Cue Generation amongst Firefighters: Competent vs. Expert Differences

Abstract

Empirical investigations of cognitive skill acquisition have generally focused on differences between novice and expert operators. The result is a neglect of the intermediate stage of skill acquisition in which operators progress through competence towards expert performance. This study investigated the qualitative and quantitative differences in the cognitive cues generated by competent and expert firefighters. Participants first read a written, firefighting-related decision scenario before listing the cues that they considered relevant in formulating a decision. The results revealed that experts generated significantly more cues than competent operators. Further, the types of cues generated by competent and expert operators differed, with experts reporting significantly more safety-related cues than competent operators. These outcomes suggest that differences exist between the cues that are employed by expert and competent operators during decision-making, and that these differences reflect a qualitative change in information processing that occurs during the transition from competence to expertise.

The role of expertise in dynamic risk assessment: A reflection of the problem-solving strategies used by experienced fireground commanders

“…A number of studies have suggested that experts often make decisions about what is risky/not in dynamic and time-pressured conditions mainly through experiential knowledge (Shanteau, 1992;Wong, 2000;Fessey, 2002;Adams, 2003;Grimwood, 2003;Perry and Wiggins, 2008;Rosen, Shuffler and Salas, 2010;Okoli et al, 2013). For instance, the fact that a particular procedure is labelled high risk in the fire manual does not necessarily always imply that incident commanders must take a defensive (or risk averse) position when such situations are encountered in real life; some level of risks must still be accepted and managed based on experience.…”

“…The excerpts in table 3 demonstrate how participants reported this experience-based prototypical decision making strategy: As shown in Table 3 all the expert participants agreed that dealing with a current problem often requires making use of previous knowledge and experiences, mainly by matching cues from the environment to the numerous patterns that have been pre-stored in the memory. Prior research has evidenced how experienced commanders develop domain knowledge from the consistent and repeated experiences they have linked together unconsciously to form a pattern (Crandall and Gretchell-Leiter, 1993;Fessey, 2002;Hogarth, 2003;Klein, 2003;Perry and Wiggins, 2008). A pattern therefore represents a set of "action scripts" that is chunked together and often triggered by one or more internal or external cues.…”

“…Thankfully, a number of scholars have attempted to demystify, through the concept of pattern recognition, how experts are able to utilize previous knowledge in solving current tasks (Gobet, 2005;McLennan et al, 2006;Lipshitz et al, 2007;Perry and Wiggins, 2008;Klein, 2008;Harré, Bossomaier, and Snyder, 2012;Klein, 2008). This concept has thus been widely utilized in the field of cognitive psychology to explain how professionals are able to carry out a quick scan across the large repertoire of patterns in their memory, from which they are then able to select the most appropriate 'action scripts' that best suit a current situation.…”

“…The dynamic and extremely dramatic environment where these events occur further increases the possibility of exposing firefighters to all sorts of risks and task constraints, most of which stem from the need to manage uncertainties, ensure the safety of crew members, rescue trapped victims, manage members of the public, adhere to statutory obligations binding fire fighters, and verify media perceptions (Burke and Hendry, 1997;Ingham, 2007;Grimwood, 2003;Lipshitz et al, 2001;Perry and Wiggins, 2008;Kahneman and Klein, 2009;Clancy, 2011). The nature of these environments also explain why firefighters sometimes encounter novel and difficult situations, despite being equipped with advanced equipment and gadgets such as breathing apparatus, fire resistant clothing and all sorts of hose-lines.…”

Cognitive engineering

“…The application of visual cues is evident in a wide range of environments, including weather decision making by pilots,29 the interpretation of murder scenes by forensic investigators,113 the identification of an appropriate point of entry to a building by fire fighters,114 and the management of convulsions in an infant by pediatricians 115. In each case, expert practitioners engage a relatively limited number of specific features to interpret a situation.…”