The Précis of Project Nemo, Phase 2: Levels of Expertise

Project Nemo examines the cognitive processes and representational structures used by submarine Commanders while attempting to locate an enemy submarine hiding in deep water. In phase 2 we collected performance and protocol data from junior, mid-career, and senior submarine officers. The data support the conclusions from phase 1 (Gray, Kirschenbaum, & Ehret, 1997) that most AO actions can be characterized as a sequence of small, steps in a shallow goal hierarchy (rather than as following a detailed master plan). The nature of these successive choices vary as a function of the officer’s expertise. The results are congruent with an interpretation in which the process of schema instantiation provides the control of cognition.