The perseveration syndrome in the pilot's activity: guidelines and cognitive countermeasures

Abstract

In this paper we present the Ghost project, an Airbus research program that aims at preventing aircrews from the perseveration syndrome. This particular behavior is known to summon up all the pilot's mental efforts toward a unique objective even if the latter is dangerous in terms of safety. The unification of cognitive psychology and neuropsychology theories tends to prove that such a behavior comes from an impairment in attention shifting mechanisms induced by stressing situations. Such an approach paves the way to design cognitive countermeasures dedicated to enhance the pilot's attention shifting capabilities. Two preliminary experiments are presented to test these hypotheses and concepts.