Evaluation of a Gunnery Simulator's Visual Display and Several Strategies for Leading Moving Targets

摘要

The presence of high-speed armor targets on the modern battlefield necessitates training gunners to judge target speeds in order to apply appropriate leads. The current research investigated trainees' speed judgments of a moving target and spatial estimates of a gunnery simulator's visual display. Distance, range, and slant estimates in the simulator revealed systematic underestimation of distance and range, overestimation of slant, and large inter-observed variability, a pattern of results typical of research on space perception. Application of speed judgment data to a model of tank gunnery indicated that asking gunners to classify target speed as either fast, medium, or slow and to apply one of three corresponding leads should prove an effective lead strategy. Application of the data to the gunnery model demonstrates that selection of a cognitive strategy for training may have an impact on operational performance. The current research will be of value to instructional system developers, because it demonstrates the importance of unobservable processes, such as cognitive strategies, for training. (Author)