title: Physiological Indices of Pilots' Abilities Under Varying Task Demands.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study investigated pilots' ability by examining the effects of flight experience and task demand on physiological reactions, and analyzing the diagnostic meanings underlying correlated parameters.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 12 experienced pilots and 12 less experienced pilots performed 4 simulated flight tasks, including normal and emergency situations. Fixation duration (FD), saccade rate (SR), blink rate (BR), heart rate (HR), respiration rate (RR), and respiration amplitude (RA) were measured during the tasks.
  
  
  RESULTS
  More experienced pilots adapted their SR flexibly to changing task demands and had significantly lower SR than less experienced pilots during emergency tasks (29.6 ± 20.0 vs. 70.1 ± 67.1 saccades/min). BR, HR, and RR were affected by pilot experience but not by task demand. More experienced pilots had lower BR, HR, and RR than less experienced pilots during both normal tasks (BR: 14.3 ± 13.0 vs. 32.9 ± 25.8 blinks/min; HR: 72.7 ± 7.9 vs. 83.2 ± 7.2 bpm; RR: 15.4 ± 2.1 vs. 19.5 ± 5.2 breaths/min) and emergency tasks (BR: 10.2 ± 5.0 vs. 32.3 ± 20.8 blinks/min; HR: 73.3 ± 7.3 vs. 82.2 ± 11.6 bpm; RR: 15.6 ± 1.9 vs. 18.0 ± 3.2 breaths/min). FD and RA were not sensitive to either flight experience or task demand.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Physiological reactions have the potential to reflect pilots' ability from different aspects. SR and BR could indicate pilots' differences in information access strategy. HR and RR could reflect a pilot's physical fitness. These findings are useful for understanding a pilot's ability.
authors.affiliation: School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Lingxiao
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Yanyu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Shan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000337:Aerospace Medicine; D001767:Blinking; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011361:Professional Competence; D056152:Respiratory Rate; D012438:Saccades