Advanced training for crisis decision making: simulation, critiquing, and immersive interfaces

Crises demand swift and effective decision making. Yet crises entail unique characteristics that hinder training of personnel with the process knowledge necessary to achieve these two goals. First, crises are, by definition, rare; thus, it is usually not possible for humans to acquire decision-making expertise directly through experience in natural settings. Second, managing crises often involves dealing with massive uncertainty and complexity under conditions of acute stress. Each of these features poses a unique challenge to training. We present an example of a trainer for ship damage control that addresses these challenges. It consists of a first-principles simulator that generates large numbers of realistic scenarios, an immersive multimedia interface that helps replicate decision-making information overload, and a critiquing expert system that provides real-time and post-session feedback on human decision-making performance. Experimental results are presented that indicate that the described computer-based trainer has psychological realism from the standpoint of allowing a trainee to practice decision making processes while under a high level of stress.