cognitive ergonomics

A Study On

COGNITIVE ERGONOMICSGuided by:Prof. D. A. JolheAssistant Professor,Dept. of Mechanical Engineering,VNIT, Nagpur.

Submitted By:NAMITA DUBEYM.Tech 2015-16Industrial Engg,Roll no. MT15IND0110

May 1, 2023 COGNITIVE ERGONOMICS 2

CONTENTS1. Definition

2. History

3. How does our brain work

4. Perception

5. How we remember things

6. How memories are stored

7. How we forget things

8. Areas of application

9. Attention and assessment of workload

10. Problem solving

11. Expert and expert system

12. Hand eye coordination

13. Response time

14. References


DEFINITION Cognitive ergonomics, defined by the International Ergonomics Association "is concerned with mental processes, such as perception, memory, reasoning, and motor response, as they affect interactions among humans and other elements of a system”. The relevant topics include:

mental workload

decision-making

skilled performance

human-computer interaction,

human reliability

work stress

training

as these may relate to human-system design.

Cognitive ergonomics studies cognition in work and operational settings, in order to optimize human well-being and system performance. It is a subset of the larger field of human factors and ergonomics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Ergonomics_Association

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_factors_and_ergonomics


History•The field of cognitive ergonomics emerged predominantly in the 70's with the advent of the personal computer and new developments in the fields of cognitive psychology and artificial intelligence.

•"cognitive ergonomics is the application of psychology to work ,to achieve the optimization between people and their work.”

• it is an applied science, and has rapidly developed over the last 27 year.

• According to van der Veer, Enid Mumford was one of the pioneers of interactive systems engineering, and advocated the notion of user-centered design

• criteria for developing user centered design:1. task analysis ( the evaluation of cognitive task demands)2. analyzing motor control cognition during visual tasks (operating machinery, or the evaluation of

attention)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_psychology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enid_Mumford

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_systems_engineering

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention


Neuroergonomics Neuro-ergonomics, a subfield of cognitive ergonomics, aims to enhance human-computer interaction by using neural correlates to better understand situational task demands. Neuro-ergonomic research at the university of Iowa has been involved with assessing safe-driving protocol, enhancing elderly mobility, and analyzing cognitive abilities involved with the navigation of abstract virtual environments.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroergonomics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroergonomics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-computer_interaction


Simplifying the definitionCognitive ergonomics is a division of ergonomics (human factors), a discipline and practice that aims to ensure appropriate interaction between work, product and environment, and human needs capabilities and limitations.


APPLICATION OF COGNITIVE ERGONOMICS Designing a software interface to be "easy to use“

Designing a icons and visual cues so that the majority of people will understand and act in the intended manner

Designing an airplane cockpit or nuclear power plant control system so that the operators will not make catastrophic errors


Need of cognitive ergonomics

The way people perceive and act has direct implications on the design of the

objects and environment that they use

Mind is as comfortable at work as the body

If physical surroundings reflect and support their natural cognitive tendencies,

Less errors

performance & productivity -positive boost


How does our brain work ?Going to early history, phrenologist Franz Joseph Gall was spending lots of time moving his fingers across the skull of the humans to claim he can tell by the shape, size and feel of the head the person’s personality. He advocated the skull morphology as an aspect for recognition of person’s abilities and character.

Phrenology :

The detailed study of the shape and size of cranium as a supposed indication of mental abilities and character

Of late it was dismissed as pseudoscience as the cranial contours tell nothing about what’s happening inside. Yet we can turn Gall into a personality of importance as he brought out the consensus that it is our brain and not the soul or heart the controls our body. His lasting preposition was that he figured out that different parts of brain controls differ parts of body.


Brain function (cont.) Localized parts of brain have specific functions. This turns out a strong result as psychology and biology are strongly associated. If we can stimulate any part of our brain we wanted to, we can actually have control on our brain, something that Gall found out. Now the stimulation part of brain is done by neurotransmitter and hormones alleviating the part we want to function on.

Brain we can call the physical part of our body while mind is our consciousness, our decisions our personality and so on. Thus we may say what the mind is same as what our brain does.


