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Cognitive demands and the relationship between age and workload in apron control
Andreas Müller1, Raluca Petru, Peter Angerer
1Institute and Outpatient Clinic for Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany. andreas.mueller@med.lmu.de
Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine
|January 18, 2011
Summary
Apron controllers experience increased workload and heart rate with age, particularly after 37 years. Job design should reduce memory and processing demands for older controllers.
Area of Science:
- Human Factors
- Occupational Health
- Aerospace Psychology
Background:
- Apron controllers (ACs) manage aircraft taxiing, a role with significant cognitive demands.
- Understanding age-related changes in ACs is crucial for maintaining operational safety and efficiency.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify age-sensitive job requirements for apron control.
- To investigate the relationship between apron controller age and workload.
Main Methods:
- Study 1 used the Fleishman-Job Analyses Survey and assessed memory-load and processing speed in 14 ACs.
- Study 2 involved 30 ACs (ages 23-51) assessing subjective workload (NASA-TLX), attention (d2 test), and heart rate during shifts.
Main Results:
- Apron control demands high memory-load and processing speed.
- A U-shaped relationship was found between AC age and subjective workload/heart rate, with increases after 35-37 years.
- Attention performance showed no age-related association.
Conclusions:
- Apron control job design needs age-specific considerations.
- Reducing memory-load and processing speed requirements can mitigate age-related workload increases.
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