Situational Awareness Flashcards
(19 cards)
Definition
According to Endsley (1995) SA can be defined as:
The perception of the elements in the environment within a volume of time and space, the comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of their status in the future
Simple def
Awareness of surroundings
- context
- info
- processes
- shared understanding
3 levels of SA
- Perception - gathering data, perceive the status, attributes and dynamics of multiple situational elements and their current states
- Comprehension - synthesis of disjointed level 1 elements using interpretation and evaluation
- Projection - projection of the status of the elements in the future
Health care setting example of the 3 levels of SA
- Perception
- HR,BP, prior history - Comprehension
Diagnosis of condition - Prognosis, projected critical events, possible impact of actions on patient states
Model of situational awareness in dynamic decision making
State of environment -> SA -> decision -> performance of task (feedback)
Indiv factors:
Information processing mechanisms - LTM store, automaticity
Driven by experience ability and training
Linked to goals, expectations and objectives
System factors - system capacity, interface design, complexity, stress and WL, automation
Idea - over time you build up mental models of different situations in the LTM, use these in all situational awareness situations. There are lots of indiv factors and factors within the system that impact SA
Problems with poor SA
SA drives decision making and performance. poor SA - key factor associated with accidents and errors.
As much as 88% of HE in some settings ( eg aviation) due to problems with SA.
Important to note that not that people are bad decision makers or unable to perform action , just a lack of fundamental understanding of what was happening in the situation in order to be able to respond in a timely, accurate fashion.
Why SA difficult?
RAMP
Requisite memory trap - requiring ppl to remember things
Attentional funnelling - absorbed with dealing with one thing but missing other info
Misplaced salience - attention grabbing by salient cues
Passive processing - active better
Workload, fatigue and other stressors - depleted resources
Beyond indiv SA - Group SA
Controllers don’t control alone - act as a team
Team - 2 or more ppl interacting dynamically, interdependently and adaptively towards a common goal
Team SA definition
The degree to which every team member possesses the SA required for his or her responsibilities - Endsley, 1995
Shared and overlapping SA
shared SA - a common mental model and complete shared understanding
Overlapping SA - parties share a common component of the situation but are solely aware of indiv components
Measuring SA
Assessing how successfully the user can acquire and integrate information.
Frequently used in conjunction with WL measures to enhance sensitivity when comparing between design options.
Two designs may have same level of performance. Then need to ask the q which design option exerts least costs in terms of info processing to produce that level of P
Subjective measures
EG SART
SA rating technique
Using likert scale
Rating a number of statements relating to
Complexity of situation
Familiarity of situation
Division of attention
Etc etc
Pros and cons of subjective measures of SA
pros
Post task - non intrusive
Provides degree of confidence in SA and own performance
Quick easy to administer
Can be completed by teams, gives insight into Team SA
Cons
Subjective assessment of our SA (how aware are u that ur unaware)
Might inadvertently associate good p with good SA
memory degradation and poor recall
Objective measures of SA
Directly assess SA by comparing an Indivs perception of a situation and/or environment to some ‘ground truth’ reality:
Real time - as task is completed (eg real time probes presented as open qs - verbal comms during tasks)
Situation present assessment method (SPAM) developed for ACT (which aircraft has the lowest altitude )
During an interruption in task performance: eg Situational awareness global assessment technique (SAGAT) military aviation (screens blanked out and qs asked)
Objective measures of SA pros and cons
Pros
Completed during tasks so no problems associated with post testing
Broad global testing of SA
SPAM doesn’t feature task freezes
Fairly quick easy to administer (SPAM in particular no training)
Cons
Interference with the tasks at hand (SAGAT - task freeze, SPAM = questions and additional load)
SAGAT reliant on memory vs SPAM knowing where to find info
Is it actually measuring SA ? What’s a better test?
What does SPAM stand for
Situation present assessment method - objective method to measure SA
Developed for air traffic controllers
Uses real time probes - presented as open qs, operator asked qs about the current situation while performing the primary task eg which aircraft is lower altitude
