Varying the Complexity of the Prospective Memory Decision Process in an Air Traffic Control Simulation
Abstract
Operators that monitor and control dynamic displays (air traffic control [ATC], naval radar tracking) sometimes fail to remember to perform deferred tasks. Such memory failures have been studied in the laboratory, but only recently applied to tasks such as ATC (Loft & Remington, 2010; Loft, Finnerty, & Remington, 2011; Loft, Smith, & Bhaskara, 2011). In work domains such as ATC, operators must often consider multiple display features before determining an action. The current study examined the effect of varying the number of aircraft display features that individuals need to process for the prospective memory (PM) task. Participants made more PM errors, and were slower to make aircraft acceptance decisions and to detect conflicts, when the PM task required that target aircraft satisfied one of the two possible conditions, compared to only one possible condition. Directions for research are discussed that should continue to bridge the gap between PM in basic and applied settings.
References
1998). The atomic components of thought. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
(1997). The relationship between prospective memory and retrospective memory: Neuropsychological evidence. In , Cognitive models of memory (pp. 247–272). Cambridge, MA: MIT.
(2008). Number of cues influences the cost of remembering to remember. Memory & Cognition, 36, 149–156.
(2008). Prospective memory in aviation and everyday settings. In , Prospective memory: Cognitive, neuroscience, developmental, and applied perspectives (pp. 411–428). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
(2009). Air traffic control. In , Reviews of human factors and Ergonomics (4th ed., pp. 195–244). Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomic Society.
(1990). Normal aging and prospective memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 16, 717–726.
(2010). Prospective memory and what costs do not reveal about retrieval processes: A commentary on Smith, Hunt, McVay, and McConnell (2007). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 36, 1082–1088.
(2005). Multiple processes in prospective memory retrieval: Factors determining monitoring versus spontaneous retrieval. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 134, 327–342.
(2009). ATC-labAdvanced: An air traffic control simulator with realism and control. Behavior Research Methods, 41, 118–127.
(2003). A two-process model of strategic monitoring in event-based prospective memory: Activation/retrieval mode and checking. International Journal of Psychology, 38, 245–256.
(2005). Task interference in time-based, event-based, and dual intention prospective memory conditions. Journal of Memory and Language, 53, 430–444.
(2002). The impact of structure on cognitive complexity in air traffic control (Rep. No. ICAT-2002–4). Cambridge, MA: MIT International Center for Air Transportation.
(2001). Intention superiority effect: A context-sensitivity account. In , Proceedings of the 2001 Fourth International Conference on Cognitive Modeling (pp. 139–144). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
(2009). A theory and model of conflict detection in air traffic control: Incorporating environmental constraints. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 15, 106–124.
(2011). Using spatial context to support prospective memory in simulated air traffic control. Manuscript submitted for publication.
(2008). Control of access to memory: The use of task interference as a behavioral probe. Journal of Memory and Language, 58, 465–479.
(2008). Is task interference in event-based prospective memory dependent on cue presentation?. Memory & Cognition, 36, 139–148.
(2010). Prospective memory and task interference in a continuous monitoring dynamic display task. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 16, 145–157.
(2007). Modeling and predicting mental workload in en route air traffic control: Critical review and broader implications. Human Factors, 49, 376–399.
(2011). Prospective memory in an air traffic control simulation: External aids that signal when to act. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 17, 60–70.
(2007). An investigation into the resource requirements of event-based prospective memory. Memory & Cognition, 35, 263–274.
(2005). On the relationship between effort toward an ongoing task and cue detection in event-based prospective memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 31, 68–75.
(2003). Interference to ongoing activities covaries with the characteristics of an event-based intention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 29, 861–870.
(2007). Prospective memory: An overview and synthesis is of an emerging field. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
(2003). Task switching. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7, 134–140.
(1977). Levels of processing versus transfer appropriate processing. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 16, 519–533.
(1981). Categorization of action slips. Psychological Review, 88, 1–15.
(2005). Effects of ongoing task context and target typicality on prospective memory performance: The importance of associative cueing. Memory, 13, 649–657.
(1990). Human error. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
(1995). Cost of a predictable switch between simple cognitive tasks. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 124, 207–231.
(2009). Evidence for spontaneous retrieval of suspended but not finished prospective memories. Memory & Cognition, 37, 425–433.
(2010). Control of cost in prospective memory: Evidence for spontaneous retrieval processes. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 36, 190–203.
(2005). Errors of memory in air traffic control. Safety Science, 43, 571–588.
(2003). The cost of remembering to remember in event-based prospective memory: Investigating the capacity demands of delayed intention performance. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 29, 347–361.
(2008). Connecting the past and the future: attention, memory, and delayed intentions. In , Prospective Memory: Cognitive, Neuroscience, Developmental and Applied Perspectives (pp. 29–52). New York, NY: Erlbaum.
(2001). Prospective memory in dynamic environments: Effects of load, delay, and phonological rehearsal. Memory, 9, 165–176.
(1983). Elements of episodic memory. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press.
(1993). Automation and cognition in air traffic control: An empirical investigation. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 7, 631–651.
(1995). Functions of external cues in prospective memory. Memory, 3, 201–219.
(1992). Engineering psychology and human performance. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers.
(