Other Psychiatry and Psychology Commons^™

Evaluating Startle, Surprise, And Distraction: An Analysis Of Aircraft Incident And Accident Reports, Andrew B. Talone, Javier Rivera, Camilo Jimenez, Florian Jentsch

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

Over the years, startle, surprise, and distraction have been frequently cited as potentially having negative effects on aircraft flightcrew performance. This paper aims to build upon and extend our prior research (Rivera, Talone, Boesser, Jentsch, & Yeh, 2014) in which we found evidence that (a) startle may be less problematic to flight deck performance than surprise, and (b) negative flight deck performance following startle is most likely due to concurrent distraction or surprise. The current research examined the theoretical foundations underlying these concepts and analyzed two accident/incident databases to identify potential trends and assess the prevalence of startle, surprise, and …

An Operational Analysis Of Human Factors In An Unmanned Air System, Saskia D. Revell, Victoria J. Cutler

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

Previous research has highlighted Human Factors (HF) issues associated with operating Unmanned Air Systems (UAS). This research has examined the human-machine interface, error types found in UAS mishaps, and examined specific factors such as workload or situation awareness. Fewer studies have examined the HF issues experienced during live military UAS operations in a conflict zone. Accordingly, a HF analysis was undertaken of a UK UAS unit operating in Afghanistan. The analysis was conducted using the Operational Events Analysis (OEA) approach, which is a structured, qualitative method of identifying flight safety HF issues. The OEA included UAS operators and maintenance personnel. …

Avionics Touch Screen In Turbulence: Simulation For Design, Sylvain Hourlier, Xavier Servantie

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

As touch screens are everywhere in the consumer market Thales has launched in depth evaluations on their introduction in the cockpit. One of the challenges is to verify its compatibility with in flight use under turbulence conditions, including light, moderate and severe. In flight accelerometer collections were performed to provide us with a baseline for choosing between possible simulation solutions. Thales recognized early on the need for such a tool as it would enable us to define recommendations for our HMI designs. The objectives were first to validate specific complex touch/gestures using all the potential of touch interactions for novel …

The Role Of Personnel Selection In Remotely Piloted Aircraft Human System Integration, Thomas R. Carretta, Raymond E. King

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

Effective human-system integration (HSI) incorporates several domains: manpower, personnel, and training, human factors, environment, safety, occupational health, habitability, survivability, logistics, intelligence, mobility, and command and control. These domains are interdependent and must be considered in terms of their interrelationships. Human factors engineers typically focus on system design with little attention to the skills, abilities, and other characteristics needed by the human operator. Personnel selection is seldom considered during the HSI process. Complex systems require careful selection of the individuals who will interact with the system. Selection is a two-stage process: Select-in procedures determine who has the aptitude to profit from …

The Effect Of Clinician Hardiness On Posttraumatic Growth And Trauma Based On Vicarious Trauma Exposure, Maria Anne Stevens

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

There is a gap in the literature that examines posttraumatic growth outcomes in clinical psychologists. Additionally, few studies have explored personality characteristics that can mitigate negative psychological outcomes and foster growth. This study examined if the same model of Posttraumatic Growth (PTG) would be found in clinical psychologists who work with trauma as those who have experienced a traumatic event. Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA) indicated moderate model fit. Additionally, the study assessed whether the relationship between cumulative Vicarious Trauma Exposure (VTE) and Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS), and cumulative VTE and PTG would depend on the moderator hardiness, but no significant …

A Couple’S Marital Disharmony And Its Psychological Effects On Their Children During The Hiv Disclosure Process In Kenya, Grace Gachanja

Walden Faculty and Staff Publications

Limited published data exists on how HIV-positive parents perform disclosure to all their children. A couple’s HIV disclosure experience to all their children is presented. They participated in a larger study conducted to understand the lived experiences of HIV-positive parents and their children during the disclosure process. Each underwent individualized in-depth semi-structured interviews. Interviews were transcribed and transferred into NVivo 8 for analysis using the Van Kaam method. Three themes emerged including HIV testing, full disclosure delivery accompanied by marital disharmony, and postdisclosure psychological effects on the family. Marital disharmony and non-involvement of the father caused the mother to fully …

