Integration of spatial and linguistic information in virtual search and rescue missions

Tai, Yan Shan 2025. Integration of spatial and linguistic information in virtual search and rescue missions. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

Positive outcomes in safety- and time-critical situations, such as during fire emergencies, hinge on coordinated responses, which in turn depend on the ability of response teams to interpret new information and adapt their behaviour accordingly. However, communication habits that sacrifice directness, such as conversational implicatures, can emerge and be misinterpreted under pressure, which might in turn impair behavioural adaptation. This thesis investigated whether these effects extend to naturalistic, high-stakes, and high-stress scenarios using undergraduate participants who acted as firefighters in desktop-based and semi-immersive virtual reality simulations of search and rescue (SAR) scenarios. Chapter 2 reports three experiments that investigated the conditions under which behaviours adapt in response to goal-relevant information that contradicted prior knowledge or experience. The findings showed that in these scenarios, critical information conveyed through conversational implicatures was often misinterpreted unless supported by explicit hints, leading to ineffective behavioural adaptation during SAR missions even when they had time to process the messages and reformulate strategies. Chapter 4 reports an experiment investigating how self-generated expectations and explicitly instructed expectations about the prevalence of explosive hazards interact during visual search under high and low stress conditions. Despite direct instructions that target prevalence would be lower, search performance (i.e., false positives) was influenced by prior experience in high prevalence, which had formed self-generated expectations of high target prevalence. Together, these findings suggest that under pressure, the provision of new and critical information does not guarantee its integration into goal-directed behaviour. Instead, its uptake depends on an interplay of factors such as the directness of communication, the engagement of pragmatic reasoning, the strength of prior knowledge and experience, opportunities for deliberate decision-making, and the limits imposed by stress on executive functioning supporting adaptive behaviour. While further research with career firefighters is needed, this work highlights the potential value of training protocols that emphasise explicit communication and awareness of the biasing effects of prior experience or expectations.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Schools > Psychology
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	20 October 2025
Last Modified:	20 Oct 2025 09:58
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/181754

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