The purpose of this research is to investigate long term effects of cognitive skill degradation through the use of automation. Even though advanced studies have looked into information automation (IA) in aviation, the amount of empirical data on the effects of these systems on the retention of cognitive skills is less deeply examined. Measurement and analysis of the effects of IA on cognitive performance is an important first step in understanding cognitive skill degradation, which should be considered during the design of these systems. The use of an automation aid is expected to result in a high level of performance degradation over time. Participants were randomly placed into three experimental groups (manual, alternating, or automation) and asked to perform flight planning calculations as an experiment task. Participants performed the task five times, once every two weeks. The manual group used the manual method throughout the experiment, the alternating group switched between the manual and automated method every trial. The automation group used the manual method for the first trial, the automated method for the three consecutive trials and then went back to using the manual method during the last trial. The automation group showed the most performance degradation and highest workload, while the alternating group presented reduced performance degradation and workload, and the manual group showed the least performance degradation and workload. This work provides the foundation for the design of guidelines and recommendations for IA systems in order to prevent cognitive skill degradation.
This work aimed to identify cognitive skills associated with flight planning, suggest which skills might be susceptible to skill degradation, and investigate the effects of cognitive skill degradation over time. Information automation systems offload cognitive tasks to reduce workload and error. However, the same phenomena seen with physical skill degradation in highly automated aircrafts may also occur when automating cognitive tasks. Two studies were conducted. An applied cognitive task analysis identified cognitive skills in flight planning. An empirical evaluation examined whether some of those skills were susceptible to cognitive skill degradation over time when using automation. Participants were placed into three groups. After conducting a flight planning task manually, groups differed in the next three practice trials: manual, alternating between manual and automation, or only with automation. Finally, all groups conducted the task manually again. Trials were separated by 2 weeks. The automation group showed the most performance degradation and highest workload, while the manual group showed the least performance degradation and least workload. Automation use did not provide the practice needed to mitigate cognitive skill degradation. Analysis of the impacts of information automation on cognitive performance is a first step in understanding the root causes of errors and developing mitigations.
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