Synthesized Framework of Decision Making for the Army Aviation Context

This paper presents the results of a project to articulate a theory–based framework for characterizing the decision making and situation awareness (SA) of Army Aviators. This was the first step toward developing strategies for evaluating the impact of emerging technologies on cognitive performance. The team conducted a literature review of decision making and SA models along with a review of Army Aviation cognitive requirements and identified key decision making concepts. The team synthesized a framework of decision making based on key concepts from the literature tailored to Army Aviation. The framework guided a literature review of evaluation methods and measures. Evaluation literature review findings included the use of scenario-based evaluation with a range of complexities, and multiple, complementary measures. The synthesized framework served as a useful tool to describe aviator decision making and how technology can influence decision making and SA, and may be useful beyond the Army Aviation context.