Inattentional Insensitivity As A Predictor of Relevant Situation Awareness Questions And Irrelevant Questions

Abstract

This study explored predictors of situation awareness (SA) and predictors of irrelevant information in a complex task. Thirty-one participants were tested on personality, a little-known situation awareness test, working memory, inattentional blindness (IB), and inattentional insensitivity (IIS) as predictors of situation awareness and performance in a driving simulator. The two IIS conditions were visual (IB) and tactile. Participants were paid $25 for about a 1 ½ hour commitment. During the driving simulator scenario, participants answered 10 questions (half related to the driving task and half not critical to safe driving performance). More relevant questions were answered correctly than irrelevant questions. However, few predictors were shown for SA (relevant questions), but IB, and personality variables predicted response time for irrelevant questions. Tactile IIS was found to be better for performance on one of the SA tests and resulted in fewer errors in one of the tactile IIS tasks.