Human info processing Flashcards
Attention
mechanism to cope with flood of info entering our senses …
usually by listening or focusing gaze.
you tend to focus resources on one set of events ignoring others.
is attention conscious or subconscious
both
‘cocktail party effect’
you can focus on instruments whilst flying but an engine note can subconsciosly get your attention
Attention involves 3 processes:
disengage attention from a stimuli
shift attention to new stimuli
engage attention to new stimuli
Attention is Divided or selective..
Selective: involve processing info from one input
divided: involve parallel info with rapid attention switching (but there is a limit to how much can be done)
Attending to a stimuli depends on ..
Vigilance
vigilance is:
describes state of sustained attention over time
the person continuously monitors a situation over time
constant and frequent monitoring of all paratmeters controlled by the auto pilot during cruise is an example
What is hypervigilance
high state of physiological arousal where you are alert about everything aorund you and you are acutely aware of every sign, sounds, smell, etc and every change in them
this comes from a high state of vigilance
ex: engine fire (stress environment)
hypovigilence
low state of arousal and vigilance like when you are sleep deprived, fatigued, bored, overworked
memory
input (encoding)->storage -> retriavel process
**Input:
**To encode something, it must be given ‘attention’ **before it can be peceived against all other stuff going on.
Storage:
Only if we attend to it, it gets stored in the memory.
Brain stores info but also feelings associated with the info
Retrieval:
recall and recognize information learnt from previous events
Benefits:
allows us to have a standard response to a frequently occuring event
important for learning new things
needed to draw on past experiences to apply into new stituations
3 storages of memory
Sensory store
Short term (working) store
long term store
Sensory store
Known as ‘race memory’ and gut reaction response to stimulus
- Sensory memory (retains images, sounds, etc from the sense organs)
we hold in our sense unprocessed/raw info for a short period of time
- Retain for few seconds ( 1 - 5 sec) and then lost
visual (iconic) 0.5 secs
auditory (echoic) = 250 miliseconds to 2 sec
Haptic: physical senses / touch
It doesn’t process info but it helps us ‘swtich our attention’ and play it back so we can transfer it to working memory
short term memory
called working memory / active memory
has very limited capacity and holds info for a short time
- Holds only a few items for brief periods - ie 7 items in 15-30 seconds before forgotten - Ie reading a number, writing it down and forgetting it (because it’s not rehearsed) - You can probably only manage one piece of info at a time - Short term capacity can be affected by tiredness/stress - It is sensitive to distractions - Involves info from present or immediate past - Short term capacity can be increased by ‘chunking’ - making chunks of info instead of individual info. Also mnemonics (rules you set to organize data) - Ideal for words (taken literally) as opposed to their (meaning)
working memory
- Contain the info we are ‘currently’ using, drawn from short term or long term and central decision making part of the brain
- You rehearse it (to remember it) or encode it (to understand it)
- This is the information you ‘give attention to’ (beause of personal interest, emotional interest or it’s unusual)
- Limited capacity, so use chunking to remember it and free up space for new info
-meaning-free
long term memory
has very large capacity and holds rehearsed or encoded info for a long time or indefinitely
**LTM works better **when dealing with info that has **relevance or meaning **
With training - many processesn can be carried out automatically in LTM without thinking
Repetition is usd to get info into it, comibined, organized and placed in context or associate with an emotion
Info is stored into 2 areas:
- Meaning
- Events
You can retrieve info from here and try to reconstruct it again in the working memory
Info already in LTM:
- Items in long term memory can take a while to retrieve. Ideally you should periodically recall this info by practicing, so that the info is readily available when you really need it.
similar info
- if an input is similiar to one that’s already in the LTM, there is a tendancy to assume it’s the same.
new info
- Brain tries to associate new info with with ones that are already stored
- New info with no past reference, will take longer to process mentally
1st step: subconsciously at low level
Subconsciously…
your attention mechanism decides if the info in the sensory stores are significant and what kind of processing is required
rock seen by your eye headed for your head..you duck
2nd step: central decision making
more complex info is directed to the ‘central executive’ where you must act by consciously thinking.
this where processing bottleneck takes place..before it goes to working memroy
3rd step: working memory
stores 7 ± 2 bits of info for 10-20 seconds
easily lost info unless it is rehearsed or committed to long term memory.
info gets replaced if given new info or if interrupted
chunking
a process of groupoing several items together into one unit to help extend the working memory capacity to remember it easir and for longer.
remember 43 letters by putting them in: London Geneva Paris…
why is short term memory important for pilots
need to remember ATC frequency which you must read back, or instructions
what affects how much is held and for how long…in short term memory
time it takes to say the words
the meaning of the words
any stresses you are suffering
Magic #7
messages should be short and better understood if they comprise no more than 7 disttinct pieces of info
Long term memory
broken into 5 types
Episodic
stores autobiographical info (experiences you had, places you’ve been, people you know, a smell that triggers emotions..)
not based on recalling facts
feeling you had on your first flight..
