Does Cognitive Lockup Depend on the Situation, on the Person, or on an Interaction of Both?

Abstract

This paper focuses on investigating (a) whether cognitive lockup can be provoked in an experimental setup in a realistic, generic cockpit simulator and (b) whether the occurrence of cognitive lockup further depends on the pilot or on an interaction between the aviation situation and the pilot. To investigate these research questions, an experiment has been conducted during which pilots aviated two scenarios. Both scenarios reflect an approach situation in which as a first event the second autopilot failed and as a second event the runway was changed. The main difference of the scenarios is the timing of the autopilot failure and the runway change: In the experimental condition, the events occurred later in time which reduced the time frame available for the briefing. While aviating, the aircraft’s maximum deviation from the specified route was recorded. Statistical analyses showed that pilots were more drawn to cognitive lockup in the situation with more time-pressure resulting in a performance degradation in the aviation task. Aviation performance was further predicted by a significant interaction between the person and the situation, which shows a need to also consider person-related variables when explaining the occurrence of cognitive lockup.