Effect of task interruption on the situation awareness of air traffic controllers.

Multiple intersecting situational tasks in the field of aviation often cause air traffic controllers to face issues pertaining to interruption and task switching. To investigate the impact of task interruption on the situation awareness of air traffic controllers, two experiments were conducted. Exp...

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Main Authors: Kun Zhou, Chenglong Wang, Siqi Xie, Yanan Zhou, Xuelong Zhang, Yanqing Wang, Hui Tang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2024-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0314183
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author Kun Zhou
Chenglong Wang
Siqi Xie
Yanan Zhou
Xuelong Zhang
Yanqing Wang
Hui Tang
author_facet Kun Zhou
Chenglong Wang
Siqi Xie
Yanan Zhou
Xuelong Zhang
Yanqing Wang
Hui Tang
author_sort Kun Zhou
collection DOAJ
description Multiple intersecting situational tasks in the field of aviation often cause air traffic controllers to face issues pertaining to interruption and task switching. To investigate the impact of task interruption on the situation awareness of air traffic controllers, two experiments were conducted. Experiment 1, which focused on 44 new graduates preparing to work in the field of air traffic control, revealed that task interruption reduced the participants' levels of situation awareness. Experiment 2, which focused on 80 new air traffic control graduates, employed a 2 (primary task modality: visual, auditory) × 2 (interruption modality: visual, auditory) between-subjects design and revealed that the negative effect of task interruption on situation awareness was moderated by task modality. Interruptions that occur in the same modality as the primary task were shown to result in greater decreases than were cross modal interruptions. Visual interruption led to a greater decrease in situation awareness than did auditory interruption, and interruption of the visual task also caused a greater decrease in situation awareness than did interruption of the auditory task. These findings might be valuable in attempts to enhance situation awareness among air traffic controllers by providing insights into the design of human‒computer interactions in the context of an air traffic control automation system.
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institution Kabale University
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language English
publishDate 2024-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
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spelling doaj-art-b0e7d89b83b14f9bb58beca18505db4c2024-11-25T05:31:10ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032024-01-011911e031418310.1371/journal.pone.0314183Effect of task interruption on the situation awareness of air traffic controllers.Kun ZhouChenglong WangSiqi XieYanan ZhouXuelong ZhangYanqing WangHui TangMultiple intersecting situational tasks in the field of aviation often cause air traffic controllers to face issues pertaining to interruption and task switching. To investigate the impact of task interruption on the situation awareness of air traffic controllers, two experiments were conducted. Experiment 1, which focused on 44 new graduates preparing to work in the field of air traffic control, revealed that task interruption reduced the participants' levels of situation awareness. Experiment 2, which focused on 80 new air traffic control graduates, employed a 2 (primary task modality: visual, auditory) × 2 (interruption modality: visual, auditory) between-subjects design and revealed that the negative effect of task interruption on situation awareness was moderated by task modality. Interruptions that occur in the same modality as the primary task were shown to result in greater decreases than were cross modal interruptions. Visual interruption led to a greater decrease in situation awareness than did auditory interruption, and interruption of the visual task also caused a greater decrease in situation awareness than did interruption of the auditory task. These findings might be valuable in attempts to enhance situation awareness among air traffic controllers by providing insights into the design of human‒computer interactions in the context of an air traffic control automation system.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0314183
spellingShingle Kun Zhou
Chenglong Wang
Siqi Xie
Yanan Zhou
Xuelong Zhang
Yanqing Wang
Hui Tang
Effect of task interruption on the situation awareness of air traffic controllers.
PLoS ONE
title Effect of task interruption on the situation awareness of air traffic controllers.
title_full Effect of task interruption on the situation awareness of air traffic controllers.
title_fullStr Effect of task interruption on the situation awareness of air traffic controllers.
title_full_unstemmed Effect of task interruption on the situation awareness of air traffic controllers.
title_short Effect of task interruption on the situation awareness of air traffic controllers.
title_sort effect of task interruption on the situation awareness of air traffic controllers
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0314183
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