Automated systems have certainly come a long way in recent years, but many still rely on human beings to oversee and monitor them to ensure they’re working correctly.

A recent study explored the conditions under which such operators are at their most effective, and particularly the cognitive strain such work can put them under.

Working memory

The paper explores the link between the working memory of the operator, and their ability to sustain attention on the task at hand.  Of particular interest to the researchers was something known in the trade as cognitive lock-up, which describes how we can often focus excessively on an initial failure than we do on subsequent failures.

This kind of monitoring of automated systems usually requires extreme levels of multitasking.  This cognitive overload can frequently result in a cascade of failures, as operators focus excessively on the initial failure and have difficulties keeping tabs on the remainder of the system.

“Previous research had focused only on identifying task- and automation-related predictors of cognitive lock-up,” the researchers say.

Watching the machines

The authors studied things such as the reaction time and working memory of a number of participants as they monitored screens designed to replicate those on an Airbus A320.  The participants were presented with a number of system failures that were followed up by seperate failures.  For instance, the initial problem could be with the autopilot, followed by an engine failure.

Perhaps not surprisingly, operatives with a higher level of working memory were better able to cope both with the initial system failure but also the failures that followed on from it.

This may seem intuitive, but in an age where more and more things are being automated, it is a useful reminder to try and develop systems that help to reduce cognitive lock-up wherever possible.

Or as the authors suggest, “enabling automation to prioritize failures and communicate such information, . . . improve the task environment, . . .and modify personnel selection strategies and establish training procedures for working memory, cognitive flexibility, and sustained attention.”