Adrian P. Banks

Naturalistic Decision Making and Organizations: Reviewing Pragmatic Science

This article examines the similarities and differences between the traditions of naturalistic decision making and organizational decision making. Illustrative examples of successful NDM inquiry in healthcare organizations are reviewed, highlighting an area where these two pragmatic research paradigms overlap. Not only do researchers in these areas aim to improve our understanding of decision making, they provide practical and realistic alternatives to laboratory-based research on decision making. The article presents a number of propositions for future research on NDM and organizations.

Differentiating knowledge in teams: The effect of shared declarative and procedural knowledge on team performance

The relative effect of sharing mental models (typically defined as declarative knowledge structures) and sharing procedural knowledge on team process and performance were assessed. Forty-eight students completed a series of missions as two person teams using a PC based tank simulation. The results showed some support for earlier findings that shared and accurate mental models of the task were related to team process which was related to team performance. In contrast, shared procedural knowledge was negatively related to team performance. Accurate procedural knowledge was positively related to team performance. Results are discussed in terms of the effect of sharing knowledge in teams on performance, and the implications for team training. Shared knowledge and team performance 3 Differentiating knowledge in teams: The effect of shared declarative and procedural knowledge on team performance

Anticipating the content and circumstances of skill transfer: Unrealistic expectations of driver training and graduated licensing?

There is substantial evidence that driving skills improve during driver training, but the long-term safety benefit of such formal training remains unproven. Restricting the exposure of newly licensed drivers to more hazardous driving circumstances, as in graduated driver licensing (GDL) regimes, demonstrably reduces crash risk, but drivers remain at risk after the restrictions are eased. GDL and most other licensing regimes advocate increased basic training and practice, but thereafter require neither advanced training nor systematic increase in exposure to risk. This assumes that basic skills acquired during formal training will transfer positively to new and more demanding traffic circumstances. This paper reviews the theoretical basis for these assumptions and offers a way of systematically identifying the extent of transfer desired. It is concluded that there is little theoretical or empirical foundation for the supposition that what is learned during or after training will have a safety benefit in later driving.

Back to SA school: contrasting three approaches to situation awareness in the cockpit

Situational awareness (SA) has received considerable attention in recent years and significant theoretical advances have been made. The advances to date can be categorised in three main schools of thought: psychological, engineering and systems ergonomics schools. We discuss the theoretical contributions of the three schools to the understanding of SA and apply these to the analysis of the McDonnell Douglas MD-80 series, as described by Hutchins (Hutchins, E., 1995a. How a cockpit remembers its speeds. Cognitive Science, 19, 265–288), descent and approach. We discuss how the different views advocated by the three schools give rise to different approaches to support SA. We argue that while the psychological and engineering approaches each give valuable insight into the phenomenon neither gives a complete explanation of SA. It is only the systems ergonomics perspective, in considering the individual, artefacts in the environment and interaction between these which offer a full explanation of the phenomenon.

Effective self-regulating teams: a generative psychological approach

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe and defend a generative model for understanding effective self‐regulating teams from a distinctively psychological perspective that has implications for both research and practice.Design/methodology/approach – The paper complements Hackmans work on the critical conditions for effecting “self‐regulated” teamwork with an understanding of team psychology, as the basis for evolving a propositional model of effective teamwork.Findings – Assuming various structural pre‐requisites, it is proposed that effective teamwork is generated by a social self‐identification process, upon which there are “emergent states” across affective (commitment, cohesion), motivational (drive to secure and maintain positive self‐esteem), cognitive (shared cognition) and behavioural (intra‐team and inter‐team processes) dimensions.Research limitations/implications – Considerations for further testing, conceptual and methodological refinement, are highlighted.Practical implications – ...

The Effects of Rhodiola rosea L. Extract on Anxiety, Stress, Cognition and Other Mood Symptoms

This trial evaluated the impact of a Rhodiola rosea L. extract on self‐reported anxiety, stress, cognition, and other mood symptoms. Eighty mildly anxious participants were randomized into two different groups of either Rhodiola rosea L (2 × 200 mg dose Vitano®, 1 tablet taken before breakfast and 1tablet before lunch) or a control condition (no treatment). Self‐report measures and cognitive tests were completed at four testing sessions over a period of 14 days. Relative to the controls, the experimental group demonstrated a significant reduction in self‐reported, anxiety, stress, anger, confusion and depression at 14 days and a significant improvements in total mood. No relevant differences in cognitive performance between the groups were observed. Rhodiola rosea L (Vitano®) presented a favourable safety tolerability profile. Although this was a non‐placebo controlled trial, it is unlikely that the findings were the result of placebo effects as changes appeared gradual and were specific to certain psychological measures. However, we cannot determine a causal relationship; further investigations are recommended to support the effects of Rhodiola rosea L. extract on stress related symptoms. Copyright

