Markers for Enhancing Team Cognition in Complex Environments: The Power of Team Performance Diagnosis

Salas E, Rosen MA, Burke CS, Nicholson D, Howse WR. Markers for enhancing team cognition in complex environments: the power of team performance diagnosis. Aviat Space Environ Med 2007; 78:(5, Suppl.):B77–B85.



Team cognition has been identified as a key component to achieve mission goals in dynamic, team-based, stressful, distributed and multicultural operations. Effective team performance in complex environments requires that team members hold a shared understanding of the task, their equipment, and their teammates. So, many of the simulation-based training (SBT) systems and programs have been designed (partly) to enhance shared/team cognition. However, these simulation systems lack the sufficient robustness in their performance assessment tools or capabilities (if they have any) to allow for a rich and deep understanding of team cognition. Therefore, the purpose of this article is fourfold: 1) to present a brief account of team cognition; 2) to develop the concept of performance diagnosis and present SBT as an approach to the performance diagnosis of team cognition; 3) to present a set of illustrative behavioral markers of team cognition; and 4) to explicate how these elements (performance diagnosis, team cognition, and SBT) can be leveraged to increase training effectiveness through the development of performance profiles—a rich, detailed, and informative set of metrics—and cognitive and behavioral indicators or illustrative markers of team cognition. Research needs are discussed in terms of realizing the potential of this approach in operational and embedded training contexts.