The Effect Of Asynchronous Data On Pilot-Controller Communication In A Dynamic Environment With Subject-Matter Experts, Samuel Lien, Jonathan Histon

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

Integrating Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) into controlled airspace may introduce communication challenges if there are time delays associated with the distribution of a common surveillance source of those UAS. Termed “information asynchrony” by Yuan et al (2012), an earlier, static image study showed large time delays had an observable impact on controller-pilot communication, but the effect was not present for time delays of less than 1 minute. A follow-up study is being conducted using an online ATC-flight simulator with professional pilots and controllers as participants. Effects on communication are being analyzed objectively through measurable characteristics of communication breakdown, and subjectively …

‘We Need Priority Please’ Mitigated Speech In The Crash Of Avianca Flight 052, Simon Cookson

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

On 25 January 1990, Avianca Flight 052 was flying from Columbia to the United States when it crashed after a missed approach to JFK Airport in New York. The direct cause of the accident was fuel exhaustion but the NTSB investigation identified multiple causal factors. The Avianca captain, who was flying the aircraft, repeatedly instructed the first officer to notify ATC about the fuel emergency. The first officer, however, did not use the word ‘emergency’ but instead requested ‘priority’ and told ATC that the airplane was ‘running out of fuel’. Why did the first officer mitigate the captain’s instructions? This …

Understanding Automation Surprise: Analysis Of Asrs Reports, Julia Trippe, Robert Mauro

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

Pilots are frequently surprised by aircraft automation. These include cases in which the automation: 1) produces alerts to anomalies, 2) commands unexpected control manipulations (that may result in flight path deviations), or 3) simply disconnects. Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) reports in which pilots indicated that automation produced unexpected actions were analyzed. Three general conclusions were drawn. First, many factors precipitate automation surprises. These include problems in: the auto-flight system and associated displays and interfaces, other aircraft sensors and systems, and interactions with weather and ATC. Second, inappropriate pilot actions are involved in a large proportion of these events. Third, …

Visualization Methods For Communicating Unmanned Vehicle Plan Status, Kyle J. Behymer, Heath A. Ruff, Elizabeth M. Mersch, Gloria L. Calhoun, Sarah E. Spriggs

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

In order to facilitate a single operator controlling multiple unmanned vehicles, numerous autonomous support tools are being considered. One such candidate tool monitors the situation and alerts the operator when a deviation from the vehicle’s plan has occurred. The goal of this research was to develop an effective visualization method for conveying plan deviations. Two interface formats were developed based on a review of the literature: a pie chart and a bar chart. Each format allows an operator to compare values for parameters that have different units, value ranges, and relative priority. Twelve participants were tested using a 2 (chart …

Design And Evaluation Of A Haptic Display For Flight Envelope Protection Systems, J. Ellerbroek, M.J.M. Rodriguez Y Martin, M.M. Van Paassen, M. Mulder

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

This paper describes the design and initial evaluation of a haptic display that is aimed to complement a `hard’ flight envelope protection system. The evaluation mainly focused on usability of the presented haptic cues, and on the handling qualities of the stick with active feedback. Results are presented for two evaluations, concerning stall protection feedback and load factor protection feedback respectively. They show that while subjects are positive about the added information cue, and are able to correctly identify limiting actions, they are not consistently able to identify changes in the aircraft’s condition.

