Do Workload and Sensory Modality Predict Pilots' Localization Accuracy?

Situation awareness (SA) decrements remain a safety issue for aviation, as reduced SA has been found to contribute to spatial disorientation (SD). SD has been linked consistently to aviation mishaps, costing aircrew lives, material assets, and millions of dollars. Prior research has focused on improving SA through multisensory cueing. Investigations on spatial cueing have evaluated differences in localization accuracy as a function of sensory modality (e.g., 3-D audio, tactile; Brill, Lawson, & Rupert, 2015; Brill, Rupert, & Lawson, 2015; Cholewiak, Brill, & Schwab, 2004). The current paper expands on previous findings by investigating whether subjective performance correlates with objective behavioral performance data. Implications for these findings include pilots' ability to monitor performance and whether these relationships hold across cue modalities. The findings should be considered when developing cues for displaying information in future systems.