Quantifying the Impact of Spatial Disorientation on Pilot Mental Workload and Attentional Focus

ObjectiveWe aimed to find objective measures of the impact of spatially disorienting (SD) stimuli on pilot cognition in an ecologically valid environment.BackgroundSD frequently occurs in military rotary-wing operations and often contributes to mishaps. Effects of SD stimuli on pilots are usually quantified using control errors, but effects on cognition have not yet been successfully quantified.MethodMilitary helicopter pilots (n = 14) performed scenarios with six SD stimuli (SD condition) and six corresponding control stimuli (NoSD condition) in a motion-base simulator with integrated virtual reality headset. SD stimuli were: false horizon, featureless terrain, leans, brownout, a somatogyral yaw illusion, and loss of horizon due to night vision goggles (NVGs). Mental workload was measured using auditory arithmetic task performance and attentional focus was measured using eye-tracking.ResultsAverage arithmetic task performance was significantly impaired, and proportional gaze dwell time on the attitude indicator was significantly increased in the SD compared to the NoSD condition. Of the six SD stimuli, the featureless terrain, the leans, and the brownout induced significant effects on performance, whereas the featureless terrain, brownout, and false horizon significantly affected gaze behavior. The NVGs and somatogyral yaw stimuli did not induce significant effects. Pilots' self-reports indicated awareness of all SD stimuli, except for the featureless terrain.ConclusionThe results indicate that SD impacts pilot mental workload and attentional focus.ApplicationModern military aircraft present a large volume of mission-related information to pilots. This study shows that SD stimuli may negatively impact the processing of such information.