The Basic Attributes Tests (BAT) System: A Preliminary Evaluation of Three Cognitive Subtasks

1986 ◽  
Vol 30 (13) ◽  
pp. 1321-1325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas R. Carretta

In 1955, the U.S Air Force discontinued apparatus-based testing as a component of its aircrew selection and classification system due to administrative problems. Since then, the Air Force has relied on paper and pencil test batteries such as the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test to select pilot and navigator trainees. Unfortunately, the aircrew selection system without apparatus testing failed to produce acceptible attrition rates in light of escalating training costs. As a result, a computer based testing system, the Basic Attributes Tests (BAT) system, was developed to assess psychomotor skills as well as a variety of psychological and cognitive attributes that are believed to be related to flight training performance. This paper evaluated three subtests used to assess cognitive abilities: Perceptual Speed (information input efficiency), Decision Making Speed (low level cognitive and high level sensory-perceptual motor involvement) and Item Recognition (short-term memory storage, search and comparison operations). Each of the subtests was evaluated in terms of its internal consistency and ability to predict flight training performance. An integrated model, based on results from the three cognitive subtests, was evaluated against flight training performance criteria.

1988 ◽  
Vol 32 (14) ◽  
pp. 807-811
Author(s):  
G.D. Gibb ◽  
D.L. Dolgin

This report describes the validation of an automated aircrew selection test battery that measures cognitive processes, psychomotor skills, and time-sharing abilities. Results indicate that performance-based test measures can be used to predict flight training performance.


2016 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-80
Author(s):  
Bartłomiej Kroczek ◽  
Michał Ociepka ◽  
Adam Chuderski

AbstractSpearman’s Law of Diminishing Returns (SLODR) holds that correlation between general (g)/fluid (Gf) intelligence factor and other cognitive abilities weakens with increasing ability level. Thus, cognitive processing in low ability people is most strongly saturated by g/Gf, whereas processing in high ability people depends less on g/Gf. Numerous studies demonstrated that low g is more strongly correlated with crystallized intelligence/creativity/processing speed than is high g, however no study tested an analogous effect in the case of working memory (WM). Our aim was to investigate SLODR for the relationship between Gf and WM capacity, using a large data set from our own previous studies. We tested alternative regression models separately for three types of WM tasks that tapped short-term memory storage, attention control, and relational integration, respectively. No significant SLODR effect was found for any of these tasks. Each task shared with Gf virtually the same amount of variance in the case of low- and high-ability people. This result suggests that Gf and WM rely on one and the same (neuro)cognitive mechanism.


2009 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
François De Kock ◽  
Anton Schlechter

Pilot selection is a form of high-stakes selection due to the massive costs of training, high trainee ability requirements and costly repercussions of poor selection decisions. This criterion-related validation study investigated the predictive ability of fluid intelligence and spatial reasoning in predicting three criteria of pilot training performance, using an accumulated sample of South African Air Force pilots (N = 108). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses with training grade achieved as criterion were performed for each of the phases of training, namely practical flight training, ground school training, and officers’ formative training. Multiple correlations of 0.35 (p < 0.01), 0.20 (p > 0.05) and 0.23 (p > 0.05) were obtained for flight, ground school and formative training results, respectively. Spatial ability had incremental validity over fluid intelligence for predicting flight training performance.


1989 ◽  
Vol 33 (14) ◽  
pp. 891-895
Author(s):  
Ronald N. Shull ◽  
Daniel L. Dolgin

Current naval aircrew selection research typically focuses on psychomotor and cognitive abilities, but evidence from flight training attrition studies suggests that many failures may be due to personality/motivational factors. This study concerns the relationships found between elements of primary flight training performance and the results of two automated personality assessment instruments: a risk test and a pilot personality questionnaire. Both risk test measures correlated significantly with a simple pass/fail index but not with actual flight grades for either student pilots or flight officers. Several of the pilot personality scales correlated significantly with various flight training criteria but many of these were also not orthogonal to measures of the current Navy/Marine Corps aviation selection test battery, while both risk test measures were.


2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond E. King ◽  
Thomas R. Carretta ◽  
Paul Retzlaff ◽  
Erica Barto ◽  
Malcolm James Ree ◽  
...  

The predictive validity of scores from two cognitive functioning tests, the Multidimensional Aptitude Battery (MAB) and the MicroCog, was examined for initial pilot training performance. In addition to training completion, several training performance criteria were available for graduates: academic grades, daily flying grades, check ride grades, and class rank. Mean score comparisons and correlations in samples of between 5,582 and 12,924 trainees across the two tests showed small but statistically significant relationships with training performance. For example, after correction for range restriction and dichotomization of the criterion, the MAB full-scale IQ score and the MicroCog General Cognitive Functioning score were correlated .29 and .26 respectively with initial pilot training completion. The results pointed to general cognitive ability as the main predictor of training performance. Comparisons with results from studies involving US Air Force pilot aptitude tests showed lower validities for these cognitive functioning tests. This finding likely occurred because the pilot aptitude tests measure additional factors (e.g., aviation knowledge/experience and psychomotor skills) that are predictive of training success and that are not covered by the cognitive functioning tests.


2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvonne Pecena ◽  
Doris Keye ◽  
Kristin Conzelmann ◽  
Dietrich Grasshoff ◽  
Peter Maschke ◽  
...  