Basics of CNS Central nervous system (CNS)- it is the main command center that defines our decisions.

Peripheral nervous system – consists of sensory neurons that collect information and report it back to the central nervous system.

We may have heard that we use only 10% of our brain. However the brain scan shows that nearly every portion of the brain lights up even when doing simple tasks as walking and talking. Also brain requires about 20% of our whole body’s energy.

Obviously our brain as evolved over the ages from simple to complex system.


Ancestral structure of brain Brain stem : most ancient and central core of brain where spinal cord enters the skull. Here all brain functions take place without conscious effort such breathing of lungs, beating of heart etc.

Pons : helps coordinate automatic functions Thalamus : pair of egg shaped structure that takes in sensory information related to hearing, sensing, tasting , smelling, touching, seeing etc.

Reticular formation : finger shaped nerve network inside brain that’s essential for arousal that refers to sleeping, walking, pain perception and other important functions.

Cerebellum ( little brain) : base ball like structure swelling out from brain stem is responsible for non-verbal learning, memory, perception of tie, modulating emotions and other voluntary movements. But it also gets impaired easily under the influence of alcohol.


Limbic system This was all about the old brain that performs sort of elementary or basic function which any living organism may require. From here brain for reptiles stops. We will discuss some complex or higher order parts.

Limbic system : this includes amygdala, hippocampus and hypothalamus.◦ Amygdala: two-lima-bean sized cluster of neurons involved memory consolidation and emotions both

our greatest fear and aggression.◦ Hippocampus : center to learning and memory◦ Hypothalamus: regulates body temperature, rhythm, hunger and helps govern the endocrine system. It

helps us feeling pleasure of rewards.


New structure of brain Two hemisphere of brain makes up 85% of our brain weight and helps us oversee the ability to think , perceive and speak

Left and right hemisphere govern and regulate different functions giving us split brain connected by corpus callosum.

For instance language production are affected by our left brain while certain creative functions are handled by right brain. This however has nothing to do with the handedness of the person.

Covering of the hemispheres is called cerebral cortex which is a thin layer of interconnected 20 million neurons.

Glial cells are the non neuron cells that provide a spider wed surrounding, supporting, insulating and nourishing neuron cells.


Cerebral cortex is divided into four lobes :1. Temporal2. Parietal3. Frontal4. Occipital

Each lobe coordinates the opposite side


Specialized functionMotor cortex : controls voluntary movements and sends messages from brain out of the body.

Sensory cortex : processes incoming sensation

Rest of gray matter is made up of association areas that are related to higher mental functions like remembering, thinking , learning and speaking

COGNITIVE ERGONOMICS 20

Perception Perception :

The top down way our brain organizes and interprets that information and puts it into context.

Perceptual set :

The psychological factor that determines how you perceive your environment.

Factors affecting perception:

1. Context

2. Culture

3. Emotions or moods

4. Position

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COGNITIVE ERGONOMICS 2110/13/2015

Figure ground relationship


Rules of grouping Form perception:1. Proximity: grouping common objects nearby

2. Continuity : perceive smooth, continuous pattern rather than broken

3. Closure : fill in gaps to create whole object

Depth perception : ability to see object in three dimension although images that strike retina are two dimensional

Binocular cues : depth cues, such as retinal disparity, depends on use of both eyes. Since eyes are only2.5 inches apart not distinct images are produced by the senses. Therefore our brain uses the two images to define distance, i.e. if objects are closure finer distinction can be obtained. This is what we call retinal disparity

Monocular cues : depth cues, such as inter-positional and linear perspective, available to one eye only

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The monocular cues are:

1. Relative size, height

2. Perspective

3. Texture gradient

4. Interposition

Motion perception: infers speed and direction of moving object

“Shrinking objects are retreating and enlarging objects are approaching”

Large objects appear to move slowly as compared to small objects moving with same speed

Constancy: tendency to recognize objects irrespective of its distance, viewing angle, motion or illumination

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How do we remember things? Memory :

◦ Technically is defined as the learning that has persisted over time, information that can be stored and in most cases recalled

◦ Chain connecting past and present◦ Helps us recognize our loved ones, recall joyful moments, define basic functions as how to talk, walk,

eat etc.◦ If it breaks we cant live the present moment nor can we assimilate future


Memory

◦ Memory is built and retrieved in three different ways:◦ Recall◦ Recognition◦ Relearning


Memory (cont.)Recall: a measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier.Recognition: a measure of memory in which the person has to only identify the previously learned information.Relearning : a measure of memory that assess the time saved while learning material again.Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin, the American psychologists in 1960s, figured out that memory can be broken into three stages.


