Ceur

CEUR Proceedings 4th Workshop HCP Human Centered Processes, February 10-11, 2011

The effect of time pressure and task completion on the occurrence of cognitive lockup

Ernestina J. A. Schreuder (elianeschreuder@hotmail.com)

TNO Human Factors Research Institute, kampweg 5 Soesterberg, 3769 ZG The Netherlands University of Utrecht, Department of Psychology, Heidelberglaan 1, Utrecht 3584 CS The Netherlands

Tina Mioch (tina.mioch@tno.nl)

TNO Human Factors Research Institute, kampweg 5 Soesterberg, 3769 ZG The Netherlands

Abstract

Prior studies have suggested that time pressure and task completion play a role in the occurrence of cognitive lockup. However, supportive evidence is only partial. In this study, we conducted an experiment to investigate how both time pressure and task completion influence the occurrence of cognitive lockup, in order to better understand situations that could trigger the phenomenon. We found that if people have almost completed a task, the probability for cognitive lockup increases. We also found that the probability for cognitive lockup decreases, when people execute tasks for the second time. There was no effect of time pressure or an interaction effect found between task completion and time pressure. The results provide further support for the explanation that cognitive lockup up is the result of a decision making bias and that this bias could be triggered by the perception that a task is almost complete.

Introduction

This study is about an inescapable part of action, something all human beings experience to a greater or lesser extent: human error. Human errors can happen in everyday situations with only limited consequences. However, errors can also happen in high-performance environments like in aviation, where they can have tremendous effects and be life threatening. For instance, when pilots forget to enable their landing gear when landing and as a result crash. Hence, it is important to investigate why human errors in...