Information processing and relational complexity in air traffic control

Christine C. Boag
School of Psychology
University of Queensland
email: christin@psy.uq.edu.au
Tel: +61 7 3365 7181
 

          PhD Research: Executive Summary

The purpose of this project was to develop and test a method for assessing workload in air traffic control (ATC). Workload assessment is a major problem in ATC and in human factors generally, and this project is intended to be the first step in an ongoing research program in this area. Although it is recognised that ATC is a cognitively demanding task, it is equally acknowledged that effective means for analysing workload have been difficult to devise. In this project, complexity was analysed by determining the relations between aircraft that a controller has to consider, in accordance with the approach developed by Halford, Wilson and Phillips (1998).
Workload necessarily depends on controller expertise, so the project began by determining how controllers mentally represent a situation. The situation awareness literature was therefore reviewed, and its implications for ATC decision making were assessed. Semi-structured interviews were then conducted with ten controllers from the northern and southern districts. These interviews had four aims: 1. To identify the information available to controllers; 2. To determine how controllers integrated that information into a coherent mental picture; 3. To identify how controllers made decisions; and 4. To develop a set of ATC scenarios to provide a basis for complexity analyses.

A model of controller information processing and decision making was derived from the interview data. The first stage of developing a method for analysing complexity of ATC scenarios was carried out. This yielded insight into the reasons why controllers experienced high workloads in particular situations, even though the number of aircraft on frequency was not necessarily large.

Based on this information a set of 60 ATC scenarios was compiled. These scenarios are simpler than many real ATC situations, as they involved only 3 aircraft, but at this stage of the research, this simplification was necessary for systematic comparison of situations with respect to their decision making complexity. In later work it is planned to extend systematic comparison to progressively more complex scenarios. The scenarios were presented to a sample of 25 controllers using an ATC computer program, which asked them to: 1. Identify any potential conflict(s); 2. Resolve the conflict(s); and 3. Rate the workload, complexity, and other features of the display. To assess memory and situation awareness, controllers were then presented with a new display and asked to indicate whether it was the same as or different from the one they were just processing. Controllers later categorised all 60 displays according to their complexity. The data from this study are currently being analysed.

The benefits expected are increased precision in analysing and predicting ATC workload. This should be useful in management decisions about staffing, job design, sector design and human resource management. It should also be ultimately possible to increase safety by, for example, providing warnings of impending over- or under load on controllers.
 

References

Conference Proceedings

Boag, C.C. (1997, September). The Wason selection task: Lack of logic or just superficial processing? CD-Rom proceedings of the Fourth Biennial Conference of the Australasian Cognitive Science Society. The University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia.

Boag, C.C., Härtel, C.E.J., & Halford, G.S. (2000, September). An integrated model of situation awareness and decision making in air traffic control to explain performance errors. Proceedings of the 24th European Association for Aviation Psychology Conference. Crieff, Scotland. (Proceedings in press.)

Boag, C.C., Neal, M.C., & Neal, A.F. (1999, May). Measuring situation awareness: A comparison of alternative measurement tools. In R. Jensen, J.Callister (Eds.), Proceedings of the Tenth International Symposium on Aviation Psychology (pp. 1240-1246). Columbus, USA: The Ohio State University.
 

Conferences
Boag, C.C. (1998, December). Decision making in cognitively complex situations, such as air traffic control. Paper presented at the Fifth National Conference on Reasoning and Decision Making. Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, Australia.

Boag, C.C. (1999, June). Aviation Safety and Situation Awareness. Paper presented at the ARC Key Centre for Human Factors and Applied Cognitive Psychology Winter School. The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

Boag, C.C., Härtel, C.E.J., Halford, G.S., & Neal, A. (1999, June). A new approach for the measurement and management of workload. In A. Neal (Chair), Managing performance in the workplace: Linking Human Factors and I/O Psychology. Symposium conducted at the meeting of the Third Australian Industrial and Organisational Psychology Conference, Brisbane, Australia.

Boag, C.C., Neal, A., Halford, G.S., & Goodwin, G. (2000, September). Comparing measures of cognitive complexity: Cognitive psychology applied to air traffic control. Paper presented at the XVI British Psychological Society Cognitive Section Conference. The University of Essex, Essex, England.

Boag, C.C., Halford, G.S., Neal, A. & Härtel, C.E.J. (2000, January). Information Processing and Relational Complexity in Air Traffic Control: An Attempt to Avoid Information Overload. Paper presented at the Fifth Biennial Conference of the Australasian Cognitive Science Society. The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
 

Journal Publications
Boag, C.C., Härtel, C.E.J., & Halford, G.S. (2000). Situation awareness and decision making in dynamic environments: The multidimensional link between mental representations and cognitive actions. Manuscript in preparation.

Boag, C.C., Neal, A., & Neale, M. (2000). The construct validity of situation awareness: A comparison of measurement methods. Manuscript in preparation.

Boag, C.C., Neal, A., & Neale, M. (2000). Making assessments of situation awareness: The evidence used to make ratings of cognitive behaviour. Manuscript in preparation.

Halford, G.S., Andrews, G., Dalton, C., Boag, C.C., & Zielinski, T. (2000). Young children’s performance on the balance scale: The influence of relational complexity. Manuscript in preparation.

Harper, M., & Boag, C.C. (1999). The evaluation of mental health and stress as indicators of organisational change job redesign intervention success. Unpublished manuscript.

Neal, A., Neale, M, & Boag, C.C. (2000). Same job, different tools: An analysis of air traffic controller situation awareness during equipment upgrade. Manuscript in preparation.
 


Biography
Christine C. Boag  B.A. (Hons I Psych), A.M.A.P.S., Reg’d Psych (Qld)
Christine has been conducting research within the field of aviation for the last 4 years. Her PhD research, currently nearing completion, is investigating workload related issues in the cognitive performance of air traffic controllers. This research has been conducted with the assistance of an Australian Postgraduate Award (Industry) in conjunction with Airservices Australia and the Australian Research Council. An executive summary of the research project appears below.

Christine is a registered psychologist whose experience ranges from cognitive task analysis of air traffic control to designing performance management systems and training programs for controllers. She has non-aviation specific experience within organisational psychology in the areas of project management, selection and recruitment practices, applied cognitive psychology in the rail industry, job design and organisational change management. In addition, she has completed training at a postgraduate level in organisational psychology.

In her current position as Lecturer at the University of Queensland, Christine has had the opportunity to combine her training in organisational psychology with her research interests in aviation and human factors. She has lectured and co-ordinated undergraduate courses for both the School of Psychology and the Graduate School of Management at UQ.

Christine has presented both nationally and internationally within aviation symposiums, industrial/organisational psychology conferences, and cognitive science forums, including:


Christine is an affiliate of the ARC Key Centre for Human Factors and Applied Cognitive Psychology at the University of Queensland and an active member of the APS College of Organisational Psychologists (Queensland section).