External stimuli sensory memory

short-term memory( working memory)

long term memoryencoding

encoding

encoding

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◦ We initially record the things we want to remember as immediate fleeting sensory memory. ◦ Short-term memory is the one where we keep the memories encoded by rehearsal. This is how we

remember briefly the short memories like passwords, phone nos. etc. without any rehearsal any stimuli can be recalled within 30 seconds.

◦ This is because mind can only hold and retrieve 4-7 bits of information at a time.◦ This also points that it either gets decayed or transferred to long term memory.◦ Long term memory is spacious durable unit that holds all the knowledge, experience and we have.◦ Depends on both time we take to learn it and process we use to retain◦ Shapes reshapes brain and eventually identity


Working memory :

Conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information and of information retrieved from long term memory

Classically conditioned association:

represent association with some incidences

Automatic processing :

non-conscious encoding of incidental information , such as time, space and frequency and well-learned information


Auditory rehearsal

central executive

short-term memory( working memory)

long term memory

encoding

encoding

encoding

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long term memory

Different kinds of long-term memory: 1. Procedural memory: how we remember to do things2. Episodic: connected with some episode of life


Leonidas


How our memories are stored ? We all have been constantly retrieving the memories where we parked the vehicle, did we lock the room, have we turned the lights off, dates, day, birthdays, names, events and so on.

Implicit memory

Retention independent of conscious recollection

i.e. how we ride our bikes, how to talk, eat dress are dealt in on a mostly automatic non-conscious level

Explicit memory

Memory of fact and experiences that one can consciously know or “declare”

i.e. the chronicles of our personal experience and general knowledge often requiring conscious and effortful work


Memory retrieval cycle


Retrieval cues and priming Our memories are not like books neatly kept on the shelf that we often take off to read, retrieve, relate and reproduce. It, however is more like a cobweb in the dark catacomb of our mind that is closely interrelated in series of association that builds all sorts of diverse links as bits of source of information.

For ex : if we try to remember a person seen in the dull lights or vague darkness we may remember certain features of the place as the color of his jacket, his hair, complexion and so on but we cannot explicitly identify the person with certainty. Here the darkness, jacket, color, complexion etc. acts as retrieval cues.

“Memories are built in our mind as bits of pieces lying in the cobweb which is retrieved by the retrieval cues”

The more we have retrieval cues the better we can remember things.

Priming :

The act of activating associations unconsciously. Sometimes it’s called the “memory-less” memory in which we have some invisible images captured that we may awaken for associations


Context and mood dependence• context-dependent memory

• state-dependent memory

• mood congruent memory

Serial position effect : memory is dependent on the order in which we receive information so it’s a tendency to recall first and last items on the list

1. Primacy effect

2. Recency effect


How information are forgotten ? We forget in three ways :

1. We forget to encode it2. We fail to retrieve it3. Memory suffers storage decay


Tricks to build healthy memoryMnemonics :

Memory aids especially those techniques that uses vivid imagery and organizational devices

Chunking:

Organizing information into familiar, manageable unit; often occurs automatically.

These techniques help you to encode explicit memory but how we retain depends on how deeply the information has penetrated through different levels of processing

Shallow processing: encoding information on basic auditory or visual levels, based on sound, structure or appearance of word.

Deep processing : encodes semantically based on actual meaning associated with word

Connection to something meaningful such as some personal or emotional experience.


