This application proposes to study whether expertise mitigates age declines in pilots' performance in situations of environmental support for use of domain knowledge. Pilots will listen to and repeat air traffic control (ATC) messages (standard ATC communication procedure) in the laboratory. This task will be extended in order to examine which task factors support mitigation and how. Ultimately, the task will be integrated into simulator-based studies to allow investigation of communication ability in a task environment that provides more opportunity for support while increasing overall demand. The impact of expertise, age, and task factors on communication errors, time, and recall will be studied. The proposal asserts that the obtained results will not only address issues of aging and pilot communication, but also elucidate the relationship of domain knowledge and the role of the task environment to mitigation of age-related declines.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01AG013936-05
Application #
6168839
Study Section
Human Development and Aging Subcommittee 3 (HUD)
Program Officer
Elias, Jeffrey W
Project Start
1996-09-01
Project End
2002-06-30
Budget Start
2000-07-01
Budget End
2002-06-30
Support Year
5
Fiscal Year
2000
Total Cost
$175,959
Indirect Cost
Name
University of New Hampshire
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
111089470
City
Durham
State
NH
Country
United States
Zip Code
03824
Morrow, Daniel G; Miller, Lisa M Soederberg; Ridolfo, Heather E et al. (2009) Expertise and age differences in pilot decision making. Neuropsychol Dev Cogn B Aging Neuropsychol Cogn 16:33-55
Morrow, Daniel G; Rogers, Wendy A (2008) Environmental support: an integrative framework. Hum Factors 50:589-613
Morrow, Daniel G; Miller, Lisa M Soederberg; Ridolfo, Heather E et al. (2005) Environmental support for older and younger pilots' comprehension of air traffic control information. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 60:P11-8
Morrow, Daniel G; Ridolfo, Heather E; Menard, William E et al. (2003) Environmental support promotes expertise-based mitigation of age differences on pilot communication tasks. Psychol Aging 18:268-84
Miller, Lisa M Soederberg (2003) The effects of age and domain knowledge on text processing. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 58:P217-23
Stine-Morrow, Elizabeth A L; Morrow, Daniel G; Leno 3rd, Richard (2002) Aging and the representation of spatial situations in narrative understanding. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 57:P291-7
Morrow, D G; Menard, W E; Stine-Morrow, E A et al. (2001) The influence of expertise and task factors on age differences in pilot communication. Psychol Aging 16:31-46