A COMPARISON OF ANXIETY AND FRUSTRATION IMPACTS ON PERFORMANCE OF MANNED SYSTEMS

The motivation for this study was the assessment of crew workload in military aircraft. A review of contemporary works addressing mental workload theory and measurement revealed that while emotive reactions are acknowledged contributors to overall load and effort requirements, there is no overall structure for including such factors in models used for systems analysis. In order to address this problem, a metamodel was developed to show where frustration and anxiety add to other load factors that influence operator effort for satisfying system performance requirements.;A distinction was made between attention (focus and span) and concentration. Concentration is viewed as an alteration of interrupt thresholds and masking of interruptions that lead to a disruption of attention. It was argued that an inability to attend to the planning process degrades cognitively guided behavior. It was also argued that learned predispositions for non-cognitive behavior guidance are more likely to be oriented toward system goals for frustration but toward personal goals (threat avoidance/escape) for anxiety.;Finally, it was concluded that anxiety disrupts performance more than frustration. It was also suggested that this formulation for the dynamics of cognitive behavior is consistent with Easterbrook's hypothesis that high arousal leads to restricted range of cue utilization and overcomes Kahneman's objections to using Easterbrook's hypothesis as an explanation for the Yerkes-Dodson Law at low levels of arousal. It also appears possible to explain why performance regression occurs under stress: as a natural consequence of the impact emotive reactions can have on the allocation of short term memory, reducing the support available for more complex cognitive processes. Design implications and recommendations for further empirical study were also presented.;Studies of frustration indicate it can produce an increase in concentration whereas anxiety disrupts concentration. The system, mission, crew, and performance factors which might induce frustration and anxiety were reviewed and it was postulated that conflict dynamics provide a means for determining which reaction is dominant if both are elicited. It was also shown that in certain instances, the response to frustration can elicit anxiety and the response to anxiety can elicit frustration, as sequential effects.