The purpose of the present thesis was to find an explanation for cognitive lockup: the tendency to focus on a subpart of a system and ignore the rest of it. The first chapter of the thesis started with the example of flight 401 of Eastern Air Lines. In this example the pilot continued with a problem on the landing gear while there was a more urgent problem of the descending altitude. The dramatic result was a plane crash which, in hindsight, could be ascribed to cognitive lockup. The crash could have been prevented if the pilot had reassessed the situation and had dealt with the problem of the descending altitude first. Two specific experimental reports on cognitive lockup were discussed (Moray and Rotenberg, 1989 and Kerstholt, Passenier, Houttuin and Schuffel, 1996). However, neither of these studies provided a theoretical explanation for the lockup phenomenon and for that reason the present thesis aimed at finding a plausible explanation for cognitive lockup. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting