Description

In disciplines such as cognitive psychology and neuropsychology, the term Attention means a highly complex, multifaceted cognitive process of selection that influences nearly all human activities. Interest in this subject dates from ancient times. By comparison, human factors specialists in aviation have pursued this subject for a few decades in their search for effective countermeasures against repetitive types of aircraft accidents.

Attention deserves careful study by flight operations safety specialists as one of the foundations of risk-management concepts. It leads into concepts such as situational awareness, vigilance, mental focus, the culture of aviation professionalism, mindfulness, complacency, inattention, lapses of concentration, and attention-deficit disorders — whether on the flight deck or in the cabin, in air traffic control facilities or in other flight-related work environments.