Cognitive Solutions
Challenge
Work in high risk sectors demands understanding, and developing effective support for, individual and group decision making. ARA’s Cognitive Solutions experts use reliable and valid scientific approaches to study individual and team behavior at work. Our proven methods include field work, knowledge elicitation, experimentation, evaluation, requirements-to-production research, and organizational development interventions.
Solution
Decision Support
- ARA has developed real time decision support systems for high risk settings including the Burn Intensive Care Unit, and medics and field hospitals on the battlefield.
- Machine learning algorithms identify patterns and trends in complex data sets that operators need to see but would not otherwise be able to detect.
Cognitively Authentic Training
- ARA ensures essential cues are woven into scenarios that are sufficiently realistic to facilitate learning and retention for accurate performance. It can be used to match knowledge acquisition and retention to practical aspects of routine work, which is essential in high op tempo roles.
Hazard and Risk Assessment
- ARA has performed analyses of complex systems to determine opportunities to improve safety and identify factors contributing to near misses and adverse outcomes.
- Our resilience engineering study for NASA enabled NASA to understand the factors contributing to a near-fatality aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
Usability Assessment
- ARA’s rigorous authentic scenarios immerse operators in tasks to obtain quantitative and qualitative data that can be used to verify how solutions affect performance.
- Field studies determine operator needs and preferences for new innovations including ARA’s reusable respirator to protect from contagious diseases such as COVID-19.
