while driving * p < .05. **p < .01.

31. SA Medical Training Gaba et al’s suggestions for training SA in medical applications • Provide practice scanning instruments and environment to maximize perception of cues from all relevant data streams • Provide explicit training in allocation of attention using low fidelity simulations, and multi-faceted training in high fidelity simulations • Provide enhanced training in situation assessment and on pattern matching of cues to known disease and fault conditions