Military Psychology:
Situation Awareness
Dr. Steve Kass
University of West Florida
Situation Awareness
Definitions
Is SA a construct, phenomenon, process, or product?
Situation Awareness
-“The perception of the elements in the environment within a volume of time
and space, the comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of their
status in the near future (Endsley, 1988)
-“Skilled behavior that encompasses the processes by which task-relevant
information is extracted, integrated, assessed, and acted upon” (Kass, Herschler, &
Companion, 1991).
-“Continuous extraction of environmental information, integration of this
information with previous knowledge to form a coherent mental picture, and
the use of that picture in directing further perception and anticipating future
events” (Dominguez, 1994).
Levels of SA
Levels of SA
1 – Awareness of information
2 – Comprehension of its meaning
3 – Projection of future status
Situation Awareness
Components
Components of SA
1. Spatial Awareness
–
Loss of SA – GLOC, spatial disorientation
System Awareness
2.
–
Loss of SA – insufficient scan, distraction, lack of
checklist
Task Awareness
3.
–
Loss of SA – Competing tasks, poor task management, lack of
vigilance
Rasmussen’s Skill-, Rule-, and
Knowledge-based performance model
High Novice
Analytic
Intuitive
Low
Expert
Automatic
Situation Awareness
Model
Task/System Factors
•System Capability
•Interface Design
•Stress & Workload
•Complexity
•Automation
Feedback
SITUATION AWARENESS
State of the
Environment
Perception
of elements
in Current
Situation
Comprehension of
current
Situation
Level 1
Level 2
Projection of
Future
Status
Performance
DECISION
Of
Actions
Level 3
Individual Factors
•Goals & Objectives
•Preconceptions
(Expectations)
Information
Processing
Mechanisms
Long Term
Memory Stores
•Abilities
•Experience
•Training
Automaticity
Measuring SA
Typical
Constructs
measured in
trying to assess
SA
Mental
Models
Pattern
Recognition
Attention
SA
Working
Memory
Workload
Performance
Factors Affecting Loss of
Situation Awareness
• Attention
• attentional demands of controlled processes (k-based performance)
• Pattern Recognition
• inability to perceive pattern of cues (recognition-primed DM)
• Workload
• tasks too demanding or too many at once
• Mental models
• inadequate understanding of system or state
• Working Memory
• failure to adequately “chunk” information
Attention

Narrowing of attention under stress (high
workload) adversely impacts SA
Examples:
• Commercial plane crashes in the Everglades when aircrew becomes
fixated on a warning light while the plane slowly descends into the ground.
• Outfielder for the Mets tosses ball to a fan after making the second out
while runner on base easily scores.
Pattern Recognition
Perceptual Recognition – comparing incoming stimulus
information with stored knowledge in order to categorize
the information.
QB reading pattern of defense
Workload

Workload often used as a surrogate measure
for SA.
– Note reference to workload in SA measures
such as CLSA and NASA TLX
Mental Models
Mental Models – how people mentally represent the
task they are performing
Represent & organize info by interconnected chunks
(schema)

Experts organize schemata into larger, more meaningful/
easy to access chunks.


Novices may not see all relevant connections

Use mnemonic devices to help novices organize and retrieve info
Working Memory

Ability to “chunk” information may be what
distinguishes expert decision-making from that of
novices
– Magical number 7 IBMUSANBCGREUWF
Experts recall larger chunks of information
(more chess pieces) when they recognize a
meaningful pattern. When the pattern is
random, performance same as novices.
Commercial pilots may have to monitor and
react to up to 400 instruments and gauges.
747 cockpit
Types of SA Measures

Subjective Ratings
– E.g., China Lake SA Rating Scale, Situation Awareness Rating
Technique, SA Supervisory Rating Form

Performance-based
– Ability to regain control from dangerous
attitudes

Query
– SAGAT
Situation Awareness Rating
Technique
Low
1
Instability of Situation
Variability of Situation
Complexity of Situation
Arousal
Spare Mental Capacity
Concentration
Division of Attention
Information Quantity
Information Quality
Familiarity
2
3
4
5
6
High
7
Performance-Based Measures
of SA

Performance-based SA measures
– ex: Ability to correct from unusual attitude (in
simulator)
Query-based Measures of SA

