Pilot training and expertise are key aspects in aviation. A traditional way of evaluating pilot e... more Pilot training and expertise are key aspects in aviation. A traditional way of evaluating pilot expertise is to measure performance output. However, this approach provides a narrow view of the pilot’s capacity, especially with regard to mental and emotional profile. The aim of this study is hence to investigate whether neurophysiological data can be employed as an additional objective measure to assess the expertise of pilots. In this regard, it has been demonstrated that mental effort can be used as an indirect measure of operator expertise and capacity. An increase in mental effort, for instance, can automatically result in a decrease in the remaining capacity of the operator. To better investigate this aspect, we ask two groups of Italian Air Force pilots, experienced (Experts) and unexperienced (Novices), to undergo unusual attitude recovery flight training simulations. Their behavioral (unusual attitude recovery time), subjective (mental effort demand perception) and neurophysi...
The aim of the research project Brainshield is to investigate the possibility of predicting and d... more The aim of the research project Brainshield is to investigate the possibility of predicting and documenting, through analysis of brain activity, the perceived pilot\u2019s mental workload during each flight phase, specially with the occurrence of unusual or difficult attitudes. Pilot\u2019s brain activity has been recorded and then analyzed by high resolution electroencephalography (HREEG) methodolgy. Mental workload indexes have been developed and then integrated with those derived from autonomics signals (electrocardiogram, eye blinks). At the end of each experimental session, pilots filled in the NASA-TLX test and an additional questionnaire specifically designed to obtain subjective ranks about difficulties faced off. The results presented might be congruent with the hypothesis that through brain signals analysis acquired from frontal, prefrontal and parietal brain sites it is possible to know cognitive status of a pilot during its operational flight activity. It has been proved...
The study presented in the following starts from the research of reliable indexes for monitoring ... more The study presented in the following starts from the research of reliable indexes for monitoring the cognitive workload that the pilots face during flight missions besides the operational performances. In fact, the availability of such indexes should be an useful tool for the assessment of the spare cognitive capacity of the pilots during the flight, that is the available capacity for facing unexpected unusual attitudes or emergency situations. Those cerebral indicators could be used for the evaluation of the novice’s improvements during their pilot formation. Useful information and differences between a group of novice and expert military pilots, in terms of brain activity, have been found during flight simulations using those indexes.
The aim of this work is to demonstrate if the transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) shou... more The aim of this work is to demonstrate if the transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) should be useful to improve the performance level of subjects while they are engaged in a flight simulation and other secondary tasks. The evaluation of the flight performance is done by analyzing the pitch and bank angles respect to those of the ideal flight path that the subject learnt to do during the training sessions, while the tasks of alert and vigilance (TAV) are estimated by analyzing the reaction time and the error rates. Before the experiments the subjects receive a tDC stimulation, but they do not know about the possibility of a ‘fake’ stimulation (Sham condition), during which the tDCS device automatically turns off after few seconds. By comparing the performances of the conditions with and without the tDCS, it is possible to find out if that kind of stimulation can help the enhancement of the performance before the operational missions. Also, the results are compared to the NAS...
Proceedings of the Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBS, 2011
Brain Hyperscanning, i.e. the simultaneous recording of the cerebral activity of different human ... more Brain Hyperscanning, i.e. the simultaneous recording of the cerebral activity of different human subjects involved in interaction tasks, is a very recent field of Neuroscience aiming at understanding the cerebral processes generating and generated by social interactions. This approach allows the observation and modeling of the neural signature specifically dependent on the interaction between subjects, and, even more interestingly, of the functional links existing between the activities in the brains of the subjects interacting together. In this EEG hyperscanning study we explored the functional hyperconnectivity between the activity in different scalp sites of couples of Civil Aviation Pilots during different phases of a flight reproduced in a flight simulator. Results shown a dense network of connections between the two brains in the takeoff and landing phases, when the cooperation between them is maximal, in contrast with phases during which the activity of the two pilots was independent, when no or quite few links were shown. These results confirms that the study of the brain connectivity between the activity simultaneously acquired in human brains during interaction tasks can provide important information about the neural basis of the "spirit of the group".