Detecting Structure In Activity Sequences: Exploring The Hot Hand Phenomenon, Taleri Hammack, John Flach, Joseph Houpt

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

Can humans discriminate whether strings of events (e.g., shooting success in basketball) were generated by a random or constrained process (e.g., hot and cold streaks)? Conventional wisdom suggests that humans are not good at this discrimination. For example, Kahneman (2011) writes that “the hot hand is entirely in the eye of the beholders, who are consistently too quick to perceive order and causality in randomness. The hot hand is a massive and widespread cognitive illusion” (p. 117). Following from Cooper, Hammack, Lemasters, and Flach (2014), a series of Monte Carlo simulations and empirical experiments examined the abilities of both humans …

Airframe Parachute Knowledge And Deployment Scenarios: A Collegiate Perspective, Scott R. Winter, Robert C. Geske, Stephen Rice, Richard O. Fanjoy, Lauren Sperlak

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

As airframe parachutes in general aviation aircraft become more popular, training is essential in fostering a willingness to use the system in the appropriate situation. Aviation decision-making literature suggests that individuals make choices based on experience and pattern matching, such as emergency situations and airframe parachute deployment scenarios. This led the researchers to investigate the knowledge and perspectives of collegiate pilots who train in aircraft equipped with airframe parachutes. Participants completed a surveyfocused on airframe parachute knowledge and scenario-based examples. Training experts were used to validate the parachute deployment scenarios used in the instrument. Responses indicate that pilots find aircraft …

Planning For The Future: Human Factors In Nextgen Air Traffic Management, Edward M. Austrian, Katherine A. Berry, Michael W. Sawyer, Alyssa Dehaas

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

The National Airspace System (NAS) Enterprise Architecture (EA) describes Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) goals, operational changes, and guidance materials. While the primary focus of the NAS EA is on infrastructure delivery, the function of human factors is to assess and respond to the impacts of planned changes on end-users. The Federal Aviation Administration’s Human Factors Research and Engineering Division has strengthened the presence of human factors activities in NextGen products in the Human Systems Integration (HSI) and other Roadmaps. This paper will present the HSI Roadmap and explore NextGen human factors integration opportunities in tower operations. Opportunities have …

Consumer Trust Ratings After An Airline Accident: An Affective Perspective, Scott R. Winter, Stephen Rice, Ismael Cremer, Rian Mehta

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

Fortunately airline accidents are rare; however when one occurs it usually results in widespread media attention. The purpose of this study was to examine how consumers’ trust ratings were impacted when one airline suffered an accident. The findings indicate that System Wide Trust (SWT) theory applies resulting in a trust reduction for all airlines, not just the accident airline. Affect was shown to act as a mediator in only three of the cases, which suggest that consumer’s responses may not be strongly influenced by emotions. Practical implications and limitations of this study are provided.

Concept Of Flight Instructor Assistance In Helicopter Emergency Medical Service Using Pilot Trainee’S Workload Determination, Felix Maiwald, Axel Schulte

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

This article focuses on the development of a tool chain to support the training of helicopter rescue pilots. The aim is to support the training instructor for comprehensible, objective and reliable assessment of the mental state of pilot trainees. Hence this article investigates a method for on-line estimating the mental workload of the pilot and his free/needed cognitive and sensorimotor resources during flight. We further provide a description of the methodological approach and details on the implemented prototype of a flight instructor station as part of our research simulator. In a first simulator study with four subjects the system has …

Anticipatorily Controlled Top-Down Processes Influence The Impact Of Coriolis Effects, Christine M. Talker, K. Wolfgang Kallus

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

The impact of the vestibular-induced Coriolis illusion becomes apparent in spatial disorientation and symptoms of motion sickness. Empirical data indicated that anticipatory processes, evolved by experience, influence the sensation of Coriolis illusion. We measured subjective well-being and stress responses of 13 experienced pilots and 13 non-pilots in order to study the influence of anticipatorily controlled top-down attention on the impact of Coriolis effects and to examine the role of experience. Subjective data and psychophysiological data (EDA, ECG) were recorded, reflecting the underlying psychological processes involved. Participants distracted by doing a reaction test (experimental group) gave higher drowsiness ratings and higher …

Visual Search And Target Selection Using A Bounded Optimal Model Of State Estimation & Control, Brandon S. Perelman, Christopher W. Myers

