Biomedical subjects

J E Fowlkes

Publications and source records attributed to J E Fowlkes.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2000

The utility of event-based knowledge elicitation.

The purpose of this investigation was to describe and evaluate an event-based knowledge elicitation technique. With this approach experts are provided with deliberate and controlled job situations, allowing investigation of specific task aspects and the comparison of expert responses. For this effort a videotape was developed showing an instructor pilot and student conducting a training mission. Various job situations were depicted in the video to gather information pertinent to understanding team situational awareness. The videotape was shown to 10 instructors and 10 student aviators in the community, and responses to the videotape were collected using a questionnaire at predetermined stop points. Consistent with expectations, the results showed that more experienced respondents (i.e., instructors) identified a richer database of cues and were more likely than students to identify strategies for responding to the situations depicted, providing some empirical evidence for the validity of the event-based technique. This method may serve as a useful knowledge elicitation technique, especially in the later stages of a job analysis when focused information is sought.

Cognitive Science↗

PubMed1997

Enhancing teamwork in complex environments through team training.

Although the importance of team training has become widely recognized, research is needed to more clearly understand what instructional strategies actually lead to enhanced teamwork and performance. This research incorporates a theoretical framework, based on the work of J.A. Cannon-Bowers, S.I. Tannenbaum, E. Salas, and C.E. Volpe (1995), to guide the systematic development of training that targeted specific team competencies (i.e., knowledge, skills, and attitudes). The theoretically designed training was delivered to 42 male aviators from an undergraduate naval aviation community. A comprehensive evaluation of this training was conducted using a multiple-measurement approach. Results provide strong support for the effectiveness of this team training in improving critical team competencies.

Aerospace Medicine↗

PubMed1993

Postural and performance changes following exposures to flight simulators.

Flight simulators are cost-effective, safe, and flexible training tools for aviators. However, their advantages may be offset by the occurrence of motion sickness-like symptoms which have been reported during and following simulator training. Although symptoms have been well documented in simulators, their time course, causes, and implications for training are not yet fully understood. Tests of standing and walking steadiness were administered along with cognitive and motor performance tests to Navy and Marine Corps aviators before and after their regular simulator training, resulting in records of 726 pilot exposure observations. When exposed pilots were compared to a control group who did not fly in a simulator, statistically significant decrements in postural equilibrium test scores were found for all of the moving base simulators, but for only one of the three fixed-base simulators. The size of these losses was approximately 15% of baseline. Cognitive and motor changes, while statistically significant, were complicated by learning effects in all groups for all tests. When compared to the control group, improvement in cognitive scores was always less in the simulator groups, but greater improvement occurred in the simulator groups for motor speed scores, although this latter difference was small (< 1% of baseline). Further study of performance changes is recommended. In those simulators where significant effects occurred, the ataxia and the time-course of the disequilibrium should be followed.

Aerospace Medicine↗

PubMed1993

Relating alcohol-induced performance deficits to mental capacity: a suggested methodology.

Performance tests are generally more reliable and more easily administered than on-the-job measures of performance, and in this way are preferable for studying the adverse consequences of environmental stressors. However, a linkage or context would be useful in interpretation of these laboratory measures. This paper reports findings with two indexing methods using multiple regression. In the first study, we illustrate "dose equivalency" where deficits on microcomputer performance tests were related to graded dosages of alcohol, and prediction equations of blood alcohol level were established. In the second experiment, "surrogate criteria" are demonstrated where cognitive mental tests of military aptitude, known to be predictive of operational performances, were administered to a sample who were tested repeatedly on the same microcomputer performance test. Multiple regression analyses of the computerized tests with the amplitude tests were significant (p < 0.01) and ranged from R = 0.50 to 0.94. Finally, the loss in performance owing to alcohol was indexed to loss on the microcomputer tests through the relationship of the tests to the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). Since the latter is strongly predictive of all forms of military operational performance, we suggest that alcohol-related losses in microcomputer performance test scores can serve as a useful intermediary, permitting meaningful linkage to these real-world performances.

Adult↗

PubMed1993

Changes in the dark focus of accommodation associated with simulator sickness.

The relationship between the dark focus of accommodation and simulator sickness, a form of motion sickness, was examined in three experiments. In Experiment 1, dark focus was measured in 18 college students in a laboratory setting before and after they viewed a projected motion scene depicting low altitude helicopter flight. In Experiments 2 and 3, dark focus was measured in pilots (N = 16 and 23, respectively) before and after they "flew" in moving-base helicopter flight simulators with optical infinity CRT visual systems. The results showed that individuals who experienced simulator sickness had either an inward (myopic) change in dark focus (Experiments 1 and 3) or attenuated outward shifts in dark focus (Experiment 2) relative to participants who did not get sick. These results are consonant with the hypothesis that parasympathetic activity, which may be associated with simulator sickness, should result in changes in dark focus that are in a myopic direction. Night vision goggles, virtual environments, extended periods in microgravity, and heads-up displays all produce related visual symptomatology. Changes in dark focus may occur in these conditions, as well, and should be measured.

Accommodation, Ocular↗

PubMed1992

Use of a motion sickness history questionnaire for prediction of simulator sickness.

This research assessed the usefulness of the Motion History Questionnaire (MHQ) for the prediction of simulator sickness, a form of motion sickness experienced by pilots training in ground-based flight simulators. Four MHQ scoring keys were compared: (1) the original MHQ key which had been validated on a sample of U.S. Navy student pilots exposed to Coriolis forces, (2 and 3) two keys which had been validated on a sample of civilian college students exposed to simulated ship motions, and (4) a simulator sickness key empirically derived in the present research and cross-validated. Navy and Marine Corps aviators (N = 456) filled out the MHQ prior to their regularly scheduled flight simulator training and were divided into validation and cross-validation samples. All scoring keys were predictive of reported symptoms of sickness, but highest correlations were obtained with the empirically-derived simulator sickness (SS) key. It is suggested that the SS key be used for self-testing so that pilots may be made aware of their risk for developing simulator sickness.

Aerospace Medicine↗