ABSTRACT
The question of concern is “How do teams respond to unexpected or unanticipated events?” This issue is best understood through areas of research in team cognition and team coordination (e.g., Salas and Fiore, 2004). A critical component of team cognition is that of team situation assessment (team SAs), generally described as the process used (a) to assess risk and the time available for decisions and (b) to construct a mental picture of the operational environment. Fundamental to this process is the rapid apperception of cues and cue patterns in the environment (Salas et al., 2001). Environmental cues have been described as “situation observables” that get factored together with general knowledge (Noble, 1993), and they are said to be responsible for triggering rapid patternrecognition processes that lead to initial decisions or problem solutions (Klein, 1997).