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

Visual attention and motor control are tightly coupled in domains requiring a human operator to interact with a visual interface. Here, we integrate a boundedly optimal visual attention model with two separate motor control models and compare the predictions made by these models against perceptual and motor data collected from human subjects engaged in a parafoveal detection task. The results indicate that humans use an optimal motor control policy limited by precision constraints – humans executed ballistic movements using near-optimal velocity (i.e., bang-bang control), but imprecision in those movements often caused participants to overshoot their targets, necessitating corrective action. Motor …

An Ecological Approach To The Supervisory Control Of Uav Swarms, Christian Fuchs, Clark Borst, Guido De Croon, Rene Van Paassen, Max Mulder

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

Advances in miniaturized computer technology have made it possible for a single Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to complete its mission autonomously. This also sparked interest in having swarms of UAVs that are cooperating as a team on a single mission. The level of automation involved in the control of UAVswarms will also change the role of the human operator. That is, instead of manually controlling the movements of the individual UAVs, the system operator will need to perform higher-level mission management tasks. However, most ground control stations are still tailored to the control of single UAVs by portraying raw flight …

Developing Quantitative Air Traffic Risk-Benefit Pathways For Class Delta Airports: Improving Small Tower Operations, Katherine A. Berry, Michael W. Sawyer, Jordan Hinson

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

The primary responsibility of an Airport Traffic Control Tower (ATCT) controller is to prevent collisions between aircraft and other hazards on the surface and in the immediate vicinity. The safety service provided by controllers at towers with larger operations greatly exceeds the costs of establishing those towers. As the number of operations decreases, the costs of operating the tower may begin to outweigh the benefits of staffing the tower. Safety event reports describing instances where an ATCT controller provided a service that reduced the consequences of the event were collected. The reports were classified to identify latent factors, causal factors, …

Impact Of Nextgen On National Airspace Actors, Kelley J. Krokos, Michael W. Sawyer, Katherine A. Berry

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is executing a transformation of the National Airspace System (NAS) through the implementation of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). This paper presents two research efforts related to understanding and analyzing the effects of planned NextGen changes across NAS actors. American Institutes for Research is completing a Strategic Job Analysis and Strategic Training Needs Analysis of two NAS actors. The results are intended to provide recommendations to selection and training requirements necessary to support NextGen implementation. Fort Hill Group is building Human-System Interaction Models (HSIMs) that identify the human-system interactions affected by planned changes …

Promoting Aviation Safety In Africa: Analysis Of Air Accidents In The Region Between 2004 And 2013, Jacob Joshua Shila, Amadou Anne

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

The international air traffic in the Africa region is projected to grow at an average annual rate of 5.1% between 2012 and 2032. The air transport industry in the region has supported about 6.9 million jobs, contributed about $ 67.8 million in economic activity, and about $ 80.5 million in GDP. However, the African continent was ranked last in the Universal Safety Oversight Audit Program (USOAP) report for the year 2012. Efforts by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), airlines, and governments, and other institutions are currently underway to promote aviation safety. Aviation safety implementation in the Africa region is …

Tactile Cueing Strategies To Convey Aircraft Motion Or Warn Of Collision, Ben D. Lawson, Roger C. Cholewiak, J. Christopher Brill, Angus H. Rupert, Linda-Brooke I. Thompson

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

This report highlights five current vibrotactile display technologies for conveying aircraft motion or approach to obstacles or waypoints, including: 1) a simple on/off vibration cue that activates when a designated position is reached; 2) vibrations whose on-off pulse rate increases as the vehicle moves faster; 3) vibrations whose fundamental frequency rises to cue the approach of an object; 4) vibrations whose body site of spatial cueing signals self-motion in a manner analogous to tactile cues during sliding along the ground; 5) vibrations whose body site of cueing expands in a manner analogous to visual looming cues. The advantages and limitations …

Audiotactile Aids For Improving Pilot Situation Awareness, J. Christopher Brill, Ben D. Lawson, Angus H. Rupert

