Stress-Counter Response Training: Flight Simulation ANS Biofeedback

Many attempts to reduce Human Error (HE) in aviation have been applied in the past. However, HE remains the largest reported cause of accidents and incidents in aviation. The present study was designed to implement a novel training method to produce voluntary control over the autonomic nervous system (ANS). Twenty-one participants flew a PC based F-16 flight simulator. There were three conditions: 1. Stress-Counter Response training (SCR), 2, traditional biofeedback training, and 3. A control. It was hypothesized that the SCR training group would show improved physiological control, better flight performance, and lower subjective workload ratings compared to the other two groups under non-normal, or stressful flight conditions. It was established that the present study failed to provide any clear evidence for an effect of the tested technology for reducing pilot error by training individuals to control ANS reactivity in simulated flight tasks. However, the lack of a significant training effect may have been due to several possibilities. In fact, a number of complexities were identified in the course of this research.