"For your SA": Insights from a situation awareness training study

Abstract

Situation awareness (SA) is widely regarded to be important for task performance in complex environments. Endsley’s (1995) model describes SA on three levels: perception, comprehension, and projection. There is considerable interest in improving SA, including through training interventions. In this paper we report on the results of a recent SA training study and identify some insights gained during this study. We developed and tested the efficacy of a brief training intervention, comprising rehearsal and feedback of SA probes, to enhance individual SA in a simulated reconnaissance mission. We compared the performance of two groups of participants, an experimental group (n = 11) who received the intervention, and a control group (n = 12) who did not receive the intervention. Contrary to prediction, training did not improve performance on objective and subjective measures of SA. We discuss our insights in terms of understanding, measuring and improving SA.