EEG Correlates of Fluctuation in Cognitive Performance in an Air Traffic Control Task
archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified
Get this paper ↗ (full text — opens at the source; we link to it, we don't host it)
Summary
This study investigates the relationship between electroencephalography (EEG) patterns and cognitive performance fluctuations during a simulated air traffic control task, aiming to identify reliable neurophysiological markers for mental fatigue. Mental fatigue, particularly the "time-on-task" effect, poses significant safety risks in high-stakes environments like air traffic control, where sustained vigilance and multitasking are critical. While subjective measures are common, physiological monitoring offers real-time detection capabilities. The researchers hypothesized that specific changes in EEG spectral power correlate with deteriorating cognitive performance, providing a basis for continuous fatigue monitoring systems. The experimental design involved ten healthy male participants who performed a low-fidelity air traffic control simulation (C-Team) across four sessions of increasing duration: 30, 60, 90, and 120 minutes. Cognitive performance was assessed using the MiniCog Rapid Assessment Battery (MRAB) before and after each session, while continuous performance metrics—response time, routing time, crashes, and warnings—were recorded during the task. Simultaneously, high-density 128-channel EEG data were collected. The EEG signals were preprocessed to remove artifacts, including those from impedance checks and muscle movement, using independent component analysis. The data were segmented into 10-minute intervals and analyzed using non-parametric statistical methods to identify significant changes in theta, alpha, and beta power spectra relative to the initial baseline segment. The results indicated that MRAB scores remained largely stable, showing no consistent evidence of fatigue at the group level. However, C-Team performance data revealed significant deterioration as task duration increased. Response times and routing times increased significantly, and the number of crashes and proximity warnings rose notably in the longer sessions (90 and 120 minutes). Statistical analysis pinpointed that performance degradation began approximately 60 to 80 minutes into the task. Correspondingly, EEG analysis showed significant, consistent increases in alpha, theta, and beta power spectra localized to the midline frontal and parietal regions. These neurophysiological changes emerged concurrently with the decline in performance, with a distinct transition in mental state occurring around 70 minutes into the task. The study concludes that there is a consistent correlation between EEG spectral power changes and cognitive performance decrements during prolonged air traffic control tasks. The identification of specific EEG markers, particularly in the frontal and parietal midline regions, suggests that EEG signals can serve as reliable indicators of mental fatigue. These findings support the development of real-time, online mental fatigue monitoring systems, which could enhance safety by detecting performance declines before they lead to operational errors in critical aviation environments.
Key finding
Deteriorating cognitive performance and EEG spectral changes indicative of mental fatigue occurred at approximately 70 minutes into the air traffic control task.
Methodology
simulator
Sample size: 10
Provenance
The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed. Discovered via bulk_ingest_rosap on 2026-05-23 (6 acquisition events logged).
| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | rosap | — | — | 2 | 2026-05-23 |
| archive | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| clean | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| chunk | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| embed | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-02 |
| enrich | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 3 | 2026-06-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 19 | 2026-06-11 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.
Topics
Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.
Information type
What kind of knowledge this paper contributes, grouped by family — independent of topic (what it is about) and method (how it was studied).
- Empirical Findings: physiological data