Do Teams Adapt to Fatigue in a Synthetic C2 Task

Abstract

REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Public reporting burden for this collection of infomiation is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing this collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of infomiation, including suggestions for reducing this burden to Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Infomiation Operations and Reports (0704-0188), 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302 Respondents should be avrare that notvwthstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of infomiation if it does not display a cunently valid OMB control number. PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR FORM TO THE ABOVE ADDRESS. REPORT DATE (DD-MM-YYYY) DISTRIBUTION / AVAILABILITY STATEMENTApproved for public release, distribution unlimited. SPONSOR/MONITOR'S ACRONYM{S)AFRL/HE SPONSOR/MONITOR'S REPORT NUMBER(S) AFRL-HE-BR-TR-2004-0041 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES ABSTRACTThere has been little systematic research on fatigue for teams when compared to individuals. We investigated how team performance degrades with sustained operations on a PC-based moderate fidelity air battle management synthetic task. Teams of ISR, Strike, and Sweep battle managers conducted 8 one-hour missions from 1830 to 1030 the following day, along with performance assessment batteries (during alternate hours of testing). This modest fatigue protocol allowed us to explore team fatigue assessment for both mission outcome and team process, complementing past analyses (Elliott, Coovert, Bames, Miller, 2003;Harville, Elliott, Coovert, Barnes, Miller, 2003). In addition, one of the team roles had lower workload, allowing us to assess whether the lighter role would receive greater workload in fatigued vs. nonfatigued conditions, as a team-adaptive fatigue countermeasure. Our results showed participants performing more poorly while fatigued both on cognitive tests and on one dimension of mission outcome (number of enemy kills) but not on others (friendly losses to ftiel outs and hostile actions). General activity level for the team roles declined with fatigue (number of orders issued, information seeking). Finally, while roles recognized the value of offloading work onto the lighter role, this tendency did not significantly increase with fatigue. Harville, Elliott, Coovert, Barnes, Miller, 2003). hi addition, one of the team roles had lower workload, allowing us to assess whether the lighter role would receive greater workload in fatigued vs. non-fatigued conditions, as a teamadaptive fatigue countermeasure. Our results showed participants performing more poorly while fatigued both on cognitive tests and on one dimension of mission outcome (number of enemy kills) but not on others (friendly losses to ftiel outs and hostile actions). General activity lev...

Fatigue impact on teams versus individuals during complex tasks.

“…Dr. Chaiken: Teams don't show much adaptability to fatigue (see, e.g., Chaiken et al, 2004). I mean, if they hook onto a strategy early on and they're not fatigued, even if there's another strategy available to them later on that might alleviate their fatigue, like rendezvousing-they could have rendezvoused to a teammate's jammer to get protection.…”

Summary of the Performance Effects of Sustained Operations

“…The Air Force designed a research specifically to study sustained operations in the AWACS (Shiflett, Strome, Eddy, & Dalrymple, 1990). Chaiken et al (2004) evaluated the performance of 10 three-person crews drawn from United States Air Force officers awaiting Air Battle Management training. Each participant completed nine hours of training on the Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metric (ANAM) cognitive task battery and 30 hours of training on an AWACS simulation and decision support system.…”