Read here: Aeronautical Society of India E News

Abstract

Visual illusion is a perception of something existing in such a way as to cause misinterpretation of its true nature. It convinces us that the real life version of the object is untrue or false. The cognitive power of our brain can also create an effect of blindness wherein we do not see obvious and discernible objects in our visual field. In day-to-day life, the term used is “looking without seeing”. Aviation, marine, and automobile occurrences have been recorded that have an element of not sighting the obvious. Investigations in the past have not considered this aspect at all thereby, in a way linking the flight crew to the error. Cognitive ease prefers the mental image of a layout to be seen as it is when it comes in the field of vision. Intuitive thinking prefers to match the two images somehow and introduces biases which affect the decision making. This paper highlights the aspects, which can jeopardize safety during critical maneuvers. Simplistic solutions are suggested, which can enhance awareness and consciousness so that even in high workload situations, error is virtually eliminated.

Keywords: inatentional blindness, expectation, confirmation, fatigue, disorientation