The Role of Shared Mental Models in Developing Team Situational Awareness: Implications for Training

This paper examines a skill that is critical to performance in complex team environments—team situational awareness. Specifically, it describes how the concept of shared mental models can be used to explain team situational awareness. A model is presented which explains how shared mental models are transformed into team situational awareness to enable effective team performance in dynamic task situations. Potential training strategies for enhancing team situational awareness are derived from this model and are discussed.