Higher landing accuracy in expert pilots is associated with lower activity in the caudate nucleus

The most common lethal accidents in General Aviation are caused by improperly executed landing approaches in which a pilot descends below the minimum safe altitude without proper visual references. To understand how expertise might reduce such erroneous decision-making, we examined relevant neural p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2014-11, Vol.9 (11), p.e112607-e112607
Main Authors: Adamson, Maheen M, Taylor, Joy L, Heraldez, Daniel, Khorasani, Allen, Noda, Art, Hernandez, Beatriz, Yesavage, Jerome A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accidents, Aviation - prevention & control
Adult
Age
Aged
Air transportation
Aircraft
Aviation
Behavior
Behavioral sciences
Biology and Life Sciences
Brain
Brain mapping
Caudate nucleus
Caudate Nucleus - physiology
Cockpits
Computer and Information Sciences
Computer Simulation
Decision making
Decision Making - physiology
Decisions
Engineering and Technology
Experts
Eye movements
Flight
Flight instruments
Flight rules
Fog
Functional magnetic resonance imaging
Humans
Instrument approach
Instrument flight rules
Landing
Landing behavior
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Medicine
Memory
Middle Aged
Monitoring instruments
NMR
Nuclear magnetic resonance
Nuclei
Occupations
Pilots
Professional Competence
Psychiatry
Saccades (Eye movements)
Saccades - physiology
Saccadic eye movements
Task Performance and Analysis
Teachers
Veterans
Visual flight
Workforce
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Summary:The most common lethal accidents in General Aviation are caused by improperly executed landing approaches in which a pilot descends below the minimum safe altitude without proper visual references. To understand how expertise might reduce such erroneous decision-making, we examined relevant neural processes in pilots performing a simulated landing approach inside a functional MRI scanner. Pilots (aged 20-66) were asked to "fly" a series of simulated "cockpit view" instrument landing scenarios in an MRI scanner. The scenarios were either high risk (heavy fog-legally unsafe to land) or low risk (medium fog-legally safe to land). Pilots with one of two levels of expertise participated: Moderate Expertise (Instrument Flight Rules pilots, n = 8) or High Expertise (Certified Instrument Flight Instructors or Air-Transport Pilots, n = 12). High Expertise pilots were more accurate than Moderate Expertise pilots in making a "land" versus "do not land" decision (CFII: d' = 3.62 ± 2.52; IFR: d' = 0.98 ± 1.04; p
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0112607