AREAS OF APPLICATION Industrial Areas

1. Human computer interaction

2. Transportation

3. Control processes

Intervention Areas

1. Design

2. Technological Innovation

3. Safety and accident Investigations


Human Computer Interaction(HCI)

HCI involves the study, planning, and design of the interaction between human (users) and computers.

Supporting knowledge on both the computer and the human

Computer side - techniques in computer graphics operating systems, programming languages and

development environments - relevant

Human side - communication theory, graphic and industrial design disciplines, linguistics, social

sciences, cognitive psychology and human factors such as computer user satisfaction - relevant

Interaction occurs at the user interface which includes both hardware and software


TransportationSome of the most important artefacts of our lives are used to support human

mobility. Cars, buses, trains, boats, planes, etc. have to be designed to enable their users

an effective, efficient and safe transportation. Although some of these artefacts are used

by only one person, an analysis of dynamic transportation situations indicates that

cognitive ergonomists must take a more global viewpoint that includes considering

many persons who interact with each other through a large number of artefacts under

conditions of severe time constrains and deadly hazards. Therefore, although

ergonomics has been involved of the design of the cockpit of airplanes and cars (for

example, being recently involved in designing assistant systems for helping car drivers

to drive safely), experts in this profession have started also to be interested in the development

of the whole socio-technical system that have to be considered in air traffic or railway

transportation.


Control Process


Control Process The term "process" refers here to the industry known as "processing industry". A processing industry is one where energy and matter interact and transform one into another (Woods, O’Brien and Hanes, 1987).

A typical example of such industries is nuclear power plants. But the industries of paper production and the pasteurization of milk also belong to this category.

There is one ergonomically relevant characteristic that distinguishes among the examples of processing industries. One can say that the various process industries differ in the degree of dependence on the artefacts that play a mediating role between the operators and the physical processes that they control.


DesignThere are two aspects of interest in system design:

Human Beings who design the system

Human Beings who interact with system

In the early times of human factor engineering, they were called to explain why the particular design had not worked. Later on, they were called to intervene directly in the design process (Wickens and Hollands, 2000). Today, the processes of innovation requires that ergonomists "proactively" supply ideas and empirical data for the design of future artefacts improving human performance and public acceptance of new technologies (Akoumianakis and Stephanidis, 2003; Kohler, Pannasch and Velichkovsky, 2008).


Technological Innovation New concept of design is “user centered “ designing

It bases its development on the fact describing the human being who interacts with the system from the viewpoint of cognitive science.

Based on those characteristics cognitive ergonomists provided engineers with a set of principles to be considered in the design.

Paradigm has let to the establishment of usability research that has contributed greatly to the effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction of users in their interaction with the technologies and to a better interaction between users through technology (Holzinger, 2005)


Safety and accident investigation

“Human reliability analysis” (HRA) : These techniques are based on the assumption that the actions of a

person in a workplace can be considered from the same point of view as operations of a machine. The objective is to

predict the likelihood of human error and evaluate how the entire work system is degraded as a result of this error

alone or in connection with the operation of the machines, the characteristics of the task, the system design and

characteristics of individuals (Swain and Guttmann, 1983). This approach has let to a considerable progress in the

efforts to predict the occurrence of human error. However, it has have been criticized as insufficient. Reason (1992)

particularly notes that the main difficulty is the estimation of error probability. In designing new systems, there are no

prior data on the error probabilities. One can count on data from simple components, such as errors that are

committed to read a data into a dial or enter them into a keyboard, but not the errors that may be committed by

interacting with the system.


“Cognitive psychology”: ergonomics seek to know the mental processes responsible for committing an error (Norman 1981; Reason, 1992). They assume that errors are not caused by irresponsible behaviour or defective mental functioning. They may be rather the consequence of not having taken into account how a person perceives, attends, remember, makes decisions, communicates and acts in a particularly designed work system. This standpoint suggests investigating the causes of human errors by analyzing the characteristics of human information processing. The three types of errors can be largely attributed to the familiarity that the person has with the system:

• Errors based on skills: When a person is very familiar with the task, actions are overlearned as a low-level pre-programmed sequence of operations that do not require and often are not under conscious control. If one of these actions is poorly performed or the sequence is applied in an unusual order, a skill-based error occurs.


