Human Information Processing: How We Perceive, Process, and Act

Our situational awareness is built upon our perception of the world that relies on information attained through our senses. The complete process from sensing information (whether it is aural, visual, mental, kinaesthetic, gustative or olfactory) through to taking action is referred to as “human information processing”, or information processing for short. This information can be used by other parts of the brain relating to mental activities such as memory, perception, and attention.

Understanding how we process information is crucial in various fields, including aviation, where operatives like pilots and air traffic controllers must rapidly assimilate data, make decisions, and take actions. This article delves into the intricacies of human information processing, exploring its components, limitations, and strategies for optimization.

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The Senses and Perception

The information available to us includes: flight, navigation and engine instruments, primary flight displays, radar, TCAS, radio voice communications, data-link, direct vision, crewmember communication, vibrations, noises and smells, and more. It also includes our mental model of our “plan” of how things are expected to occur, and our prediction of what others’ plans are, and how they may progress.

Our perception of the world will be a four-dimensional model. Four dimensions because we retain memory of what has occurred already and we are also able to project forward in time to predict what the situation will be. At any given moment, in three-dimensions, the accuracy of our situational awareness depends on how accurate our perception is compared to reality. It is possible to be highly accurate, especially in simple and familiar situations. However, our predictions for the future will be, on the whole, less accurate, as will our perception in complex and busy environments.

We may have a good idea of what will happen when we ourselves make changes, corrections and decisions, and this will be based on our experience; however, it is less easy to judge what others will do. Therefore, maintaining situational awareness is a continuous process requiring mental effort and it will become vulnerable during periods of high workload where our information processing capacity is exceeded.

Perception is the process of converting sensory information into something that makes sense - i.e. creating an internal mental model of the outside world. Because we are unable to “collect” 100% of external data (as already mentioned above) our internal model will be incomplete. However, based on our previous experiences, we are often able to make sense of the little data we receive and create a realistic model based on our expectations.

Much like the fact that we can easily recognise someone’s face from a badly pixilated picture; if it’s someone we know, then our brain literally fills in the gaps and joins the dots. However, the same mechanism can lead us to “misperceive” the world - the more we rely on past experiences the more our expectations will distort our perception. For example, a helicopter pilot who regularly flies along snow-covered valleys in Norway will have a mental model of fir trees being 150ft tall. If he enters a valley which is full of newly planted fir trees he may fly much closer to the ground than intended as he has misperceived the scale of the outside world.

Optical illusions demonstrate how perception can be influenced by context and expectations.

The Role of Memory

Supporting these key steps in information processing are various elements of memory, referred to as sensory memory, working and short-term memory, long-term memory and motor memory. These are not distinct sections of the brain, but it is useful to refer to the functions that each provide as distinct from the others.

Sensory Memory

Whether the input is sound, light, pressure, taste or smell, unless we can place our attention onto these inputs there is only a short period of time before the sensation disappears; e.g. visual memory lasts for less than 1 second, audible (echoic) memory lasts for up to 8 seconds. It is these "sensory memories" that allow us to immediately read-back a frequency, or recall a telephone number long enough to dial it once, but 30 seconds later be unable to recall accurately. Paying attention to any of these inputs will involve forming a perception and the transfer of data into more robust memory. Of course at this sensing stage we can be at a disadvantage if our sight and hearing are attenuated (naturally or not), and also if our inner ear is affected in any way.

Working Memory

Working Memory is the aspect of our memory that we use all the time when conducting any task. It holds small amounts of data for a very short time, which is to be used immediately. Therefore, we can read-back an Air Traffic Control instruction to descend and change Transponder Code and maintain these numbers long enough to enter them into the appropriate systems. Mental repetition may be required to achieve the task, but once completed the information is lost within 30 seconds and replaced with the next set of data we need e.g.

Typically the capacity of our working memory is 7 digits +/-2. We can extend this by “chunking” digits together into meaningful blocks such as a long telephone number with 12 digits (e.g. 49 123 747 8989) can be chunked as shown into just 4 memorable blocks. Chunking can also be usefully employed to access long-term memory through the use of mnemonics and other tricks, e.g.

Long-Term Memory

Similarly, the more times data is accessed in our long-term memory, then the more likely we are to be able to recall it when needed. This fact gives support to the method of training called “over learning”, where we repeat a procedure or task many more times than is necessary just to perform to a satisfactory level.

