Role of Memory in Air Traffic Control

En route air traffic controllers serving as instructors at the Federal Aviation Administration Academy were tested to determine what they remembered about the aircraft in their sector. The study focused on memory for flight data (aircraft altitude and ground speed) and aircraft position on the radar. Aircraft importance, but not frequency of interaction, affected memory for flight data; neither variable affected recall of the aircraft's radar position. It was hypothesized that controllers use their memory for aircraft position to classify aircraft as important (potential traffic) or not. Information that is not represented spatially (e.g., altitude) is filtered by importance. In addition, a task-relevant filter facilitates encoding other information (ground speed) if it is pertinent. Results have implications for improving the interpretation of techniques that assess situation awareness by assessing the amount remembered.