Attentional Switch Characteristics are Correlated with the Performance of Simulated Aviation Task

The present study explored what attentional switch characteristics are correlated with simulated aviation task performance. We measure the attentional switch characteristics based on three AB indices. When two targets are presented in a RSVP stream, the impairment in identification of the second target (T2) after correct report of the first target (T1) is attentional blink (AB). First, the overall switch cost is the AB magnitude which is the difference between the highest and lowest accuracy of T2 given correct report of T1 (T2/T1) across five T1-T2 intervals. Second, the general cost of processing T1 is measured by the average accuracy of T2/T1 across intervals. Finally, the AB dwell time is measured by the temporal interval when the accuracy of T2/T1 reach the lowest level across five T1-T2 intervals. The Multi-Attribute Task Battery (MATB) is used to simulate aviation tasks. The results show (1) AB dwell time is significantly correlated with the RT of monitoring dashboard; (2) average accuracy of T2/T1 is correlated with the performance of multiple tasks in the MATB including monitoring dashboard, resource management and tracking tasks. These results indicated that several AB indices might be useful for predicting the simulated aviation performance.