Description

Vigilance is a term that refers to an individual’s ability to pay close and continuous attention to a field of stimulation for a period of time, watchful for any particular changing circumstances.

These changes may be quite small, but their potential effect may be considerable. The speed and accuracy with which we detect these changes (assuming we detect them at all) determines the timeliness of our decisions and actions. Vigilance is greatly affected by our level of alertness, and this is why we can be affected not only by being overloaded but also by being ‘under-loaded’.

Perception and vigilance are closely related and affect the accuracy and currency of our mental model of the air traffic situation. The vigilant ATCO can detect situations where a misperception is likely and will therefore be more likely to detect whether their perception is correct than a non vigilant ATCO.