• Errors based on rules: The selection of actions in a situation often depends on the implementation of a set of rules of the type IF(condition) THEN (action). The activation of the right rules depends on the interpretation of the situational conditions. If a situation is misinterpreted the retrieved rule will be inappropriate as well. In other words, an error based on rules will occur.

• Errors based on knowledge. When we encounter a new problem situation, so that existing skills and learned rules are of little help, it is necessary to plan a novel action sequence to its resolution. This is a higher-order cognitive activity demanding a lot of conscious control. If it actions are not planned correctly, a knowledge-based error will occur.


Attention and assessment of workload

Driving involves various subtasks :

Tracking Decision makingNavigationAdherence to warnings and signalsTending environment and mechanical system(music system, AC)CommunicatingObserving inside and outside events Points that can be noted :Our ability to attend stimuli is limitedDirection of attention determines how well we perceive, remember and act on information

We may therefore conclude:Observation that fall outside our awareness region has little influence in the performance. So an information on display panel becomes irrelevant if not attended by the operator


It may also be noted that when a single overlearned response has been executed to a stimuli many times in past, attention is not needed. In such situations, however, familiar or irrelevant stimuli may interfere and affect the operator’s level of performance.


Types of attention1. Selective attention

2. Divided attention

3. Demanding attention


Models of attention Bottleneck model : it specifies a particular stage in the information-processing sequence at

which the amount of information to which we can attend is limited.

Resource model : in this, attention is viewed as limited capacity resource that can be allocated to one or more tasks.

further classification can be done here by dividing the bottleneck model into : early selection and late selection model while resource model as single resource and multi-resource model.


Bottleneck model(Filter Theory)•Proposed by Broadbent(1958) According to the theory, the stimuli enters the central processing channel one at a time to be identified. Thus the filtering of unwanted message takes place prior to identification.•Filtering can be done according to gross physical characteristics.•References of the theory is based on the studies of Cherry’s “cocktail-party phenomenon”.•This exemplifies the study based on selective attention highlights of the study: Physically distinct words can be easily repeatedIf distinct messages are passed simultaneously little attention was shown to unattended message even if repeated many times

Change in language was also rarely noticed for unselected receptor If rapidly spoken words on one ear are blocked till selected receptor processes the information


ATTENUATION AND LATE SELECTION THEORY

Given by TREISMAN 1964

“She proposed filter attenuation model in which an early filter served only to attenuate the segment of and un attended message rather than to block it entirely”

It proposes the leak

An attenuated message would not be identified under normal conditions but the message could be identified if familiarity or context sufficiently lowered the identification threshold


LATE SELECTION Deutsch and Norman 1968

They argued that all messages are identified but decay rapidly if not selected or attended

Both attenuation and Late selection theory presumed that bottleneck may not be fixed but vary as function of specific task requirement

They suggested that as the information processing system shifts from early selection to late selection mode more information is gathered from irrelevant sources requiring a greater amount of effort to focus on relevant source


RESOURCE MODELS Resource model views attentional limitation as arising from a limited capacity of resource for mental activity

Performance suffers when resource demand exceeds the supply

There are two models1. Unitary resource model 2. Multiple resource model


UNITARY RESOURCE MODEL Proposed by Kahneman 1973

He proposed attention as a limited capacity resource that can be applied to a variety of processes and tasks

The execution of multiple tasks is not difficult unless the available capacity of attentional resources is exceeding

Allocation policy depends on momentary intentions and evaluation of demands being placed from these resources

Dual Task Procedure proposed by Posner and Boies 1971


Unitary resource model According to this a person is required to perform two tasks at once namely primary and secondary with instruction to perform primary as well as secondary

According to resource model therefore all attentional pool should be devoted to primary task and any spare should be devoted to secondary task


MULTIPLE RESOURCES Proposed by Navon and Gopher 1979

According to this there is no single attentional resource rather several distinct sub systems each have their own limited pool of resource

The model assumes that two tasks can be performed together more effectively to the extent that they require separate pool of resources

This model was developed because the amount of performance decrement for multiple tasks often depends on the stimulus and modalities and the response required for each task


MENTAL WORKLOAD ASSESMENT

Workload refers to total amount of work that a person or group of persons is to perform over a given period of time therefore mental workload is the total amount of mental work or effort necessary to perform a task

It can be viewed as difference between the capacities of information processing system that are required for task performance to satisfy expectations and the capacity available at any given time

Performance may suffer if the mental load is too high or too low

Workload is a function of several factors such as required accuracy level, time demand, number of task to be performed simultaneously etc.


