Individual differences in situational awareness and training for complex tasks

The task of the operator of any complex system involves searching and monitoring relevant information, assessing opportunities, setting priorities, and maintaining performance under stress. The term 'situational awareness' (SA) has become widely used to refer to this constellation of characteristics (Adams, Tenney, & Pew, 1995; Sarter & Woods, 1995). Situation awareness has been studied in a variety of domains, including aviation (Endsley & Bolstad, 1994), anaesthesiology (Gaba, Howard, & Small, 1995) and automobile driving (Gugerty, 1997).