The Impact of Automation Use on the Mental Model: Findings from the Air Traffic Control Domain

Abstract

The ‘Free Flight’ (FF) concept has been proposed as a means of reducing delay in the airspace system. However, concerns over lapses in a controller's situation awareness as a result of FF implementation have prompted an influx of new technologies aimed at helping controllers more effectively predict the future trajectories of aircraft thereby preserving situation awareness. Such aids are based on the principle of direct visualization, whereby future system states are presented without providing adequate information to the user as to how these states were generated. Usage of aids that employ this design principle can have adverse effects on the mental model given that the user is not forced to extensively think about the processes governing the prediction. Drawing on the results from an empirical study in the air traffic control domain, evidence of this concern is presented and it is argued that caution must be exercised when introducing these aids, given the possibility that such usage may compromise a controller's ability to problem-solve and acquire knowledge.

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