Semantic
accumulated knowledge and facts and language. Meaning of words and general knowledge.
knowledge you leart about flying, procedures, checklist,
Also stores:
the visual picture you have learned ‘
‘that you are at the right height to start landing flare
and muscle memory ‘ie the ations/steps to take to do the landing flare
Lasts longer and is more accurate than Episodic memory
procedural
type of long term memory involved in learning whereby you cannot recall it consciously
ex: riding a bike, speaking a language, walking - you learnt it, execute it naturally, but can’t explain how it’s done
‘muscle memory’
spatial
for imagery storage
Generic
for general knowledge
It can store rule-based, descriptive and schematic knowledge
when is peak arousal for short term memory and long term member
STM = morning 10-11am
LTM = later in the day 8pm
LTM can be preactivated with
planning and anticipation
what is semantic fundemental for
Perception..
when you look at 4 legged objects - is it an animal or a chair
Amnesia
partial or total loss of memory due to disease or drugs or concussion (mainly affecting episodic memory)
2 phases of procedural memory
Planning:
Requires conscious thought
Execution:
Almost no conscious thought because the skill is absorbed into the procedural memory as a series of motor programme
motor programming
series of subconscous movements stores in procedural memory triggered by conscious intention
Mental schema
a series of motor programmes are comibined with a serios of another motor programme
why is mental schema important
because these routines actions become automatic, allowing you to free up mental capacity for othe rpurposes
what’s the disadvantage of mental schema
once they have been initiated, there is little interest in execution
what’s an Action Slip
performing an unintended action.
prformance could have been correct but not for the intended occassion.
Ex:
you inted to raise the landing gear after take off but you instead raised the flaps
Two types of Actions
Knowledge based
Skill based
knowledge based action
unskilled pilot or new situation
slow execution
requires a lot of effort and a lot of feedback
can cause errors because
of information overload, lack of knoweldge and awareness of consequences
(general)Decision Making definition:
structure and systamatic approach to the analysis of changes/situations during a flight and how they may affect the safe outcome (includes risk management).
involves generation of alternative courses of action based on factors like:
SOPs
stress
knowledge/ past experience
In emergencies ->delegation of tasks, crew coordination
Information processing stages
Sensation:
Receive info via eyes and ears
Perception
info must be perceived to be important/meaningful. relevant before its passed to sensory memory
Decision
important perceived info gets passed to sensory memory to the Central decision maker part of the brain(thinking & reasoning) for final interpretation.
the CDM uses short & long term memory to analyze (expereinces, expectations, limitations, attention levels, etc)
*sometimes you interpret the way you want
Response
Action taken based on decision made.
*can be motor programming which happens automatically or subconsciously (but ths comes with pratice and experience)
Sensation & perception
Sensation - physical side data
Perception - psychological side (happens in the brain)
-giving meaning to what is sensed (ie. interpret, organize and elaborate)
-cognitive processing of your senses
Sensory and perception processing - most happen automatically and subconsciously
Abnormalities:
- Hallucinations (false perception something isn’t really there (imagined or not real) with no actual stimulus, only an imagine one
- Illusions (interpretation of stimuli - optical illusion, misinterpreting signals, etc)
- Agnosia - medical condition that affects the brain and cannot interpret senses correctly
what is needed to collect data from your senses
- stimulus
- sensory organs
- nerves-peripheral system to transport pulses to the brain
- Brain - areas in where the info is received and processed
how would there be variations in perception
Due to the stimulus
Due to the context the stimulus is experienced
Due to the state of the perceiver
what is transduction
process of info getting to the brain
Gestalt theory
a system of thought that regards mental phenomena as arranged in pattern perceived as a whole and not as the sum of their parts
subcutaneous
under the skin pressure receptors sensing / stumulated by pressure on the body part when sitting, laying or standing
Stimulation thresholds
**Absolute threshold:
**minimum level of stimulation that must occur before anything is noticed by most humans 50% of the time
**Just noticeable difference/difference threshold
**noticing a change between two stimuli via an increase in the strength of the original stimuli
ex: holding same item with different weight
note: as the sensory threshold increases, the sensitivity increases
Adaptation
when the response to a stimulus decreaes due to continuous exposure to it
‘smell’ is quickest to adapt
pilots - usually sense of balance when you turn, or being used to automation
Adaptation
when the response to a stimulus decreaes due to continuous exposure to it
‘smell’ is quickest to adapt
pilots - usually sense of balance when you turn, or being used to automation
Attention
the limited control you have over the sensed stimuli you choose to process, which might be the stimuli your consider to be relevant at the task at hand
Types of attention
focused:
responding to one stimuli only
Divided
managing and responding to multiple tasks at the same time. Some tasks may suffer at the expense of another especially if they are similar.