TECHNIQUES TO MEASURE WORKLOAD

EMPIRICAL TECHNIQUE : 1. Primary task measure2. Secondary task measure3. Psychophysiological measure4. Subjective measure

ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES :1. Comparison and Expert opinion2. Mathematical model 3. Task Analysis 4. Simulation Model


Primary-task Measures-

mental work required of a task by directly examining the performance of the operator or the overall system. As the task becomes difficult, additional processing resources would be required.

Secondary-task Measure-based on the logic of dual-task performance. The operator is required to perform a task in addition to the primary task of interest. Workload is assessed by the degree to which performance deteriorates in dual-task in comparison to tasks performed alone


Physiological measure-

Measures used are pupillometry, heart rate, breathing rate, event-related potential etc.

Subjective measure-

Operators are asked to rate such things as perceived like mental workload, time load and stress load.

These includes Cooper-Harper scale, SWAT, NASA-TLX etc


Comparison

in this previous data of study carried on for work load is compared for its load levels and analyzed Expert opinion

user or developer of same system are asked to predict workload after giving description of proposed system Mathematical model- these include:

◦ manual control models◦ Information theory models◦ Queuing theory models ◦ Simulation models


Problem solving Solutions depend on the type of responses we require i.e. quick or accurate

Trial and error

Algorithms ◦ Logical, methodical, step by step procedure that eventually guarantees a solution but may be slow to

work with

Heuristics :◦ Simple strategy that allows us to solve problem faster, although more error-prone than algorithms


Pic of tower of hanoi


A production system framework Problem solving is proposed within an abstract mental problem space. This would need following aspects to be clearly defined:

1. Declarative knowledge: Representation of the problem space, about facts relation we are able to verbalize.

2. Procedural knowledge: allowable action as defined by the problem

3. Control knowledge: strategies used to coordinate the overall problem solving process

4. Production system : includes a global database, production rules that operate on database and a control system that has rules to apply.

◦ Heart of production system is its “if-then “ statements.


5. Task environment : characterized by a set of states and a set of operators that bring allowable change

Newell and Simon’s (1972) helped determine performance parameter i.e. “how to represent the problem mentally, which is based on the task environment and other knowledge”.

Limitations of problem solving:◦ Inaccurate and incomplete problem statement◦ Limited capacity of short term memory


LOGIC AND REASONING Two types of reasoning are usually distinguished

1. Deduction2. Induction

DEDUCTION : It refers to reasoning in which the conclusion about particular condition follows necessarily from general premises about the problem. Formal logic involves arguments in the form of a list of premises and a conclusion which are called syllogism.

There are two inferences rules that are modus ponens and modus tollens

Modus Pollens states that given major premises that A implies B and minor premises that A is true then it can be inferred that B is true


Modus Tollens states that that given major premises that A implies B and minor premises that B is false then it can be inferred that A is false

Conditional Reasoning: deductive reasoning with conditional statements of an “if then” form is called conditional reasoning

Example : If the system was shutdown then there was a system failure

Categorical Reasoning : These are the statements that include quantifiers some all no and some not

Example : All A’s are B’s and All B’s are C’s therefore all A’s are C’s.


