Dynamic Visual Acuity in Fatigued Pilots

Abstract

Six rotary wing aviators were subjects in a continuous operation regimen involving some 12 hours of flying and 3.5 hours sleep daily for five days. Estimates of performance on a dynamic visual acuity (DVA) task were obtained several times each day during the study using target velocities of 25 deg. and 40 deg./sec. DVA performance varied significantly during the fatigue regimen when measurements were made with target velocities of 40 deg./sec; with lower velocity targets differences in DVA scores were not significant. This indicates the need to tax the oculomotor system to demonstrate fatigue effects. Fatigue effects were partially obscured by practice effects which are considerable in the DVA task. DVA scores correlated only modestly with subjective estimates of fatigue intensity and flying performance, and IP ratings of performance, but the cluster of correlations provided a consistent picture.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 1976
Accession Number
ADA027663

Entities

People

  • D A Anderson
  • Isaac Behar
  • K. A. Kimball

Organizations

  • United States Army Aeromedical Research Lab

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Altitude
  • Army Aircraft
  • Aviation Medicine
  • Biomedical Research
  • Data Displays
  • Eye
  • Eye Movements
  • Field Tests
  • Information Processing
  • Intensity
  • Low Altitude
  • Measurement
  • Military Aviation
  • Military Medicine
  • Ratings
  • Relative Motion
  • Visual Acuity

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Brain and Cognitive Science; Experimental Psychology; Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Circadian Sleep-Wake Regulation and Chronobiology
  • Game Theory.