Initial Investigation on Fatigue in Command and Control Situation Awareness: Physiology and Cognitive Performance
Abstract
Human decision making and situation awareness (SA) are critical in Command and Control (C2) making the C2 environment ideal for understanding implications of cognitive state on operational performance. This pilot study investigated the effects of fatigue on SA, and the extent that physiological measures correlate with performance. Six novice participants were tested every three hours during the final 24 hours of a 36-hour period of wakefulness on SA, psychomotor vigilance (PVT), and Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics (ANAM) tests. Additionally, heart rate, heart rate variability, and activity were monitored. Initial analyses indicate changes in SA were not correlated with fatigue; potentially reflecting learning effects of fatigue, as opposed to SA. PVT results were similar to previous literature showing a significant performance drop in the early hours of the morning. The ANAM battery showed unexpected results; the Stanford Sleepiness scale correlated best ( =.01) with heart rate and second with activity ( =.05) and the logical reasoning-symbolic test result showed a statistically significant correlation with ( =.01) heart-rate variability. A follow-on study will be conducted with experienced participants, (controlling the learning confound). Additionally, the study will investigate whether or not the degree of SA (high, medium, low) degrades differentially with fatigue.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA463139
Entities
People
- Frank Vaughan
- Jennifer Mckneely
- Kevin Cropper
- Mandy Iny
- Matthew Bevan
Organizations
- Johns Hopkins University