Abstract
Gaze behaviour is highly task dependent and tightly linked to the underlying perceptual, cognitive, and motor processes, and thus, has a direct influence on the planning and execution of motor movements. The current study examined the utility of a novel method of gaze analysis (i.e., gaze entropy) to objectively identify and characterize differences in performance proficiency and task difficulty during a simulated aviation task. Participants (n=5) performed 20 landing challenges using Microsoft Flight Simulator. The objective of the task was to land the airplane successfully from the pre-set starting position. Participants completed the task across two difficulty levels that were determined by the weather conditions (i.e., 10 easy trials = clear visibility and no wind; 10 hard trials= poor visibility and significant crosswind). Our results demonstrated that as performance increased, stationary gaze entropy (SGE) (i.e., gaze dispersion) and gaze transition entropy (GTE) (i.e., gaze unpredictability) increased (p<0.05). This suggests that scanning complexity (i.e., dispersion and unpredictability) is associated with an improvement in information acquisition and processing that supports enhanced performance. Furthermore, preliminary results revealed that task difficulty modulated gaze behaviour in a manner that was highly dependent on pilot experience. Specifically, as task difficulty increased novice pilots demonstrated an increase in SGE and GTE (p<0.05), while more experienced pilots demonstrated a decrease in SGE and GTE (p<0.05). These findings suggests that more experienced pilots focus their gaze on fewer critical areas of interest, while also using a more structured gaze pattern to pilot the aircraft under more difficult conditions. In contrast, novice pilots use a more exploratory pattern of gaze that spans more areas of interest during the difficult conditions. We conclude that gaze entropy metrics may provide useful insights into the perceptual and cognitive processes that underlie performance differences associated with task difficulty and experience during challenging occupational tasks.