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Human Performance - Keys Notes
Human Performance - Keys Notes
• Energy Production
• Temperature and Chemical Regulation
▪ This is known as homeostasis • Internal – O2 and CO2 exchanged in cells
▪ Body must remain between 7.2-7.6 pH • External – O2 and CO2 exchanged in lungs
• Achieved by breathing 16-18 times per
minute
• Regulated by amount of CO2
• Lens bending – effected by ciliary muscles • Uses both eyes for distance and depth
• Used for greyscale vision ▪ Lens goes flat for distant objects • Stereoscopic – Images are added together
• Scotopic Vision • Convergence – Eye swivel gives cues
• Provide vision in dim light
• Found round the edges of the eye • May damage the lens or retina
• Higher energy than other light Vision with 1 eye achieved by:
• Size of retinal image – prior experience
• Used for colour vision and visual acuity • Obscuration
• Red, green and blue • Day – No rods/nerves on the optic nerve • Motion parallax – Close objects move faster
• Colour-blindness caused by imperfections ▪ Binocular vision/moving head fixes this • Texture – Close objects have more detail
• Photopic Vision • Night – Inactive fovea due to low light • Atmospheric Perspective - Distant objects
• Provide vision in bright light (daytime) ▪ 5-10° blindspot appear hazy
• Found in the centre of the retina (fovea) ▪ Therefore look to the sides of an object • Linear Perspective – Parallel lines converge
• “Shortsightedness” • Wide Runway = Looks Low • Bright Lights appear Closer = Low Approach
• Can only see close objects ▪ High, Steep Approach • Dim Lights appear Further = High Approach
• Image forms in front of retina ▪ Early Flare
• Corrected with a concave lens • Narrow Runway = Looks High
• Caused by long eyeball/too much bending ▪ Low, Flat Approach • Rain on the windshield causes light to
▪ Late Flare refract making you appear high
• Rain/haze/mist has the same effect and
• “Farsightedness” lights feel dimmer (higher approach)
• Can only see distant objects • Downslope = Looks Low • Shallow fog layers may make you think you
• Image forms beyond retina ▪ Causes an approach that is too high are high as distant lights disappear
• Corrected with a convex lens • Upslope = Looks High
• Caused by short eyeball/not enough bending ▪ Causes an approach that is too shallow
• Static lights appear to move when stared at
• Unequal curvature of the cornea/lens • Upsloping terrain makes you feel high
• Cannot focus on 2 planes at the same time • Causes an approach that is too shallow • Half-Moon – Aid near vision only
• Corrected with a cylindrical lens • Downsloping terrain makes you feel low • Bifocal – Corrects near and far vision
▪ Causes an approach that is too high • Varifocal – Not advised due to peripheral
distortion
• Hardening of the lens with age
• A form of hypermetropia
• Being high up makes you feel slower
• Usually occurs when older than 40
• Other moving aircraft nearby will make
• Pre-existing conditions may delay (myopia)
you feel like you are moving
or accelerate (hypermetropia) onset
• Rise of the internal pressure of the eye • Causes a temptation to fly a low approach
• Causes visual field narrowing, pain &
eventually blindness
• Insidious onset (initially undetected) • Snowy ground & white clouds merge and
the horizon is obscured
• May cause Controlled Flight into Terrain
• Clouding of the lens (CFIT)
• Leads to vision loss unless lens replaced
• Acoustic Trauma – Sudden exposure to
loud noise (>140 dB) • Acts for more than 1 second
• Gradual NIHL – Repeated exposure • 3.5G – Tunnel Vision/Grey Out
• Hearing range is 20Hz – 20kHz (>90dB) and usually insidious • 4.5G – Black Out
• Intensity measured in decibels (dB) • Presbycusis – Hearing loss with age • Negative G is not well tolerated
• Pain threshold is 140dB ▪ Causes loss of high tones first
• Uses a logarithmic scale ▪ Either conductive or NIHL
• Experience/Training
• Anti-G Suit
• Effects depends on loudness, length of
• Duration of Exposure
exposure and frequency
• General Health
• Steady State – Continuous noise • Linear – In a straight line
• Seating Position (Supine)
• Impulse – Sudden noise ▪ e.g Take Off/Crashes
• Best tolerance when distance between
• Angular – Changes in angular velocity
heart and brain is minimized
▪ e.g Aircraft Spin
• Outer Ear – Auricle (Pinna), Auditory Canal • Radial – Toward the center of a circle
and Ear Drum (Tympanic Membrane) ▪ e.g Loop
• Middle Ear – Ossicles (tiny bones) • 4 Point Harness – Danger of submarining
• Inner Ear – Cochlea and Eustachian Tube • 5 Point Harness – Prevents submarining
and Semi-Circular Canals • +Gz – Positive G (Radial)
▪ e.g Loops/Spiral Dive Recoveries
▪ Most significant for pilots
• Listening Rate – 500 words per minute • -Gz – Negative G (Radial)
