Study of perseveration behaviors in military aeronautical accidents and incidents

Abstract

Perseveration behaviours have been studied for several years in the aeronautical domain through the analysis of plan continuation errors. However, the cognitive processes underlying these behaviors and the factors responsible for them have usually been studied in isolation rather than conjointly. The goal of the current study was to identify cognitive processes and factors involved in perseveration behaviors in real-life aeronautical situations. Thirty investigation reports concerning accidents or incidents involving French military aircrafts were analyzed in order to reconstruct the decision sequences involved. For each decision point, we identified the way information indicating a change in the situation was processed. The results showed that in 54% of cases, perseveration behaviors were unrelated to failures of information processing. Instead, perseveration behaviors were mostly due to aircrews’ excessive confidence in their risk management skills. Collaborative actions apparently played an important role, since the lack of synergy between crew members was identified by investigators as the second most-important factor of this type of perseveration behavior, and in 80% of cases in which recovery from perseveration occurred, it did so due to outsider intervention. Implications of these findings, and directions for future research, are discussed.