The job of an air traffic controller (ATCO) is very specific and demanding. The assessment of potential suitable candidates requires a customized and efficient selection procedure. The German Aerospace Center DLR conducts a highly selective, multiple-stage selection procedure for ab initio ATCO applicants for the German Air Navigation Service Provider DFS. Successful applicants start their training with a training phase at the DFS Academy and then continue with a unit training phase in live traffic. ATCO validity studies are scarcely reported in the international scientific literature and have mainly been conducted in a military context with only small and male samples. This validation study encompasses the data from 430 DFS ATCO trainees, starting with candidate selection and extending to the completion of their training. Validity analyses involved the prediction of training success and several training performance criteria derived from initial training. The final training success rate of about 79% was highly satisfactory and higher than that of other countries. The findings demonstrated that all stages of the selection procedure showed predictive validity toward training performance. Among the best predictors were scores measuring attention and multitasking ability, and ratings on general motivation from the interview.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Omid Izadi Ghafarokhi ◽  
Mazda Moattari ◽  
Ahmad Forouzantabar

With the development of the wide-area monitoring system (WAMS), power system operators are capable of providing an accurate and fast estimation of time-varying load parameters. This study proposes a spatial-temporal deep network-based new attention concept to capture the dynamic and static patterns of electrical load consumption through modeling complicated and non-stationary interdependencies between time sequences. The designed deep attention-based network benefits from long short-term memory (LSTM) based component to learning temporal features in time and frequency-domains as encoder-decoder based recurrent neural network. Furthermore, to inherently learn spatial features, a convolutional neural network (CNN) based attention mechanism is developed. Besides, this paper develops a loss function based on a pseudo-Huber concept to enhance the robustness of the proposed network in noisy conditions as well as improve the training performance. The simulation results on IEEE 68-bus demonstrates the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed network through comparison with several previously presented and state-of-the-art methods.


2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Σοφία Παπαϊωάννου

Development of Cognitive and Academic Abilities in Greek Elementary School Students The development of language and reading skills is closely linked to the maturation ofcognitive abilities. This study focuses on Attention and Executive skills (EFs) and theirconnection with the development of language and reading skills among elementary schoolstudents, with emphasis on reading comprehension. In the context of two studies weexamined: the effect of Attention and EFs on Reading Comprehension controlling for printrelatedskills, the direct and indirect effects of attention, the factors that may moderate theseeffects of cognitive abilities on Reading Comprehension, and the cognitive and academicperformance of children demonstrating teacher-rated ADHD-related symptoms. A battery of tests assessing Sustained Attention, Short-term Memory (STM), EFs, andacademic skills was administered to a representative sample of, largely untreated, Greekelementary school students (N= 597 and N=923, respectively). Attention and EFs contributedsignificant additional variance to the prediction of Reading Comprehension after controllingfor efficiency, accuracy, morphosyntactic and vocabulary knowledge. Attention-relatedabilities contributed to Reading Comprehension indirectly through EFs. The only factor thatmoderated the effects of EFs on Reading Comprehension was Reading Efficiency. Significantdeficits in EFs and STM were restricted to the groups of students displaying inattentionsymptoms. Results demonstrated a close link between EFs, other than inhibition and set-shifting,everyday symptoms of inattention, and achievement in math and word-level reading skills.Reduced performance on EF measures was identified as the most important factor thatdistinguished between students with pervasive academic difficulties and their typicallyachieving peers, regardless of the presence of inattention symptoms. Considering the crosssectionalnature of the present study, our results provide some support to the hypothesis that EF deficits are causally related to developmental academic difficulties, and may set a firmbasis for implementing a cognitive approach to the management of students with ReadingComprehension difficulties and severe inattention symptoms.


1982 ◽  
Vol 26 (7) ◽  
pp. 610-614
Author(s):  
Robert T. Nullmeyer

Faced with increasing budget constraints and a need to conserve the B-52 weapon system, the Strategic Air Command has pursued several avenues to make continuation training programs more efficient. Because actual flight training is considered to be critical, one proposed solution involved the use of a low cost business jet to supplement reduced B-52 flying schedules. This jet would be augmented to provide training for the radar navigator, navigator, and electronic warfare officer in addition to the pilot and copilot. Some training missions would be flown in this Companion Trainer Aircraft (CTA) to reduce the need to fly the B-52. This paper describes two efforts concerning training effectiveness of a possible CTA. First, a theoretical approach based on transfer of training considerations was used to predict the training potential of the CTA. Second, because the transfer expectations for the pilot and copilot were particularly difficult to specify, a study was designed involving operational SAC crews. This study employed a modified T-39B to supplement B-52 training for eight aircrews from the 2nd Bombardment Wing, Barksdale Air Force Base, LA. Although the CTA program was cancelled and the test was terminated early, crew responses to the program and problems encountered provide valuable lessons for any future CTA program.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erhan Genç ◽  
Caroline Schlüter ◽  
Christoph Fraenz ◽  
Larissa Arning ◽  
Huu Phuc Nguyen ◽  
...  

AbstractIntelligence is a highly polygenic trait and GWAS have identified thousands of DNA variants contributing with small effects. Polygenic scores (PGS) can aggregate those effects for trait prediction in independent samples. As large-scale light-phenotyping GWAS operationalized intelligence as performance in rather superficial tests, the question arises which intelligence facets are actually captured. We used deep-phenotyping to investigate the molecular determinantes of individual differences in cognitive ability. We therefore studied the association between PGS of educational attainment (EA-PGS) and intelligence (IQ-PGS) with a wide range of intelligence facets in a sample of 320 healthy adults. EA-PGS and IQ-PGS had the highest incremental R2s for general (3.25%; 1.78%), verbal (2.55%; 2.39%) and numerical intelligence (2.79%; 1.54%) and the weakest for non-verbal intelligence (0.50%; 0.19%) and short-term memory (0.34%; 0.22%). These results indicate that PGS derived from light-phenotyping GWAS do not reflect different facets of intelligence equally well, and thus should not be interpreted as genetic indicators of intelligence per se. The findings refine our understanding of how PGS are related to other traits or life outcomes.


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