| The implementation of sophisticated, complex, and "intelligent" automated devices in such domains as aviation, medicine, driving, and nuclear power, has brought in its wake new perspectives and significant challenges for the Human Factors community. Because cognition plays an important role in piloting of modern aircraft, understanding the impact of age-related changes on flight performance is becoming increasingly important.;One hundred twenty participants (30 young pilots, 30 young non-pilots, 30 older pilots, and 30 older non-pilots) performed two 30-minute flight simulation tasks using a modified version of the Multi-Attribute Task (MAT) battery. They were required to detect automation failures in the system monitoring task while concurrently performing a tracking and resource (fuel) management task.;The results showed that the overall detection rate of automation failures was poor for all age and experience levels. Age-related differences in both detection rate and response time were obtained with the system monitoring task. Age differences do indeed exist in system monitoring ability, reaction time, and tracking ability. Differences due to experience also exist in the areas of system monitoring ability, tracking ability, resource management, and time-sharing ability. Experience may play an important role in offsetting the deleterious effects of aging and may mediate the allocation of cognitive resources that lead to efficient time sharing ability.;Pilots are a select subset of the general population. The physical and medical requirements placed on them by their careers appears to offset the general effects of aging. Preservation and maintenance of health and physical fitness also plays a role in maintenance of integrity of the central nervous system, a component that plays a major role in physical and cognitive functioning.;An increasing number older adults are reaching retirement age. The results of this study indicated that experience may play a mitigating role in the minimization of age related deficits in resources and abilities that are pertinent to piloting skills and performance. With medical diagnostic technologies advancing at a phenomenal rate and the availability of simulation equipment capable of accurate and detailed assessment of individual performance, arbitrary retirement ages cannot be justified. Implications for training and systems design are also discussed. |
