The Effects of Stress on Pilot Judgment in a MIDIS Simulator
Abstract
This report presents an information processing framework for predicting the effects of stress manipulations on pilot decision making. The framework predicts that stressors related to anxiety, time pressure, and high risk situations will restrict the range of cue sampling and reduce the capacity of working memory, but will not affect decisions that are based upon direct retrieval of knowledge from long term memory. These predictions were tested on MIDIS, a microcomputer-based pilot decision simulator. Performance on a series of 38 decision problems was compared between ten subjects in a control group and ten subjects who had performed under conditions of noise, concurrent task loading, time pressure, and financial risk. The results indicated that the stress manipulation significantly reduced the optimality and confidence of decisions. The manipulations imposed their greatest effect on problems that were coded high on spatial demand and on problems requiring integration of information from the dynamic instrument panel. The effects of stress were relatively independent of problem demands for working memory and knowledge. Keywords: Decision making; Stress psychology; Pilot judgment; Divided attention; Cognitive task analysis; Flight simulators.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 01, 1989
- Accession Number
- ADA210827
Entities
People
- Alan Stokes
- Barbara Barnett
- Christopher D Wickens
- Fred Hyman