[From Richard Thurman (960430.0815)]
Thank goodness that my e-mail has been restored! Receiving but not
sending can be very frustrating! (Hope it lasts long enough to post this.)
Bruce Gregory (960429.1510 EDT)
(Richard Thurman 960425.1430)
That is why the test for the controlled variable is a great solution to
finding out what subjects are "aware" of.
I think controlling a variable and being aware of the variable are
two different animals.
This helps clarify (for me) the main issue I saw when this thread began.
My first posting asked for a clarification of the terms "consciousness,"
"awareness," and "attention." I felt they were being used interchangeably
and that they should not be. I gave an example that I thought would show
that awareness is different than attention. I hoped that by talking about
post-commissurotomy research we (those interested in the issue) might
agree that one can be 'aware' of, yet not be paying attention to many
variables. The split-brain research seemed to indicate that one side of
the brain is particularly associated with the verbalization that goes on
in attention, the other side is mute and seems to be closed to the verbal
mediation of attention. Yet it is quite aware of the environment.
I then went into a side issue of a way to do some research to see if the
"observer" is more than an observer. By taking the split-brain studies as
an example, I proposed that if one could access the observer, one could
ask it to perform non-verbal tasks and thereby gain information about it.
I believe I used the example that the observer may be quite judgmental
but unable to articulate (verbally) its values. (I had heard it proposed
that the observer just watches and does not care or pass judgment.) That
was pure speculation and may have pulled the thread of this fascinating
discussion off course a little.
This brings us (sort of) to your (Bruce's) statement:
I think controlling a variable and being aware of the variable are
two different animals.
I guess I have convinced myself that that they can be one and the same. I
may not be able to articulate my awareness, my attention may be focused
elsewhere, I may not be conscious of my awareness. But when I am
controlling a perception, I am "aware" of it (at some level). So somehow
in my mind I have come to equate awareness, not with consciousness but
with control. That is why I said that the "test for the controlled
variable is a great solution to finding out what subjects are 'aware' of."
So I ask, once again, is awareness necessarily the same as attention
and/or consciousness?
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On to situation awareness research! >> This is what Bill P. wrote:
>If someone is looking for an idea for an interesting research
project, I
>think this would be a good one. Figuring out reliable ways to divert
>attention from an ongoing control task should be fun.
How is this going to provide clues for understanding situational
awareness?
Only a hunch, but here goes. I suspect that "situational awareness"
is more akin to distractability than to attention. To be
situationally aware is to not be concentrating on controlling one
thing (the airspeed indicator) but to be open to "distractions" such
as the gear-up horn blowing in your ear.
Ok -- this makes sense. Certainly distractions play into loss of
'situational awareness." And there is ample evidence that aircrews have
allowed themselves to become distracted to the point of forgetting their
place in time and space, their mission, and even their first priority (to
stay alive). For example, I remember a commercial flight many years ago
where the pilot and copilot became so engrossed in repairing some
mechanical problem inside the cockpit (stuck button or something) they
failed to notice that they were in a gentle decline. The results were not
so gentle!
In a sense, the "instrument
scan" is a device to prevent the pilot from fixating on controlling
one instrument. In this sense, Bill's research "program" deals with
promoting situational awareness. How do we prevent people from
controlling one thing at a time?
Shouldn't the test for the controlled variable be the means for
determining this? What I mean is, couldn't one create a flight simulation
(lets say) and put in all sorts of (relevant) disturbances to see if the
pilot is maintaining situational awareness? It would be like Rick
Marken's 'Mind Reading' program. This idea is probably to cryptic to make
sense. I will have to think about it and post more later.
Rich
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Richard Thurman
Air Force Armstrong Lab
6001 S. Power Rd. BLDG. 558
Mesa AZ. 85206-0904
(602)988-6561
Thurman@hrlban1.aircrew.asu.edu
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