| With the development of intelligent science and the increasing complexity of the human-computer interaction process,the safety risks caused by inaccurate human mental models have gradually received the attention of scholars in the field of aviation.Mental model is an internal representation formed by an individual’s understanding and perception of the interaction environment,and is used to describe a person’s perception of the external world.When a pilot has an inaccurate mental model,he or she may have a biased understanding of the system or task,which can lead to operational errors and even accidents.Existing studies have generally studied pilot mental models as a whole,either theoretically or experimentally,and lack a hierarchical framework and quantitative measurements of pilot mental models,as well as mental model studies from a training perspective.Therefore,in this paper,we focus on operator mental models based on flight tasks.Firstly,through the methods of literature summary,field investigation and case analysis,this paper conducts semi-structured interviews with pilots and test pilots,and selects typical aviation accident cases(Lion Air disaster)for analysis.Rich flight experience and accurate mental models will avoid abnormal events and accidents to a certain extent.Then,based on the composition and characteristics of flight mission,combined with the formation process of flight skills and the hierarchical framework of mental model of Webber,the three-layer theoretical composition of operator mental model related to flight mission is proposed,including descriptive mental model,procedural mental model and strategic mental model,and the measurement methods of each mental model are determined.Finally,the virtual reality mission experiment and mental model questionnaire are designed to explore the effects of training on mental model,performance and eye movement,the correlation between mental model and performance and eye movement,and the difference between novice and expert mental model.Study I explored the effects of training on mental models,performance,and eye movements.The study designed a one-factor two-level experiment with training as the independent variable.Thirty-one male science and engineering students were recruited to complete a series of flight training and pentagonal flight missions on a virtual reality flight experiment platform.The dependent variables such as mental model,flight task performance,and eye movements were collected,and the experimental data were analyzed using nonparametric tests and ANOVA.The results showed that(1)the accuracy of the descriptive mental model did not change significantly,while the accuracy of the procedural and strategic mental models increased significantly;(2)the mean distance to the center of the 2 flight guidance lines decreased significantly;(3)eye movements did not change significantly,but analysis of the trends in the pre-and post-training period revealed that the number of sweeps,sweep frequency and AOI transition frequency increased,X-and Z-axis gaze dispersion,increased dwell time on the horizon and elevation velocity meters,and decreased dwell time on the airspeed and altimeter.The results indicate that flight training significantly improves the accuracy of procedural and strategic mental models.For skill-based tasks,flight training significantly improved the operator’s ability to control the aircraft smoothly.In addition,flight training improved the participants’ visual information collection efficiency.Study II explored the correlation between mental models and performance and eye movements.Study II was completed in the same experimental design as Study I.Data results were also obtained from the same participant sample,and the experimental data were analyzed using correlation analysis,nonparametric tests,and regression analysis.The results showed that(1)the accuracy of the procedural and strategic mental models was significantly and negatively correlated with the mean distance to the center of the two flight guides;(2)the strategic mental model was more correlated with the mean distance to the center of the two guides than the procedural mental model;and(3)the more accurate the procedural and strategic mental models were,the more sweeping the operator did during the flight and the greater the x-axis gaze dispersion during flight.The results indicated that participants with accurate procedural and strategic mental models had better control of the aircraft and their actual flight paths were closer to the guidance line during flight piloting.The strategic mental model was also more correlated with flight task performance.In addition,operators with accurate procedural and strategic mental models were able to perform more flexible sweeps.Study III explored the differences between novice and expert mental models and considered the decline of the novice mental model.This study builds on Studies I and II.Two months after the end of the flight training experiment,the mental model questionnaire was administered to 31 student participants who participated in the experiment and 25 expert pilots who had participated in the same flight simulation training,and the experimental data were analyzed using nonparametric tests.The results showed that after training,(1)the accuracy of the novice procedural mental model decreased significantly,while the accuracy of the descriptive and strategic mental models did not change significantly;(2)the accuracy of the expert mental model was significantly higher than the accuracy of the novice mental model,and the difference in the accuracy of the procedural and strategic mental models was greater compared to the descriptive mental model.The results suggest that for skill-based tasks,novices forget procedural mental models more quickly,whereas expert mental models are more accurate and robust.This paper proposes a three-level composition of the mental model in the context of flight tasks from pilot interviews and airline flight accidents,and sets training and flight experience as independent variables to conduct a series of experimental studies.The definition and measurement methods of the mental model are discussed in this paper,which enriches the theory of mental model to a certain extent.The results of the experimental study are useful for the selection and training of pilots,and can be used for the design of flight training systems. |