Pilot training and expertise are key aspects in aviation. A traditional way of evaluating pilot e... more Pilot training and expertise are key aspects in aviation. A traditional way of evaluating pilot expertise is to measure performance output. However, this approach provides a narrow view of the pilot’s capacity, especially with regard to mental and emotional profile. The aim of this study is hence to investigate whether neurophysiological data can be employed as an additional objective measure to assess the expertise of pilots. In this regard, it has been demonstrated that mental effort can be used as an indirect measure of operator expertise and capacity. An increase in mental effort, for instance, can automatically result in a decrease in the remaining capacity of the operator. To better investigate this aspect, we ask two groups of Italian Air Force pilots, experienced (Experts) and unexperienced (Novices), to undergo unusual attitude recovery flight training simulations. Their behavioral (unusual attitude recovery time), subjective (mental effort demand perception) and neurophysi...
The aim of the research project Brainshield is to investigate the possibility of predicting and d... more The aim of the research project Brainshield is to investigate the possibility of predicting and documenting, through analysis of brain activity, the perceived pilot\u2019s mental workload during each flight phase, specially with the occurrence of unusual or difficult attitudes. Pilot\u2019s brain activity has been recorded and then analyzed by high resolution electroencephalography (HREEG) methodolgy. Mental workload indexes have been developed and then integrated with those derived from autonomics signals (electrocardiogram, eye blinks). At the end of each experimental session, pilots filled in the NASA-TLX test and an additional questionnaire specifically designed to obtain subjective ranks about difficulties faced off. The results presented might be congruent with the hypothesis that through brain signals analysis acquired from frontal, prefrontal and parietal brain sites it is possible to know cognitive status of a pilot during its operational flight activity. It has been proved...
The study presented in the following starts from the research of reliable indexes for monitoring ... more The study presented in the following starts from the research of reliable indexes for monitoring the cognitive workload that the pilots face during flight missions besides the operational performances. In fact, the availability of such indexes should be an useful tool for the assessment of the spare cognitive capacity of the pilots during the flight, that is the available capacity for facing unexpected unusual attitudes or emergency situations. Those cerebral indicators could be used for the evaluation of the novice’s improvements during their pilot formation. Useful information and differences between a group of novice and expert military pilots, in terms of brain activity, have been found during flight simulations using those indexes.
The aim of this work is to demonstrate if the transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) shou... more The aim of this work is to demonstrate if the transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) should be useful to improve the performance level of subjects while they are engaged in a flight simulation and other secondary tasks. The evaluation of the flight performance is done by analyzing the pitch and bank angles respect to those of the ideal flight path that the subject learnt to do during the training sessions, while the tasks of alert and vigilance (TAV) are estimated by analyzing the reaction time and the error rates. Before the experiments the subjects receive a tDC stimulation, but they do not know about the possibility of a ‘fake’ stimulation (Sham condition), during which the tDCS device automatically turns off after few seconds. By comparing the performances of the conditions with and without the tDCS, it is possible to find out if that kind of stimulation can help the enhancement of the performance before the operational missions. Also, the results are compared to the NAS...
Proceedings of the Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBS, 2011
Brain Hyperscanning, i.e. the simultaneous recording of the cerebral activity of different human ... more Brain Hyperscanning, i.e. the simultaneous recording of the cerebral activity of different human subjects involved in interaction tasks, is a very recent field of Neuroscience aiming at understanding the cerebral processes generating and generated by social interactions. This approach allows the observation and modeling of the neural signature specifically dependent on the interaction between subjects, and, even more interestingly, of the functional links existing between the activities in the brains of the subjects interacting together. In this EEG hyperscanning study we explored the functional hyperconnectivity between the activity in different scalp sites of couples of Civil Aviation Pilots during different phases of a flight reproduced in a flight simulator. Results shown a dense network of connections between the two brains in the takeoff and landing phases, when the cooperation between them is maximal, in contrast with phases during which the activity of the two pilots was independent, when no or quite few links were shown. These results confirms that the study of the brain connectivity between the activity simultaneously acquired in human brains during interaction tasks can provide important information about the neural basis of the "spirit of the group".
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Papers by Roberto Isabella