Eye Movements And Reliance On External Memory Aids Predict Team Success In A Military Planning Task

Participants completed a complex team exercise designed to mimic military planning operations. Each member of the three-person team was eye-tracked as they completed the group task. Members of successful teams had more fixations, were less reliant on external memory aids (push-pins), and created plans that were longer. Additionally, team members in key roles were more likely to experience decisional conflict and to have less confidence in their performance. Further examination of this finding showed that those who experienced greater decisional conflict also had fewer fixations. Low level eye movements may indicate high level team cognition