Reconciling situation awareness in humans versus machines via mode awareness and schemata

Abstract

We recast situation awareness (SA), mode awareness (MA) and schema theory in terms of intelligent agents under supervisory control. This formulation allows SA to be held by machines, while retaining the richness of human cognition versus machine computation. This development yields three outcomes. The first is to unify the Endsley et al. theory of shared SA with the Stanton et al. theory of distributed SA. The second is an improved understanding of how teams can be equipped for distributed, cognitive operations, from the content and tempo of information transactions. Finally, we have a clarified notion of the role of consciousness in SA.