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Situation awareness, emotions and time perception: an investigation of the effects of emotions on measures of situation awareness, the perception of time, and decision making

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Nikolla, Dritan (2013) Situation awareness, emotions and time perception: an investigation of the effects of emotions on measures of situation awareness, the perception of time, and decision making. PhD thesis, University of Gloucestershire.

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Abstract

Current theories of Situation Awareness (SA) are based on three broad cognitive processes, that of perception, comprehension and projection. While there are considerable variations on how SA is defined and subsequently modeled (see Endsley 1995, Hancock & Smith 1995 or Edgar & Edgar 2007), most current theories fail to account for the role and influence of emotions on SA. A further shared characteristic of the current models is the lack of integration of SA theories with the ever-increasing knowledge of the functional specializations of different brain areas. This thesis' main aim was to bridge these gaps by integrating current developments from neuroscience and cognitive psychology with perception, learning and decision-making aspects of SA, all within the context of different affective conditions. The experiments described in this thesis, therefore, share a focus on the emotional effects on the aforementioned cognitive processes as well as detection of possible neural signatures as reflected by Electroencephalography (EEG) recording. The first experiment showed that negative, neutral and positive affective conditions had markedly different effects on the processes of SA. Subsequently, the next three experiments focused on the effects of emotions in a particular aspect of SA, that of decision making, and attempted to isolate the EEG correlates of advantageous and disadvantageous decision-making processes. It was found that about 400 to 300 milliseconds (denoted as SM400) prior to enacting a decision, the EEG recording was able to distinguish between the advantageous and disadvantageous choices. Finally, the last three experiments investigated the mechanisms by which emotions exert their influence on how information is perceived and learned. It was found that negative and positive affective stimuli dilated and contracted the perception of time respectively and that, furthermore, the processing of negative stimuli is based more on long-term memory as opposed to working memory. The research in this thesis suggests that what kind of SA one person may have is very much affected by emotional processes. This thesis hopes to have contributed to an initial understanding of these processes and stimulate further research on these areas.

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Thesis (PhD)

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