Using emotional intelligence in coaching high-performance athletes: a randomised controlled trial

Emotional intelligence is an important and popular concept within coaching. This randomised controlled trial investigated the short-term impact of coaching using emotional intelligence on three factors related to performance in athletes: anxiety, self-efficacy and team identification. Twenty high-performance netball players were divided into coaching and control groups. The coaching group completed the Bar-On EQ-i to produce emotional intelligence profiles that formed the basis of the solution-focused coaching session. Coaching improved self-efficacy and anxiety but not team identification. There was no change in the control group. Self-efficacy and anxiety are directly linked to scales on the EQ-i whereas team identification is not directly linked. The findings indicate that solution-focused coaching using emotional intelligence is effective, but only when a direct link is identified between a particular component of emotional intelligence and a particular outcome.

Modelling dynamic decision making with the ACT-R cognitive architecture

Modelling Dynamic Decision Making with the ACT-R Cognitive Architecture This paper describes a model of dynamic decision making in the Dynamic Stocks and Flows (DSF) task, developed using the ACT-R cognitive architecture. This task is a simple simulation of a water tank in which the water level must be kept constant whilst the inflow and outflow changes at varying rates. The basic functions of the model are based around three steps. Firstly, the model predicts the water level in the next cycle by adding the current water level to the predicted net inflow of water. Secondly, based on this projection, the net outflow of the water is adjusted to bring the water level back to the target. Thirdly, the predicted net inflow of water is adjusted to improve its accuracy in the future. If the prediction has overestimated net inflow then it is reduced, if it has underestimated net inflow it is increased. The model was entered into a model comparison competition—the Dynamic Stocks and Flows Challenge—to model human performance on four conditions of the DSF task and then subject the model to testing on five unseen transfer conditions. The model reproduced the main features of the development data reasonably well but did not reproduce human performance well under the transfer conditions. This suggests that the principles underlying human performance across the different conditions differ considerably despite their apparent similarity. Further lessons for the future development of our model and model comparison challenges are considered.

Expert Decision Making in a Complex Engineering Environment: A Comparison of the Lens Model, Explanatory Coherence, and Matching Heuristics

This study investigated the complex decisions made by engineers when conducting contaminated-land risk assessments. Experienced assessors studied summaries of site reports, which were composed of different combinations of relevant cues, and decided on the risk level of each site. Models from three theories of decision making were compared. Applying judgment analysis to develop a lens model provided the best account of the data, lending support to social judgment theory. A model based on a fast-and-frugal heuristic, the matching heuristic, did not fit the data as well; nor did a coherence model based on the theory of explanatory coherence. Comparison with decisions generated with the use of industry guidance showed only a moderate fit, suggesting that the standard procedure does not accurately represent how highly proficient domain practitioners make assessments in this context. Qualitative analyses of comments made by participants suggested that they used a combined approach that applied key cues as predicted by social judgment theory, integrated into a meaningful, coherent account, as predicted by the theory of explanatory coherence. Overall, these findings suggest a novel process in which a range of information is combined to form a coherent explanation of the data but in which key cues are more influential than others.

The influence of affordances on user preferences for multimedia language learning applications

ABSTRACT This study investigates the influence of sensory and cognitive affordances on the user experience of mobile devices for multimedia language learning applications. A primarily audio-based language learning application – ‘Vowel Trainer’, was chosen against a comparison, text and picture-based language learning application – ‘Learn English for Taxi Drivers’. Impressions of the two applications were assessed on two different devices that have virtually the same interface and identical sound output (when headphones are used), but differ in physical size: the iPhone and the iPad. A mixed design was chosen, with native language as a group factor and device type (iPad vs. iPhone) and language application type (audio vs. video) as within groups factors. Assessments of sensory and cognitive affordances were made, along with measurement of learner preferences of each application. Data from 41 participants (21 native English speakers, 20 non-native English speakers) were analysed, revealing device differences in both audio and visual subjective quality ratings, despite only visual quality being affected by the devices physical limitations. We suggest that sensory affordances (indexed by subjective quality) are not simply a function of physical limitations, but are heavily influenced by context. The implications for developing design guidelines for language learning and other multimedia applications are discussed.