Janis A. Cannon-Bowers

Measuring Team Knowledge: A Window to the Cognitive Underpinnings of Team Performance

The authors report an effort aimed at developing and evaluating measures of taskwork and teamwork team knowledge for teams in which members differ in knowledge backgrounds. These measures were used in a study with 36 teams to explore the cognitive underpinnings of team performance variations due to cross-training regime. The authors demonstrate that these measures are valid and provide team performance information that complements outcome and behavioral measures. Teams exposed to full cross-training acquired more taskwork and teamwork knowledge than control teams or teams exposed to a conceptual version of cross-training. Measures of team knowledge provide information regarding team task performance critical for system design and training programs.

Do Familiar Teammates Request and Accept More Backup? Transactive Memory in Air Traffic Control

Objective: The present study investigated factors that explain when and why different groups of teammates are more likely to request and accept backup from one another when needed in an environment characterized by extreme time pressure and severe consequences of error: commercial air traffic control (ATC). Background: Transactive memory theory states that teammates develop consensus regarding the distribution of their relative expertise as well as confidence in that expertise over time and that this facilitates coordination processes. The present study investigated whether this theory could help to explain between-team differences in requesting and accepting backup when needed. Method: The present study used cross-sectional data collected from 51 commercial ATC teams. Hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analysis. Results: Teammates with greater experience working together requested and accepted backup from one another more than those with lesser experience working together. Teammate knowledge consensus and perceived team efficacy appear to have mediated this relationship. Conclusion: Transactive memory theory extends to high-stress environments in which members expertise is highly overlapping. Teammates shared mental models about one another increase the likelihood that they will request and accept backup. Application: Teammate familiarity should be considered when choosing among potential replacement team members. Training strategies that accelerate the development of teammate knowledge consensus and team efficacy are warranted.

Optimizing Learning in Surgical Simulations: Guidelines from the Science of Learning and Human Performance

Simulation-based training is rapidly becoming an integral part of surgical training. However, the effectiveness of this type of training is as dependent on the manner in which it is implemented and delivered as it is on the simulator itself. In this article, the authors identify specific elements from the science of learning and human performance that may assist educators in optimizing the effects of simulation-based training. These elements include scenario design, feedback, conditions of practice, and others. Specific guidelines for simulation-based surgical training are provided.

Applying work team results to sports teams: Opportunities and cautions

Abstract Most of the scientific literature on team performance is based on work teams. While it is tempting to generalize these results to other types of teams, such as sports teams, one must do so with caution. There are potentially important differences between the types of teams found in the workplace and those in sports. In this manuscript, we review the state‐of‐the‐art in team performance research and explore the degree to which the results might generalize. Specifically, we consider the likely effects of two key variables: interdependence and opportunity to coordinate. Suggestions for future research are also provided

Shared Expectations and Implicit Coordination in Tennis Doubles Teams

Very little of the existing research on team cognition has looked at sports teams. The purpose of this study was to extend previous research to the sports domain, and empirically test the relationship between one aspect of team cognition—shared expectations—and implicit coordination in 71 American tennis doubles teams. We tested a model hypothesizing a link between prior experience, shared expectations, and implicit coordination. Prior experience influenced implicit coordination directly, as well as through a positive relationship with shared expectations. The findings highlight the potential of using behavioral measures of team coordination in sport psychology.

Feedback source modality effects on training outcomes in a serious game

In-game real-time feedback produced significantly higher performance outcomes.Feedback delivered by pedagogical agents resulted in largest retention outcomes.Feedback delivered as audio alone produced negative gains in assessments outcomes.Agent interface modalities did not vary across performance and mental demand scores.Feedback delivered as audio alone resulted in significantly lower mental demand. The aim of this research is to enhance game-based training applications to support educational events in the absence of live instruction. The overarching purpose of the presented study was to explore available tools for integrating intelligent tutoring communications in game-based learning platforms and to examine theory-based techniques for delivering explicit feedback in such environments. The primary tool influencing the design of this research was the open-source Generalized Intelligent Framework for Tutoring (GIFT), a modular domain-independent architecture that provides the tools and methods to author, deliver, and evaluate intelligent tutoring technologies within any instructional domain. Influenced by research surrounding social cognitive theory and cognitive load theory, the resulting experiment tested varying approaches for utilizing an Embodied Pedagogical Agent (EPA) to function as a tutor during interaction in a game-based training environment. Conditions were authored to assess the tradeoffs between embedding an EPA directly in a game, embedding an EPA in GIFTs browser-based Tutor-User Interface (TUI), or using audio prompts alone with no social grounding. The resulting data supported the application of using an EPA embedded in GIFTs TUI to provide explicit feedback during a game-based learning event. Analyses revealed conditions with an EPA situated in the TUI to be as effective as embedding the agent directly in the game environment.