SAGAT – Situation Awareness Global
Assessment Technique
– Halt simulation
– Black-out displays
– Randomly selected questions
– Pilot recall
Problem of SA Measurement
SA is Difficult to measure:
Self-report measures - Only aware of what you are aware of
Performance-based measures – Intrusive, measure affects
performance
Query-based – might only tap memory
6 O’Clock Problem – Can
not assess your awareness
of the things you are not
aware of.
Experiment: Driver Situation
Awareness
as a factor of Experience Level & Cell Phone Usage
Kass, Cole, & Stanny, 2007
9
4
8
3.5
3
6
Novice
Experienced
5
Turns Missed
Total SA Questions Correct
7
4
3
2.5
Novice
Experienced
2
1.5
1
2
0.5
1
0
No Cell Phone
0
No Cell Phone
Cell Phone
Condition
Cell Phone
Condition
Experiment: Driver Situation Awareness
as a factor of Experience Level & Cell Phone Usage
Driving Infractions
14
Total Driving Errors
12
Road Excursions
10
Pedestrians Struck
8
Stop Signs Missed
Centerline Crossing
6
Collisions
4
Speed Exceeded
2
0
Novice - No Cell
Experienced - No Cell
Novice - w/ Cell Phone
Experienced w/ Cell Phone
Kass, Cole, & Stanny, 2007
Improving
Situation Awareness





Cue Filtering – eliminate irrelevant cues (clutter) that
interfere with accurate assessment of situation
Augmented Displays – displays that highlight or overlay
actual information to make it more salient
Spatial Organization – arranging displays to capitalize on
spatial relationships (e.g., pop-out effect)
Automate Status Updates – as the environment changes the
system should warn the user of change
Train Users to Improve Attention?
Cue Filtering for Improving SA

Removal of clutter (irrelevant cues) in training
allows learner to identify relevant cues better
– Real-world “clutter” can then be gradually phased
back into training.
Spatial Organization in Display
Design for Improving SA

Display design capitalizing on spatial
relationships
– “Pop-out effect”
Tactile Situation Awareness
System
Tactile stimulation used to
prevent spatial disorientation
Tactile cues can provide status
updates regardless of where
attention is currently focused
Human factors application of tactile research
Tactile Situation Awareness
System (TSAS)






Map surrounding
space to the torso
tactually
Intuitive in three
dimensions
Non-visual
Non-competing
Continuous source
Utilizes “seat of the
pants” sense
TSAS Performance Means
RMSE
TSAS
Off
No
Secondary
Task
Yes
On
M = 4.55
SD = 3.55
M = 4.33
SD = 3.48
M = 7.24
SD = 3.73
M = 5.75
SD = 3.06
•RMSE for helicopter hover under 20/200 viewing conditions (White out)
•Secondary task was a simple arithmetic task
Augmented Reality Displays
Augmented Displays - display that improves upon reality
by superimposing info over actual environment
ex: thermal imaging color codes objects by temperature
HUDs superimpose display
information on the PVA
Mindfulness Training and SA?
• Few, if any, attempts to improve SA have focused on the
human component of the human-machine systems
• Research idea: mindfulness training to increase ability to
concentrate and improve attention
Experiment: Mindfulness & SA
Impact of mindfulness training on situation awareness
while driving
Psychology Class
• Control group – Experimental
Psychology Class
SA questions correct (out of 9)
• Mindfulness – Moving and sharpening the focus of awareness within the field of
consciousness.
• Concentration – Actively maintaining one’s controlled focus of attention for
designated periods of time
• Mindfulness training – Buddhist
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Mindfulness Training
Control Group
Experiment: Mindfulness & SA
Impact of mindfulness training on situation awareness
1. while
2. driving
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
1. Situation Awareness
2. Mindfulness
3. Concentration
4. Stopping violations
5. Speeding Violations
6. Vehicle Collisions
7. Pedestrian Collisions
--
.80**
.61*
-.65*
-.14
-.11
-.01
--
.69**
-.49
-.07
.10
-.61*
--
-.40
-.08
.12
-.20
--
.13
.03
-.20
--
.01
-.07
--
-.04
--
* p < .05. **p < .01.
SA Medical Training
Gaba et al’s suggestions for training SA in medical
applications
1. Provide practice scanning instruments and
environment to maximize perception of cues from all
relevant data streams
2. Provide explicit training in allocation of attention
using low fidelity simulations, and multi-faceted
training in high fidelity simulations
3. Provide enhanced training in situation assessment and
on pattern matching of cues to known disease and
fault conditions