A New Approach to Measuring Situation Awareness: Theory, Technique, and the SABRE Tool Graham K. Edgar, Helen E. Edgar & Martin B. Curry

Actual vs perceived SA ACTUAL SA: Good SA Poor SA Ideal state Danger state Need to verify current SA Need new information Self-assessment “My SA is good” “My SA is poor”

Perception Integration (Comprehension) Projection (Endsley, 1995)

Strength of internal representation of item (“subjective certainty”) Number of items I Weak Strong

Strength of internal representation of item Number of items SA’ Perception Integration etc Weak Strong Probe: Perception x = True or False? Response: - T/F IB’’ PERFECTION!!

Strength of internal representation of item Number of items SA’ IB’’ Weak Strong True information False information Measure of separation between distributions (measure of SA - wider = better) Criterion adopted for accepting as true (“level of risk”) The SABRE method

Examples of probe statements: Perception The SARS virus appeared last winter.T/F Integration SARS reduced the number of air passengers.T/F Projection Fewer people will fly next winter.T/F

Hanover

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D X

General Perception Integration Projection A D Components of SA

CAUTION

Application of SABRE Quick and easy to administer Congruent with task Plain-language record of situation tested Can be used in experiments, field trials and post-hoc analysis Well received in trials Customer has control of situation evaluated

Summary of SABRE capabilities Provides quantitative data Dynamic measure of SA and information bias Analysis of components of SA Indicates when and why things go wrong