Presentation
Auditory Distractions and Pilot Monitoring Performance Using MATB-II
SessionWednesday Poster Session
DescriptionPilot attention and auditory distraction are central concerns in aviation safety, yet the specific effect of instructional framing on system monitoring performance remains poorly understood. The present study examined whether framing either the communication task or the system monitoring task as operationally critical would shift attentional allocation and influence perceived workload in a simulated multi-task environment. Drawing on Multiple Resource Theory (Wickens et al., 2003), it was hypothesized that critical framing would measurably redirect cognitive resources toward the designated priority task. A sample of 116 undergraduate participants completed three 30-minute trials on the Multi-Attribute Task Battery II (MATB-II) under one of three between-subjects conditions: Control, CommCritical, or SysMonCritical. Neither hypothesis was supported; a linear mixed-effects model revealed no significant effect of instructional framing on system monitoring performance. A robust practice effect emerged across all conditions, suggesting task familiarity was the primary driver of performance gains. A significant main effect of condition on perceived workload was observed, with the SysMonCritical group reporting lower workload than both other groups, though pairwise comparisons remained marginal. These findings suggest that single-sentence instructional manipulations are insufficient to redirect attentional allocation in complex multi-task environments, while indicating that framing may independently influence perceived demand.
Event Type
Poster
TimeWednesday, October 21st5:30pm - 6:30pm PDT
LocationSummit Pavilion
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