Abstract
Understanding human performance to improve mission outcomes through trait-level and state-dependent individual differences may protect against operational errors. Attention control has received increasing interest as a trait (i.e., relatively stable) and state-dependent (i.e., fluctuating due to fatigue, stress, and sleep deprivation) cognitive ability that predicts performance on technologically demanding operational tasks (Burgoyne et al., 2025). Attention control refers to the domain-general ability to focus on goal-relevant information while resisting distraction from external events (e.g., a loud noise far away) and internal thoughts (e.g., thinking about yesterday) (Burgoyne & Engle, 2020). In the present work, attention control abilities were measured using three-minute “Squared” tasks in 50+ expeditionary robotics warfare specialists conducting multi-day training exercises using Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs). These training exercises assess a platoon’s ability to perform undersea mine countermeasure missions continuously and in real-time. Instructors assessed each platoon by recording error type and frequency. Error types include mission planning errors, UUV-related errors, safety errors, and Post-Mission Analysis (PMA) errors. Interim analyses revealed that attention control was highly related to PMA errors at the individual level and at the platoon level. Greater attention control was associated with fewer PMA errors, and the proportion of variance explained was substantial (r = -.81). Nevertheless, more sophisticated statistical models (mixed models with operators nested within platoons) lacked adequate power (<80%), necessitating further data collection. As such, we anticipate sampling an additional 30-35 expeditionary robotics warfare specialists within the next 4 months. Greater statistical power will increase the precision of our estimated effects and provide better understanding of the relationship between attention control and operator performance. Collectively, this work will lay the foundation for further explorations involving attention control as both a trait- and state-level variable and its impact on training and human performance in expeditionary robotics warfare specialists.