The effects of task difficulty on gaze behaviour during landing with visual flight rules in low-time pilots

Abstract

Eye movements have been used to examine the cognitive function of pilots and understand how information processing abilities impact performance. Traditional and advanced measures of gaze behaviour effectively reflect changes in cognitive load, situational awareness, and expert-novice differences. However, the extent to which gaze behaviour changes during the early stages of skill development has yet to be addressed. The current study investigated the impact of task difficulty on gaze behaviour in low-time pilots (N=18) while they completed simulated landing scenarios. An increase in task difficulty resulted in longer fixation of the runway, and a reduction in the stationary gaze entropy (gaze dispersion) and gaze transition entropy (sequence complexity). These findings suggest that pilots’ gaze became less complex and more focused on fewer areas of interest when task difficulty increased. Additionally, a novel approach to identify and track instances when pilots restrict their attention outside the cockpit (i.e., gaze tunneling) was explored and shown to be sensitive to changes in task difficulty. Altogether, the gaze-related metrics used in the present study provide valuable information for assessing pilots gaze behaviour and help further understand how gaze contributes to better performance in low-time pilots.

Investigating the role of flight phase and task difficulty on low-time pilot performance, gaze dynamics and subjective situation awareness during simulated flight

“…First, the current study specifically focused on pilots with their Private Pilots’ License (PPL) or Commercial Pilots’ License (CPL). Earlier work demonstrated that there is a significant learning curve that occurs within the ab-initio stage of skill development that is associated with more variability around the performance and gaze measures of interest that may go unexplained and impact our conclusions ( 5 ). Furthermore, the use of high-fidelity flight simulators has been shown to immediately diminish the performance of ab-initio pilots who are unfamiliar with the immersive cockpit environment ( 38 ).…”

“…Eye tracking can help reveal these differences through the examination of other basic and dynamic gaze metrics that provide further insight into how efficiently individuals process information and could reveal the differing levels of task demands associated with a particular scenario. For example, previous work has shown that more efficient information processing is associated with reduced fixation duration ( 3 ; 12 ; 26 ; 40 ; 50 ; 52 ; 64 ), increased fixation frequencies ( 12 ; 25 ; 26 ; 28 ; 40 ; 64 ), as well as a greater propensity to fixate more task-relevant areas of interest (AOIs) - greater fixation dispersion (i.e., Stationary Gaze Entropy: SGE) - in a more variable/flexible pattern; as made apparent with greater fixation sequence complexity (i.e., Gaze Transition Entropy: GTE) ( 6 ; 5 ; 4 ; 26 ; 28 ; 40 ; 50 ). Several studies have also demonstrated how reduced blink rate is a reliable proxy for increased task difficulty as well as cognitive load ( 26 ; 40 ).…”

“…Studies examining gaze behaviour in pilots across various stages of flight demonstrated distinct gaze behaviour changes as task demands changed ( 5 ; 7 ; Comstock, 1995; 17 ; 33 ; Lijing et al, 2014; 57 ). To our knowledge, only two studies have specifically investigated the impact of differing task demands on flight performance and gaze behaviour in low-time pilots ( 5 ; 17 ).…”

“…Studies examining gaze behaviour in pilots across various stages of flight demonstrated distinct gaze behaviour changes as task demands changed ( 5 ; 7 ; Comstock, 1995; 17 ; 33 ; Lijing et al, 2014; 57 ). To our knowledge, only two studies have specifically investigated the impact of differing task demands on flight performance and gaze behaviour in low-time pilots ( 5 ; 17 ). Ayala and colleagues ( 5 ) assessed gaze behaviour in 18 low-time pilots (flight hour range: 0-240, mean= 64 hours, SD= 91) as they completed simulated landing scenarios of varying difficulty (i.e., easy: no wind, high visibility; difficult: high winds, high visibility) programmed in a desktop computer Microsoft Flight Simulator game environment (2020, Asobo Studio, France).…”

“…To our knowledge, only two studies have specifically investigated the impact of differing task demands on flight performance and gaze behaviour in low-time pilots ( 5 ; 17 ). Ayala and colleagues ( 5 ) assessed gaze behaviour in 18 low-time pilots (flight hour range: 0-240, mean= 64 hours, SD= 91) as they completed simulated landing scenarios of varying difficulty (i.e., easy: no wind, high visibility; difficult: high winds, high visibility) programmed in a desktop computer Microsoft Flight Simulator game environment (2020, Asobo Studio, France). Results showed that an increase in task difficulty was associated with a longer dwell time toward the runway, along with a reduction in fixation sequence dispersion and complexity.…”