Study of perseveration behaviors in military aeronautical accidents and incidents: Analysis of Plan Continuation Errors

摘要

Perseveration behaviours have been studied for several years in the aeronautical domain throughthe analysis of plan continuation errors. However, the cognitive processes underlying thesebehaviors and the factors responsible for them have usually been studied in isolation rather thanconjointly. The goal of the current study was to identify cognitive processes and factors involvedin perseveration behaviors in real-life aeronautical situations. Thirty investigation reportsconcerning accidents or incidents involving French military aircrafts were analyzed in order toreconstruct the decision sequences involved. For each decision point, we identified the wayinformation indicating a change in the situation was processed. The results showed that in 54% ofcases, perseveration behaviors were unrelated to failures of information processing. Instead,perseveration behaviors were mostly due to aircrews’ excessive confidence in their riskmanagement skills. Collaborative actions apparently played an important role, since the lack ofsynergy between crew members was identified by investigators as the second most-importantfactor of this type of perseveration behavior, and in 80% of cases in which recovery fromperseveration occurred, it did so due to outsider intervention. Implications of these findings, anddirections for future research, are discussed.