5. The application of human modeling technology to the design, evaluation and operation of complex systems

This chapter reviews the ability of the emerging human performance modeling technologies to support the design and operation of complex systems. The ability of existing technologies to meet current application needs is analyzed, and the results are then used to assess the areas where additional research and development is most needed. Following a brief history of human performance modeling, a taxonomy of models and modeling techniques is established, as a framework for remaining discussion. The human performance modeling technology base is separately analyzed for its ability to support system design processing and to support system operation. The system design process analysis considers the various roles that human performance models may play during that process, ranging from generating design concepts to affording simulation-based range of roles, from training to performance support to automation. These analyses demonstrate that human modeling technology has reached a sufficient state of maturity and has become a proven contributor of the complex systems engineering process. Challenges for further high-payoff research are also presented in five categories: cognition, knowledge management, team and organizational structure and processes, predictive models of training, and human-centered systems engineering.

Cognitive Readiness for Complex Team Performance

Researchers have recently begun to articulate factors associated with cognitive readiness. For the most part, these efforts have focused on individual performance. However, it is apparent that many modern tasks require workers to perform as part of a team. This may impose additional cognitive readiness demands. This chapter extends the work on cognitive readiness to the area of team performance. The authors describe a set of candidate skills that may indicate cognitive readiness for teamwork.

The Effectiveness of Narrative Pre-Experiences for Creating Context in Military Training

Trainers need to identify effective, low-cost training experiences for today’s military workforce to meet the increasing demands of today’s warfighting environment. Although low-fidelity simulations have been demonstrated to be effective in this regard, research has demonstrated that specially tailored pre-experiences can increase the effectiveness of these simulations. Unfortunately, the cost of these pre-experiences negates the cost benefits of the simulations that they improve. In this article, we describe a study to evaluate the effectiveness of a lower cost pre-experience. The results are discussed in the context of future directions for research.

Clinical Communications – Human Factors for the Hidden Network In Medicine

Medicine is practiced not only through encounters and other interactions between patients and providers, but also through documentation of event-centered information via the patient record, and through patient-centered communications between clinicians and between clinicians and patients (and their families). Human factors has been heavily involved in the first two, contributing to design and evaluation of medical devices, identification and remediation of safety issues, and analysis and modifications to electronic health records and their interface. These same two areas have also received widespread research support and capital investment, while the third – clinical communications – has remained in the background for research, investment and human factors involvement. Yet clinical communication is vitally important. Health care providers communicate with patients directly in encounters, and when the communications fail, patients know it, are unhappy, and disparities in treatment, some systematic, arise (Brach & Fraserirector, 2004). In all but the simplest cases, providers also communicate with each other about the care of patients. These patient-centered communications (PCCs) occur through the hidden network of relationships linking providers with each other and with patients. These PCCs are largely ephemeral, occurring in encounter rooms and via phone calls, pagers, hallway chat, and increasingly, tasking within EHRs. Research has begun to indicate that this mesh of PCCs can have substantial effects on outcomes (Kahn and Angus, 2011). When these PCCs fail, negative outcomes occur, but we know little of what “good” PCCs look like, or how to encourage or train them. Virtually no PCC data is captured in EHRs or elsewhere. All this points to a fertile but undiscovered country for human factors. This panel brings together four leading researchers with different perspectives on this domain: how clinical communication has evolved with the practice of medicine and communication technology; what we know about and can learn from failures of clinical communications; how leading edge training technology can help clinicians acquire adaptive communication expertise; and how broader issues of teamwork and organization affect and are affected by communication needs.