• Speaking Rate – 125 words per minute ▪ e.g Pushovers • 3x Semi-circular Canals and 2x Otoliths
• +Gx – Transverse Forwards • Located within the inner ear
▪ e.g Take-Off
• Conductive Hearing Loss – Sound does not • -Gx – Transverse Backwards
reach inner ear ▪ e.g Braking • Senses angular acceleration
• Sensorineural Hearing Loss – Due to • Gy – Lateral (Rare in flight) (pitch/yaw/roll)
cochlea damage (sensory hairs/nerve fibres) • If angular velocity is constant, no
▪ Treat with surgery, hearing aids & meds acceleration is sensed
• Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) results • Acts for less than 1 second
from damage to the cochlea hair cells
• Maximum +25G Vertical (Gz)
▪ No pain occurs
• Maximum ±45G Transverse (Gx)
▪ From high intensity or long duration
• Senses linear acceleration and gravity • 2D Illusions (Take-Off and Landing) • Caused by disagreement between the
• Horizontal Plane – Utricles • Within the otolith organs visual and vestibular system
• Vertical Plane – Saccules • Includes pitch up/down illusion, elevator • Vibration of 1-100Hz can cause resonance
• Chalk like crystals that sit on top of a jelly illusion and inversion illusion in the vestibular system
• Acceleration causes them to move • Pitch up illusion – acceleration feels like a • Symptoms include restlessness, increased
climb saliva, cold sweat, dizziness, nausea and
• Pitch down illusion – deceleration feels headache
• Senses the seat of the pants feeling like a descent • Treated by minimizing head movements
• Subcutaneous receptors sense pressure on • These may also cause an oculogravic and fixing gaze on a stable horizon (or rest
the skin illusion – apparent upward/downward head on back of seat with eyes closed)
• Proprioceptors sense relative motion and movement and displacement of object • Supplemental Oxygen, opening air vents
position of body parts • Elevator illusion is caused by turbulence and loosening clothing also helps
• Only useful flying in VMC when… • Prevented with avoiding medication and
▪ Aircraft goes up – climb is felt alcohol and continued exposure
▪ Aircraft goes down – descent is felt
▪ Temptation is then to overcorrect this
• Inversion illusion – Abrupt change from
climb to straight and level creates the
• 3D Illusions
illusion of tumbling backwards
• Within the semi-circular canals
• Includes the leans, graveyard spin and the
Coriolis illusion (vertigo)
• Leans – Perceiving the aircraft attitude as • Entering turn is sensed as a climb
being different from reality • Exiting a turn is sensed as a descent
▪ Caused by a movement below sensory
threshold
• Graveyard Spin – Spin recovery that results • ALWAYS TRUST YOUR INSTRUMENTS!
in spin in original direction
• Graveyard Spiral – Normal rollout that
results in a tightening turn
• Coriolis (Vertigo) – Head tilted
upwards/downwards (especially whilst
turning) giving a tumbling sensation
• Divided Attention – Execute several
• We sense stimuli as just raw data activities at the same time • Episodic Memory – Specific Lifetime Events
• Perception involves interpreting raw data • Selective Attention – Focusing on 1 ▪ Easily influenced
to give it meaning stimulus due to limited capacity • Semantic Memory – Facts
• Based on our mental models (past • Blinkered Attention – Concentrating on 1 ▪ Lasts longer than episodic memory
experiences and learning) specific thing • Procedural Memory – Actions/Skills
• Stimuli stored in sensory memory • Can’t do 2 attentional tasks simultaneously ▪ Includes motor programmes
▪ Iconic Memory – Sight – 0.5-1 second
▪ Echoic Memory – Hearing – 2-8 seconds
• Gestalt Laws – govern how objects are • Giving sustained attention to something
• a.k.a “Mental Schemes”
mentally organized/perceived to notice a non-ordinary event
• Stored routines completed automatically
• Affected by task, motivation,
• Learnt by repetition in cognitive,
physiological and environmental factors
associative and automatic phases
• Bottom Up – From sensory information • We naturally divert our attention as relief
• Errors include action slip and
• Top Down – From experience/expectation • Hypovigilance – Reduction in vigilance
environmental capture
• Means perception varies between individuals • Brought about by monotony, lack of
stimulation and fatigue
• Managed by aircraft interactions and in-
flight rest Conscious Processing
• When there is a difference between what is • Working memory used to make decisions
perceived and what is reality • Requires attentional resources
• Individuals and Groups are affected Automatic Processing
• Treated as threats that should be managed • a.k.a “Working Memory”
• Involved in the decision-making process • A motor program from long-term memory
• Finite capacity of 5 items ± 2 • a.k.a “Behavioural Sub-routine”
• Will be forgotten after 10-20 seconds • Does not require attentional resources