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

Up to one-third of all aircraft mishaps are attributable to spatial disorientation (SD), costing lives and millions of dollars. One potential solution is to provide supplementary sensory cues to help improve pilots’ situation awareness (SA). Given existing demands on the pilot’s visual system, audition and touch present the greatest potential for success. However, accurate 3D audio perception may be problematic in noisy operational environments. To determine the effects, participants performed an azimuth cue localization task while listening to 90 dB helicopter noise. Cue modalities conditions included 3D audio, vibrotactile, and audiotactile. Accuracy was better and response times were significantly faster …

Impact Of Caregiving Role In The Quality Of Life Of Family Caregivers For Persons With Alzheimer's Disease, Supriya Sarkar

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This study investigated quality of life of family caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Caregiving is a strenuous and challenging job. Family caregivers experience poor quality of life after they take the role of caregiving which might be related to depression. Purpose of this study was to find if caregiving duration and depression has any role in affecting family caregivers' emotional, physical, and general health.

Data for this study were collected through electronic and mailed survey methods. The questionnaires completed by subjects: Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36 (MOS-36) and Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Descriptive statistics …

Health Information Exchanges And Patient Portals In Behavioral Health, Christine Peterson

Applied Research Projects

We live in an electronic world. Technology is everywhere, including in our healthcare system. With the advent on the electronic health record and the push to meet Meaningful Use, many healthcare organizations have already started using patient portals and sharing information among providers via health information exchanges. There have been roadblocks to successful implantation of patient portals and health information exchanges, one of which is how to handle behavioral health information and would these new technologies be accepted by patients with mental health diagnoses

Effects Of Workload On Measures Of Sustained Attention During A Flight Simulator Night Mission, Hans-Juergen Hoermann, Patrick Gontar, Andreas Haslbeck

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

N=60 commercial airline pilots holding valid ATPLs flew a manual ILS approach following a weather induced missed approach during a night mission in full flight simulators. Measures of subjective fatigue, sustained attention, and the NASA Taskload Index were collected before and after the mission. In addition, sleep history data were available covering three days prior to the simulator. Both subjective and objective measures of fatigue showed significant ascent over the three hours of the experimental procedure. While sleep history data and roster information were related to both the overall level of fatigue and to reaction times, pilots who experienced a …

Army Aviation Manned-Unmanned Teaming (Mum-T): Past, Present, And Future, Grant Taylor, Terry Turpin

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

As the use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in military operations has increased, so too have their capabilities. One recently developed capability is the ability to operate in conjunction with traditional manned aircraft through a process called manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T), allowing manned aviators to benefit from the unique capabilities of UAS. This paper provides an introduction to the concept of MUM-T, describing the early stages of research and development, current MUM-T capabilities in fielded Army systems, and planned future development efforts to continue to advance the capability.

Optimizing Performance Of Trainees For Uas Manpower, Interface And Selection (Optumis): A Human Systems Integration (Hsi) Approach, Jennifer Pagan, Dr. Randy Astwood, Cdr Henry Phillips

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) operations research by Williams (2004) found that platforms which employ winged aviators (e.g., Predator) have shown higher mishaps than those that select operators that are nonpilots (e.g., Shadow). One explanation may be negative training transfer from manned to unmanned platforms as operators are separated from the aircraft, thus depriving them of a range of sensory cues (McCarley & Wickens, 2007). Another explanation for higher Predator mishaps may be associated with poor Ground Control Station (GCS) design. These varying explanations for differences in mishap rates across platforms indicate the need to address a number of Human System …

Follow-Up Examination Of Simulator-Based Training Effectiveness, Maxine Lubner, Andrew R. Dattel, Deb Henneberry, Sharon Devivo

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2015

A descriptive examination of the effectiveness of a simulator-based training program for pilots was conducted. Of 55 students of varying backgrounds, but mostly with limited flight experience, 13 enrolled in an intensive, simulator-based flight training program. Within two years the remainder had enrolled in conventional collegiate flight training, supplemented with some simulator training. The students in the intensive program completed their FAA Private Pilot certificates in an average of 5 weeks (not including simulator time). Moreover, the intensive program group earned their private pilot’s certificate in statistically significantly fewer hours (M=46.03) than the conventional collegiate flight training group (M=76.06). The …