Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2007

City

Dayton

Abstract

Visual attention allocation and scanning strategies of pilots have enjoyed sustained research effort for decades, resulting in many useful models and better understanding of the relationship between pilots’ eye movements and underlying cognitive mechanisms. However, much less research has been done on modeling air traffic controllers’ attentional processes and visual performance. Yet, such efforts are becoming increasingly critical in the light of changing tasks and task environments of controllers and increasing amounts of traffic under their responsibility. This paper will consider the SEEV (Salience, Effort, Expectancy, Value) model of visual attention allocation by Wickens and collaborators, which is an extension of Senders’ and Carbonell’s original model, as it is applied to air traffic control (ATC). The SEEV model integrates a comprehensive set of features influencing visual attention allocation and is thus an attractive candidate for modeling also air traffic controllers’ behavior and performance. We discuss many unique characteristics of ATC and focus on three particular challenges to applying the SEEV model to ATC tasks presented in the literature: uncertainty, time pressure and workload.

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