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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Neurosci.
Sec. Decision Neuroscience
Volume 18 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnins.2024.1450416

Pilot Turning Behavior Cognitive Load Analysis in Simulated Flight

Provisionally accepted
Wen-Gang Zhou Wen-Gang Zhou Pan-Pan Yu Pan-Pan Yu Liang-Hai Wu Liang-Hai Wu Yu-Fei Cao Yu-Fei Cao Yue Zhou Yue Zhou Jiajun Yuan Jiajun Yuan *
  • Civil Aviation Flight University of China, Guanghan, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: To identify the cognitive load of different turning tasks in simulated flight, a flight experiment was designed based on real "preliminary screening" training modules for pilots.Methods: Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and flight data were collected during the experiments using a flight simulator and a heart rate sensor bracelet. The turning behaviors in flight were classified into climbing turns, descending turns, and level flight turns. A recognition model for the cognitive load associated with these turning behaviors was developed using machine learning and deep learning algorithms.Results: pnni_20, range_nni, rmssd, sdsd, nni_20, sd1, triangular_index indicators are negatively correlated with different turning load. The LSTM-Attention model excelled in recognizing turning tasks with varying cognitive load, achieving an F1 score of 0.9491.Conclusions: Specific HRV characteristics can be used to analyze cognitive load in different turn-ing tasks, and the LSTM-Attention model can provide references for future studies on the selection characteristics of pilot cognitive load, and offer guidance for pilot training, thus having significant implications for pilot training and flight safety.

    Keywords: safe ergonomics1, cognitive load2, turning behavior3, heart rate variability4, simulated flight

    Received: 17 Jun 2024; Accepted: 03 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhou, Yu, Wu, Cao, Zhou and Yuan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Jiajun Yuan, Civil Aviation Flight University of China, Guanghan, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.