Semantic Memory is our database of facts about things, which is built through repetition and familiarity. We use the semantic memory to understand words, to “do” mathematics and to follow checklists and instructions. This does not mean that everything stored in the semantic memory is correct. If we learn an incorrect fact e.g.

Just because we have meaning and facts stored in our semantic memory does not necessarily mean we can always recall them, when required. Rarely used data can become inaccessible unless we happen to be reminded by some context i.e. a mnemonic (as already mentioned) or something else familiar, like a sequence of events, or a familiar experience.

Episodic Memory contains experiences, including knowledge of specific events; the more vivid, or emotional, then the more likely it is we will remember. And, as for all memory, the more we access and recall certain memories, then the easier they will be to access and recall again in the future. A bit like joke-telling!

Unlike factual semantic memory, information (stories, if you like) held in episodic memory can change with each telling, especially with time. This is because we interpret events differently depending on many factors, one of which is our expectations of how things were, or should have been.

Attention and Vigilance

Vigilance in ATM refers to our state of awareness to external stimuli; this state can range from low to high levels of vigilance. Vigilance might best be described as a positively motivated intention to be ready to react to a range of inputs. It is an energetic state that we can turn-up and turn down at will, but also one which can drop off during periods of low stimulus, boredom, fatigue and stress.

Our situational awareness will determine how vigilant we become and to what external data we include in our scan of awareness. For example, on a typical flight deck, pilots need to remain vigilant of a whole range of possible data, from engine, navigation, communication and other aircraft systems, as well as events occurring outside of the flight deck. It is just too much for our sensory and perception mechanisms to recognise and make sense of all this information.

Attention is a necessary function if we are to focus on the things that matter at the right time. Various theories exist which explain the mechanism that permits multi-tasking, and also the degree to which we can or cannot multi-task. One determinant of whether we can multi-task or not is the capacity we have for dividing attention between stimuli.

For the most intricate, or unfamiliar, tasks we usually require full attention and this will result in us being unable to perceive anything else that is occurring. E.g. whilst being occupied in a hobby such as delicate sculpture, we can become so engrossed that we fail to hear the phone ring, or notice someone entering the room. In the workplace this may also occur when we are fully occupied in dealing with many different inputs e.g. flying an unfamiliar non-precision approach in poor weather at night, we can fail to re-tune the navigation aids at the appropriate point. This is why some systems utilise visual and aural alarms to break our focus and “grab our attention”; it helps that we are particularly sensitive to hearing our own name and call-sign.

Attention is crucial for filtering relevant information and focusing on critical tasks.

It is also why pilots and air traffic controllers need to be persistent in maintaining scans, in which attention is temporarily broadened such that other critical information can be sensed. As well as external events of relevance vying for our attention, our attention will always be tempted by loud, bright, moving and proximate events and objects; i.e. we are easily distracted by irrelevance, especially from tasks requiring applied thought - as anyone who has ever procrastinated will recognise.

Also, distraction can be internally generated. Internal thoughts about current, past and future events will arise, and often these thoughts are totally unconnected with the task at hand. When we selectively attend to one activity, we tend to ignore other stimulation.

Motor Skills and Decision-Making

When we are highly-skilled at a task then we can perform seemingly without too much conscious effort. Peculiarly though, the more we think about “how we are doing it” the less skilful we suddenly become! E.g. It is in this last stage when the skill becomes “second nature” and we are able to conduct another task at the same time such as instruct another pilot to fly. This is because the demand on our information processing ability for automatic tasks is much reduced.

In effect we all run different dedicated motor programmes and motor sub-programmes for a variety of different skills that “kick-in” when the situation demands. Whilst we may rarely make an error in performing these skills, we sometimes initiate an inappropriate skill, at the wrong time e.g. when intending to fly an approach to overshoot (go around) we may find ourselves landing and taxiing back to the terminal.

In the early stages of flying training, focus is on learning and developing motor skills to the point that they become automatic. However, as training progresses focus broadens to include a wider range of skills that require judgement, such as, communication, problem-solving, procedures, decision-making, planning; and also skills that require knowledge, such as performance, software and systems management. Decision-making in itself is an acquired skill, which will not be covered in depth here.

