Vigilance and Conflict Recognition Flashcards
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The signal detection theory concept of 'criterion' in ATC vigilance refers to:
Answer: The threshold of evidence a controller requires before deciding a situation requires action
The decision criterion is the internal threshold determining whether a given stimulus is 'enough' to warrant a response — a key SDT concept in vigilance research.
A false alarm in ATC vigilance context means:
Answer: A controller issues a conflict resolution instruction when no actual conflict exists
A false alarm is a positive response (issuing an instruction) when no actual conflict exists — the controller perceived a conflict that was not real.
Research shows that STCA (Short-Term Conflict Alert) systems that generate many false alarms tend to produce an effect called 'alarm fatigue'. This means controllers will:
Answer: Begin to treat STCA alerts with less urgency, increasing the risk of missing genuine conflicts
Alarm fatigue (also called alert fatigue) occurs when frequent false alarms cause operators to habituate to alerts, reducing their urgency response even to genuine warnings.
A 'near-miss incident' in ATC is defined as:
Answer: An airborne encounter where separation is reduced below prescribed minima but no collision occurs
A near-miss (or airprox) is an airborne event where separation falls below prescribed minima, constituting a separation infringement even if no collision results.
A controller's vigilance performance data shows: in the first 10 minutes of monitoring, hit rate = 98%, false alarm rate = 2%. In the second 10 minutes, hit rate = 85%, false alarm rate = 8%. What does this pattern indicate?
Answer: Vigilance decrement with a liberal criterion shift — the controller is detecting more uncertain signals as alertness falls
Declining hit rate AND increasing false alarm rate together indicate a criterion shift — the controller is using weaker evidence to trigger responses as attention degrades, producing more misses AND more false alarms.
The primary purpose of sector rotation (changing controllers between sectors every 1–2 hours) in ATC operations is:
Answer: To counteract vigilance decrement by providing cognitive refreshment and preventing monotony-induced performance decline
Sector rotation is primarily a vigilance management technique — changing sectors refreshes attention, increases arousal, and counteracts the monotony-driven vigilance decrement.