The Effects of Cognitive Readiness in a Surface Warfare Simulation
Author: Ayala, Donna
Date: 2008-08-00
Type: Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations
Subjects: Simulation,War,Military Training,Armed Forces,Readiness,Cognitive Ability,Teamwork,Leadership,Decision Making,Creativity,Problem Solving,Self Efficacy,Retention (Psychology),Transfer of Training,Questionnaires,Measures (Individuals),Pretests Posttests,Correlation

This study investigated the effects of cognitive readiness in a Navy simulated environment, the simulation being the Multi-Mission Team Trainer. The research question that drove this study was: will simulations increase cognitive readiness? One of the tasks of Navy sailors is to deal with unpredictable events. Unpredictability in the military is considered to be one of the major characteristics, especially in battle. These officers must be prepared to react to these complex and unpredictable environments and simultaneously sustain competence in their performance. In this research such performances were driven by cognitive readiness. Increasing cognitive readiness amongst sailors can result in being able to recognize patterns in chaotic situations, modify problem solutions, and implement plans of action. This investigation was composed of a pilot study and a main study at the US Navy. The pilot study examined specific problem solving measures in simulation. The design involved measures before and after the Multi-Mission Team Trainer. All sailors (participants) took the cognitive readiness measures (domain independent measures) that were composed of a problem solving questionnaire (control strategies, self-efficacy, effort and perseverance, worry, and elaboration), teamwork questionnaire (adaptability, coordination, decision making, interpersonal, and leadership, and communication), and a creativity questionnaire  (fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration). The measures from the pilot study  were the same used for the main study. All scales have acceptable reliability. The main study included fifty four participants and three instructors who were given the same measures from the pilot study. The domain specific problem solving questions that were given to students included one retention, and one transfer question. Thus, the retention of participants was 24% and the transfer of participants was 9%. The significant cognitive readiness findings included higher levels of teamwork interpersonal and leadership skills, and creativity- elaboration (p=0.05), following the simulation. Self-Efficacy and retention showed to be positively correlated. Creativity-flexibility and fluency resulted to be negatively correlated to transfer. This study could contribute to the understanding about increasing the cognitive readiness of US Navy sailors in order to be able to respond to unpredictable and complex events in a competent way. Appended are: (1) IRB [Institutional Review Board] Approval; (2) Student Introduction; (3) Problem Solving Questionnaire; (4) Teamwork Questionnaire; (5) Creativity Questionnaire; (6) Student's Retention Measure; (7) Retention Individual Raters Score; (8) Student's Transfer Measure; and (9) Transfer Individual Raters Score. (Contains 33 tables and 5 figures.) [The work reported herein was partially supported through a University of Southern California subcontract from the U.S. Navy, Office of Naval Research with funding to the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST).]