The information processing model shows that selected actions are concerned with correcting the “outside” world so that we can perceive progress being made in the desired direction - it is an error-correcting closed feedback loop. Apart from automatic motor-skills responses, our responses will be sequences of conscious actions and communications. It is common in aviation for decisions and actions to be made quickly under-pressure and therefore it is likely that accuracy will suffer in place of speed. Therefore, it is extremely important in such pressure situations to be as vigilant as possible and to purposefully put effort into raising our situational awareness.

Effective decision-making requires vigilance and a broad awareness of the situation.

This will allow speedy anticipation of likely events but also keep our awareness broad to react appropriately to unanticipated events. There is no doubt that humans can drive a car and hold a conversation at the same time (we all do it routinely). However, in most circumstances we are driving a familiar car along a familiar route, and the conversation is unimportant (we can stop it anytime we need to). However, we all have a point where we quickly reach capacity and have to “dump” certain tasks. When taking a detour that requires a bit of map reading, the conversation stops, the radio is turned off (to help us concentrate) and we ask our passenger to hold the coffee.

Therefore utilising the other available human resources (crew/team) when the workload increases is a skill that needs to be practised and implemented. Sometimes this decision is already made and a standard procedure exists i.e. flying monitored approaches.

Factors Affecting Information Processing

Information processing capabilities vary from person to person, day to day, place to place and task to task. It is particularly affected by age, health, stress, different environments, workplace cultures, experience levels, interpersonal relationships, distractions, and in particular, by its own limitations. Knowing how our information processing capabilities can be limited is important in designing and delegating tasks to ensure that the information processing requirements fall within the capabilities of employees and colleagues (i.e.

Intrinsic Neural Timescales and Brain Connectivity

The human brain is constantly processing information that unfolds at different speeds - from split-second reactions to sudden environmental changes to slower, more reflective processes such as understanding context or meaning. A new study from Rutgers Health, published in Nature Communications, sheds light on how the brain integrates these fast and slow signals across its complex web of white matter connectivity pathways to support cognition and behavior.

Different regions of the brain are specialized for processing information over specific time windows, a property known as intrinsic neural timescales, or INTs for short. “To affect our environment through action, our brains must combine information processed over different timescales,” said Linden Parkes, assistant professor of Psychiatry at Rutgers Health and the senior author of the study. “The brain achieves this by leveraging its white matter connectivity to share information across regions, and this integration is crucial for human behavior.”

To investigate how this integration works, Parkes and his team analyzed multimodal brain imaging data from 960 individuals. They built detailed maps of each person’s brain connectivity, known as connectomes, and applied mathematical models that describe how complex systems change over time to understand how information flows through these networks.

Rutgers researchers found that the distribution of neural timescales across the cortex plays a crucial role in how efficiently the brain switches between large-scale activity patterns related to behavior. Importantly, this organization varies across individuals. “We found that differences in how the brain processes information at different speeds help explain why people vary in their cognitive abilities,” Parkes said.

The researchers also discovered that these patterns are linked to genetic, molecular and cellular features of brain regions, grounding the findings in fundamental neurobiology. Similar relationships were observed in the mouse brain, suggesting that the mechanisms are conserved across species. “Our work highlights a fundamental link between the brain’s white-matter connectivity and its local computational properties,” Parkes said. “People whose brain wiring is better matched to the way different regions handle fast and slow information tend to show higher cognitive capacity.”

Building on these findings, the team is now extending the work to study neuropsychiatric conditions, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression, examining how disruptions in brain connectivity may alter information processing.

Key Concepts in Information Processing

Here's a table summarizing key concepts in human information processing:

Concept	Description
Senses	The means by which we gather information from the environment (e.g., sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch).
Perception	The process of interpreting sensory information to create a mental model of the world.
Sensory Memory	Brief storage of sensory information (less than 1 second for visual, up to 8 seconds for auditory).
Working Memory	Temporary storage and manipulation of information needed for immediate tasks (capacity of 7 +/- 2 digits).
Long-Term Memory	Storage of information for extended periods, including semantic (facts), episodic (experiences), and motor memory (skills).
Attention	The process of focusing on specific stimuli while filtering out others.
Vigilance	A state of readiness to detect and respond to external stimuli.
Motor Skills	Learned movements that become automatic with practice.
Decision-Making	The cognitive process of selecting a course of action among multiple alternatives.