Visual Cognition Abilities in X-Ray Screening

The job of aviation security screeners is a highly demanding task. Based on the x-ray image of a passenger bag, a screener has to decide within few seconds only whether the bag is ok or has to be hand-searched. This x-ray screening task includes specific knowledge and visual cognition abilities. The knowledge about which items are prohibited and what they look like in x-ray images of passenger bags have to be learned on the job. In contrast the ability to cope with high bag complexity, superposition and viewpoint of threat items is relatively stable and can only be improved little with on the job training. Whether these abilities can be measured within a pre-employment assessment procedure using different subtests of well established intelligence test batteries was investigated in this study. Results revealed a relationship between the latent variable ability and detection performance in x-ray screening for both samples. However, 4 of the 12 intelligence tests are sufficient to explain detection performance in x-ray screening. The relationship between the latent variable ability, the X-Ray Object Recognition Test and detection performance later on the job was tested additionally. Abilities, aviation security, visual cognition, x-ray screening