April Rose Panganiban

Emotional Intellegence and Decision Making Under Stress

This study investigated the protective effects of emotional intelligence (EI) during decision-making under stress. The researchers assigned 172 participants to either a negative or neutral feedback group and assessed EI, distress, information search prior to choice, and decision-making performance. We predicted EI would be associated with superior decision-making following negative performance feedback. Statistical analysis revealed negative feedback significantly increased distress and was associated with poorer decision-making for easy decisions. Also, EI was indirectly associated with decision-making performance. Participants high in EI accessed decision relevant information more frequently prior to decision-making and greater search frequency predicted superior decision making.

Effects of Anxiety on Performance and Workload in an Air Defense Task

Air battle management (ABM) operations place high demands on operator attention; operator teams are required to manage an airspace cluttered with aircraft, identify changes in amity of entities and respond appropriately to these aircraft. Awareness of the severe consequence of errors in detection and the risk of physical harm may contribute to operator stress and anxiety. Operators high in trait anxiety might then be vulnerable to adverse consequences including excessive stress, workload and performance impairment. In addition, anxiety research shows a selective attention bias to threat-related information which may impact operator strategy. The current study aimed to investigate the effects of trait and state anxiety in dyads performing a simulated ABM task. In general, dyads high in trait anxiety appeared to cope fairly effectively with task demands, and performed better on defensive aspects of the ABM task. The role of trait anxiety in team composition is briefly discussed.

Affective Biases in Information Search during Tactical Decision-Making:

Tactical decision-making may be an emotional experience for an operator. Emotion, whether extrinsic or intrinsic to the task, may bias attention to task critical information. The current study used a feedback manipulation to induce positive and negative affect (PA and NA) during a decision-making task requiring information search. In a task based on a rescue scenario, participants were randomly assigned to either a “success” or “failure” condition and instructed to evaluate the costs and benefits of different routes along separate legs of the rescue mission, similar to reaching a “fork in the road.” Feedback was effective in manipulating emotion. PA and NA were significantly correlated with information sampling frequencies, but no general mood-congruent bias was found. Instead the role of mood appears to depend on the general affective context, a finding interpreted in relation to the mood-as-input hypothesis. The practical relevance and limitations of the study are discussed.

Trait Anxiety and Affective Bias in Tactical Decision-Making

Affective states may influence decision-making at different stages of information processing, including selective attention, situation assessment and choice of action. Studies of state anxiety, a negative emotional state, reveal multiple biases including an attentional bias to threat-related stimuli and biases at later stages. The present study examined the effects of threat and both trait and state anxiety on decision-making in a simulated rescue task. Participants were induced into a mood (neutral or anxious) and asked to choose the fastest route leading to a lost party by evaluating uncertain benefits and costs for several routes. The results confirm that mood induction methods can be used for decision-making tasks. Additionally, these findings suggest that different forms of ‘affect’ may relate to different biases. Task-related threat and induced mood influenced route choice, but trait and state anxiety influenced selective attention to benefits and costs.