In 2017, Di Paolo, Buhrmann, and Barandiarán proposed a list of criteria that post-cognitivist theories of learning should fulfill. In this article, we review the ecological theory of direct learning. We argue that this theory fulfills most of the criteria put forward by Di Paolo et al. and that its tools and concepts can be useful to other post-cognitivist theories of learning. Direct learning holds that improvements with practice are driven by information for learning that can be found in the dynamic organism-environment interaction. The theory formally describes information for learning as a vector field that spans a space with all the perception-action couplings that may be used to perform an action. Being located at a point of such a space means using a specific perception-action coupling. Changes in perception-action couplings due to learning can be represented as paths across the space, and can be explained with the vector field of information for learning. Previous research on direct learning considered actions that were best understood with single perception-action couplings. To conclude the article, and inspired by the criteria of Di Paolo et al., we discuss an extension of the theory to actions that are best understood with multiple perception-action couplings.

The theory of affordances states that perception is of environmental properties that are relevant to action-capabilities of perceivers. The present study illustrates how concepts and methodological tools from the theory of affordances may help to advance research in the field of sensory substitution. The sensory substitution device (SSD) that was used consisted of two horizontal rows of 12 coin motors that each vibrated as a function of the distance to the nearest object. Sixty blindfolded participants used the SSD to explore virtual horizontal apertures with different widths. They were asked to judge the passability of the apertures. Participants with narrow shoulders judged narrower apertures as passable than participants with wide shoulders. This difference disappeared when aperture width was scaled to shoulder width, demonstrating that perception was body scaled. The actual aperture width was closely related to aspects of the exploratory movements and to aspects of the vibrotactile stimulation that was obtained with the exploratory movements. This implies that the exploratory movements themselves and the vibrotactile stimulation were both informative about the aperture width, and hence that the perception of passability may have been based on either of them or on a global variable that spans vibrotactile as well as kinaesthetic stimulation. Similar performance was observed for participants who accomplished the 7-trial familiarization phase with or without vision, meaning that practice with vision is not indispensable to learn to use the SSD.

Automated alert systems for air traffic controllers (ATCOs) often generate many nuisance visual warnings that ATCOs routinely ignore, potentially compromising safety. To explore an alternative modality, we tested vibrotactile alerts to warn ATCOs of aircraft entering their sector. In two experiments with 118 novice participants, Experiment 1 compared a visual color-change alert to a simple vibrotactile pulse. Using a high-difficulty scenario with nine handoffs, simple vibrotactile alerts elicited significantly faster response times than visual alerts without increasing mental workload or degrading performance. In Experiment 2 we added gradual and continuous vibrotactile alerts, but no further advantage emerged from their implementation. Nevertheless, all vibrotactile alerts reliably captured attention without adverse effects, demonstrating the feasibility of non-invasive tactile devices to augment or replace visual alerts and help ATCOs allocate their cognitive resources more effectively. However, this is an exploratory study at a pre-operational stage without direct practical implications for ATC planning and control.

Air traffic complexity demands high situational awareness (SA) among air traffic controllers. SA comprises three levels: perception, comprehension, and projection. This study examined the development of SA in inexperienced participants. We wanted to study whether mere exposure to SA levels through probes specifically designed for each level could generate a scaffold for the development of SA. Participants were assigned to five groups: three SA level questionnaires, a complete questionnaire, and a control group. Following the SPAM methodology, we measured response times, accuracy, and ATC task performance. We found that the SPAM questionnaire produced reactivity effects in the ongoing scenario, and that these effects were modulated by the SA level group. However, these effects did not systematically transfer to a subsequent scenario for all the SA level groups. Specifically, only the projection group continued to use the same strategy developed in the first scenario. In addition, our results support that the conception of SA structure is not entirely hierarchical since participants could answer higher-level probes without first having to answer lower-level probes. Implications for designing SA training interventions are discussed. These findings indicate that real-time SA questionnaires elicit short-term reactivity but fail to produce lasting impacts, limiting their utility for SA training.