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Stress

As with learning stress is a factor in performance. Stress can be thought of as the sum of all those inputs and demands on us whether they are physical, emotional, temporal, or intellectual. With performance we can again see that the bottleneck is our working memory. When we have many stimuli demanding our attention in a short period of time, then we start losing the ability to make decisions and perform effectively.

Stress up to a certain point arouses us to focus in on the task at hand.  However, too much stress is disabling and we often look at ways to control the extent of it.  There are two primary tactics. The first is to control the stimuli. This can range from learning not to overreact, to coding the information into chunks, which are easier to handle. We can use the linkage between our higher and lower functions to aid in this process. The common relaxation techniques use breathing exercises or visualization to desensitize the individual to excessive arousal. We can also physically narrow our focus of attention to cut out extraneous stimuli. If we limit our field of view, then we will have less chance to be interested in off-task subjects. Of course we could turn off our radio to limit audio distractions, close our wind vents when there is a distracting odour et cetera.

The second tactic is related to time management. We try to anticipate when time may be a factor, and clear up all of the routine activities before that period. This is designed to free up our working memory when the information will be coming in at a higher rate later on. Pilots in particular should be trained to recognize when time will be a factor and take the appropriate measures.