Ability to takin on secondary tasks whilst also concentrating on primary taks
Alternating:
shifting focus between tasks that have different cognitive requirements
Switching attention from one stimuli to another stimuli
Very important for the pilot to this
Selective:
You select and give one or more sources of input greater attention out of several. You process them and detect if they are meaningful fo ryou.
You need this ‘cocktail effect’ because the Centreal decision making part and short term memory are limited
If stress levels are not too high, you can have capacity to notice stimuli not associated to the current task. Vice versa if you are stressed.
Sustained (also called vigilance)
staying alert for a long period of time on ‘one task’. or Maintaining cosisten behavioural response during continouse and repetitive activity
what is vigilance
degree of activation in the central nervous system- an individual’s ability to pay close and continuous attention to a field of stimulation for a period of time, watchful for any particular changing circumstances.
human monitoring a task for too long, there is a decline in performance
waht is a decision
systematic and analytical mental processes used to determine a course of action(happens in linear steps even though it seems to happen all at same time)
it’s the end result of a chain of events involving:
- gathering data from your senses eyes/ears
- attention - must split attention for short times between things
- judgement & choosing alternatives
- prioritazation the tasks to be completed
- risk assessment
- timings (decision not to be made late but also not implusive)
2.
what is a poor decision
one that is taken based on false reasoning or false premise
Steps taken when making a decision
- proper definition of the problem
- Gather all info
- review all info (but don’t conform to bias)
- analyze alternatives (keep situational awareness, risk assessment, pre-prepared plan of actiona/list). Use systematic rules
- Decide and Do
- Review/Evaluate/feedback
*Don’t make a deicion unless you must
Keep the decision under review once you made it (you may need to change it)
‘No decision’ can be a decision
*be aware of undersirable attitudes
*keep good motivation to act on time
*learn to find relevant info
The reality in decision making
we don’t get all the info all once
we decide by taking an action that work as far as you an
overloaded with with too many options and can’t decide
relying on past experience ‘mindset’ when maybe other solutions exist - relying on reproductive thinking insteady of productive thinking.
in stressful situations, you tend to stereotype and attention narrows.
Also in stress, you adverseily impact the ability to perceive and evaluate cues from the environmentyou might revert to previous training and this si an isseu if the captian is affected by Authority gradient.
info can be incomplete or altered by emotional process
what is mental set
frame of mind we are in when we are coasting along on a mental autopilot
- when it happens, there is little time to process info and react
- we take things for granted
perceptual set
we see what we want to see or make a scene fit to what we expect it to be. rather than the reality
Decision making models - general definition
A mental model is what is ‘believed’ about a situation - ie what people know or thinkg they know
the more experience a person has, the more accurate the model is.
They are closely based on reality and are used to predict future actions to respond to similar situations.
The concept depends on the understanding of circumstances, expectaitons about the future and past experience
Flaws:
might may your ways of thinking to rigid (there are other soutions)
example of cocktail party effect
when you hear your call sign whilest focusing on something else
your call sign has an emotional strength
loss of concentration can happen because of:
hypovigilence
fatigue
hypoglycaemia
how to improve concentration during a flight due hypoglycemia
each short snacks to ensure your blood sugars are regulated and not low.
‘hypoglycaemia’ is a state of low blood sugar which deprives the body and the brain of energy
