EEG-Based Cognitive Control Behaviour Assessment: an Ecological study with Professional Air Traffic Controllers

Abstract

Several models defining different types of cognitive human behaviour are available. For this work, we have selected the Skill, Rule and Knowledge (SRK) model proposed by Rasmussen in 1983. This model is currently broadly used in safety critical domains, such as the aviation. Nowadays, there are no tools able to assess at which level of cognitive control the operator is dealing with the considered task, that is if he/she is performing the task as an automated routine (skill level), as procedures-based activity (rule level), or as a problem-solving process (knowledge level). Several studies tried to model the SRK behaviours from a Human Factor perspective. Despite such studies, there are no evidences in which such behaviours have been evaluated from a neurophysiological point of view, for example, by considering brain activity variations across the different SRK levels. Therefore, the proposed study aimed to investigate the use of neurophysiological signals to assess the cognitive control behaviours accordingly to the SRK taxonomy. The results of the study, performed on 37 professional Air Traffic Controllers, demonstrated that specific brain features could characterize and discriminate the different SRK levels, therefore enabling an objective assessment of the degree of cognitive control behaviours in realistic settings.

Neurophysiological Vigilance Characterisation and Assessment: Laboratory and Realistic Validations Involving Professional Air Traffic Controllers

“…The comparison of the EEG PSDs between such High and Low Vigilance conditions of PVT 1 highlighted that the parietal alpha, frontal beta and frontal gamma EEG rhythms could be the most significant features to assess vigilance changes over time. The alpha EEG rhythm is generally correlated to the attentional level, and it has been demonstrated that the higher the attention is, the higher desynchronization of the alpha activity is [83]. In the comparison between the beginning (PVT 1 1 and PVT 1 2 , respectively) and the end (PVT 9 1 and PVT 9 2 , respectively) of the tasks, it was found that PSD increased in the alpha band in response to a decrement of vigilance, therefore, the result was consistent with the scientific literature.…”

EEG rhythms lateralization patterns in children with unilateral hearing loss are different from the patterns of normal hearing controls during speech-in-noise listening

“…In fact, this is a necessary assumption in order to proceed with the spectral analysis of the signal. Borghini et al, 2017). In order to consider any subjective difference in terms of brain rhythms, for each participant the Individual Alpha Frequency (IAF) was computed on the 60-s-long Open Eyes segment (Goljahani et al, 2012), recorded at the beginning of the experimental task, in order to define the EEG bands of interest.…”

Indexing Mental Workload During Simulated Air Traffic Control Tasks by Means of Dual Frequency Head Maps

“…Experiments with ATM simulations and a task-load grading proved to be advantageous although the majority of simulated ATM examinations were limited to two task-load levels (easy and difficult). Relevant studies on workload determination methods for simulated or real air traffic control were conducted by Brookings et al (1996), Russell (2003b, 2007), Shou et al (2012), Abbass et al (2014b,c), Borghini et al (2014Borghini et al ( , 2017, Aricò et al (2015Aricò et al ( , 2016, Aricò et al (2018), Di Flumeri et al (2015), Dasari et al (2017), and Dehais et al (2018). Wilson and Russell (2003a) investigated the classification of the mental state of seven air traffic controllers in simulated air traffic monitoring.…”