• Concentrating on a stimuli/thought
• Wickens’ Theory – Information perceived by • Sensitive to disturbances
multiple senses more likely to get attention • Requires attention
• Improved by chunking/mnemonics • When perception = reality
• Guided by the level of autonomy,
• Levels of awareness include Monitor,
expectations and salience of information
Evaluate, Anticipate
• Infinite capacity and permanent • Used in TEM as countermeasures
• Goal driven – Directed to what we feel is • Does not require attention
most appropriate • Influenced by suggestion/expectation
• Stimulus driven – Physical properties of • Degrades if information not regularly
stimuli attract attention retrieved or few associations
• Personality – Who We Are • Skill Based – Use of motor programmes • The words that are said/written
▪ Stable characteristics ▪ Prone to action slips and • 95% of the communication on the flight deck
▪ Fixed by age 7 environmental capture
• Behaviour – What We Do • Rule Based – Following learnt procedures
▪ Modifiable ▪ Errors may be in the rule itself, the • Body Language – Facial Expressions,
▪ Controllable display of personality application (error in technical Gestures and Posture
▪ More important than personality knowledge) or using the wrong rule • Paralanguage – Pitch, Tone and Pauses
▪ Used if automated behaviour unsuitable
• Knowledge Based – Knowledge and
• Projective tests, handwriting analysis and experience used to determine action
• Explicit – Clear and unambiguous
interviews all accepted methods ▪ Associated with problem solving
• Implicit – Potentially ambiguous
• Best method is personality tests ▪ Used if rule-based behaviour unsuitable
• Metacommunication – Communication
about communication
• Makes up 80% of communication
• Passive – Putting needs of others first
• Introvert or Extrovert • Professional language with precise words
• Assertive – Active listening, assured
• Stable or Unstable (Anxious) and simplified grammar used in aviation
manner
• Average Pilot is stable and extroverted
• Aggressive – Putting own needs first
• Invulnerability – Accidents happen to
others • Intrapersonal – Conflict within one’s self
• Personality + Attitudes = Behaviour • Macho – Trying to prove they’re the best • Interpersonal – Conflict between 2+ people
• Influenced by social norms, faith & culture • Other hazardous attitudes include anti- • Levels of Interpersonal Conflict:
authority, impulsivity and resignation 1. Positive Resolution
2. Difference of Opinion
• “The way we see ourselves” 3. Confrontation
• Ideal Self – how we want to see ourselves • Psychologists measure styles as either task 4. Fight/Flight
• Motivation – From a difference between or relationship oriented 5. Combat
self-concept and ideal self • Ideal leaders are both
• Anxiety – Ideal self seems unattainable • Paternalistic – Acts as a father figure
• Under-confidence leads to • Inquiry, Active Listening, Advocacy and
aggression/assertiveness Metacommunication
• Depends heavily on the sender • Open questions are preferred
• Influenced by workload, noise and voice • Higher level conflict dealt with through
• Ability to control our own behaviour • Feedback – Measured/corrected for meaning negotiation and arbitration
• External/internal stimulus causing stress • Body’s reaction to specific events
• Dependent on an individual’s subjective • Often trigger fight/flight response
• Central Nervous System (CNS) – Brain and evaluation of a situation & ability to cope
Spinal Cord
• Peripheral Nervous System (PNS) – • Stress arising from company/organization
Connects everything to CNS • Comfortable environment ≈ 20°C • e.g Career Development, Management etc.
• 30°C+ - Uncomfortable
• Adaptation to a hot country takes 14 days
• Neurons – Conducting elements • Noise, low humidity, vibrations and UV • Stress occurs when perceived demand
• Synapse – Connection between neurons radiation are also factors outweighs perceived ability
• Visual Cortex – Where vision information is
processed in the brain
• Cerebellum – Reflex center of co-ordination • Model of the body’s ANS response to stress
• 39°C+ – Impaired mental/physical
• Signals travel electrically (charged molecules) performance
along the axon and chemically across the
• 37°C - Normal core temperature
synaptic gap
• Below this, reasoning problems start
• 35°C - Hypothermia starts
• 32°C - Shivering stops and apathy starts
• Part of the PNS • Apathy is the most dangerous symptom!
• Unconsciously regulates bodily functions
• Homeostasis – Body’s state of equilibrium • Stress has more of a response on physical
• Maintained through the ANS than mental performance
• High Temperatures – Vasodilation and • Adrenaline - Causes glucose to be released
Sweating
• Cortisol - Converts fat to sugar
• Low Temperatures – Vasoconstriction
and Shivering