Expertise and Aging in a Pilot Decision-Making Task

Abstract

We examined age/expertise trade-offs in a laboratory pilot decision-making task. Expert and novice pilots read at their own pace brief scenarios that described simpler or more complex flight situations, then in a standard interview discussed the problem in the scenario and how they would respond if they were pilot-in-command. Decision making was measured by coding the protocols for correctly identifying the problems and solutions to problems. Scenario comprehension was measured by reading time and the accuracy of answering questions about the scenarios. All groups accurately identified the problems, but experts elaborated problem descriptions more than novices did. Older experts elaborated more, and older novices elaborated less, than their younger counterparts. Older experts also identified more appropriate solutions to problems while older novices identified less appropriate solutions compared to their younger counterparts. Reading time findings suggested that experts maintained decision-making accuracy by spending more time on critical information when reading more complex scenarios.