INDUCTION Induction is a reasoning in which a generalized conclusion is drawn from a particular condition . It involves inferential processes that expand knowledge under uncertainty

Two types of knowledge are modified1. Procedural2. Conceptual

Adaptive Heuristics : Human inductions are constrained by adaptive Heuristics that favors certain classes of hypotheses over others and by cognitive limitations. One such heuristic is availability


DECISION MAKING Normative Theory and Descriptive Theory

Normative Theory : Concerns how we should chose possible action under ideal conditions

It relies on notion of utility i.e. how much particular outcome is worth to the decision maker

Descriptive theory: decision makers pay attention to a single dominant attribute and are less willing to make trade-offs in other dimension

It is a stressing situation and prone to performance reversal.


IMPROVING DECISIONS Training and task environment : Research and reasoning proposes that people with formal training make same type of error as those without training. The deficiency in decision making that seems amenable to instructional training is the judgment of probability

The way in which information is presented should not be underestimated due to the factor called framing. Information should usually be framed in such a way that its attributes are encoded positively rather than negatively

Decision aids: following the cognitive limitations decision maker should be provided with decision aids such as decision analysis and decision support system.

◦ Decision analysis: it is a set of techniques for structuring a set of problems and decomposing them into similar components◦ Decision Support System(DSS):It is a computer based tool used to guide operator through the decision making process . It

provides them with information that may involve retrieval of data filtering and simulation .Example – MAUD (Multi Attribute Utility Decomposition)


EXPERT AND EXPERT SYSTEMS

Acquisition of cognitive skill Power law of practice T

Where T= Time to perform task N= Number of times task has been performed

B,α= Positive Constants


Phases of Skill Acquisition: phases are◦ Cognitive: it is for novice learning to understand the task environment and must attend to cues and

events that do not require under later phase. ◦ Associative: It is an intermediate phase where skill acquired through cognitive approach are linked

together. ◦ Autonomous : It is characterized by the procedure becoming more automatic and less subject to

cognitive controlAutomatic process is characterized by :

mandatory without intentiondo not interfere with other mental activitiesoccur without awareness


Characteristics of expert performance


Human factor issues Human factor concerns to be addressed during construction of an expert system are:

Selection of task or problem : ◦ deductive problems are easily framed◦ Task should be easily structured◦ Focus should be relied on area of knowledge◦ Human expert should conform to the task

Representation of knowledge◦ Object in the base must reflect experts’ knowledge structure◦ Different objects should be discriminable◦ knowledge engineer and subject matter expert maintain a common frame of reference◦ Procedures should be compatible with experts’ mental model◦ Biases and exaggeration should be detected and compensated for◦ End user expectation to be kept in mind


Design of interface:◦ Poor design of interface leads to user aversion and operator errors◦ Human factor specialist should determine the information to be presented to optimize efficiency◦ Use of natural language and direct graphical representation

Performance of expert system:◦ Potential error in knowledge base should be tested◦ Prototype testing

Successful expert system:◦ Minimum acceptance problem◦ Training programs to focus on various parts of integration of expert and expert system◦ Maintenance of system ensures long term reliability◦ Possible areas of intervention which was not initially dealt


Eye-hand Coordination Eye–hand coordination (also known as hand–eye coordination) is the coordinated control of eye movement with hand movement, and the processing of visual input to guide reaching and grasping along with the use of proprioception of the hands to guide the eyes. Eye–hand coordination has been studied in activities as diverse as the movement of solid objects such as wooden blocks, archery, sporting performance, computer gaming, copy-typing, and even tea-making.

It is part of the mechanisms of performing everyday tasks; in its absence most people would be unable to carry out even the simplest of actions such as picking up a book from a table or playing a video game.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_movement_(sensory)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_perception

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprioception


Neural MechanismThe neural control of eye–hand coordination is complex because it involves every part of the central nervous system involved in vision: eye movements, touch, and hand control. This includes the eyes themselves, the cerebral cortex, subcortical structures (such as the cerebellum, basal ganglia, and brain stem), the spinal cord, and the peripheral nervous system. Other areas involved in eye–hand coordination that have been studied most intensely are the frontal and parietal cortex areas for the control of eye saccades and hand-reach. Both of these areas are believed to play a key role in eye–hand coordination and the planning of movements during tasks

A more specific area, the parieto occipital junction, is believed to be involved in the transformation of peripheral visual input for reaching with the hands, as found via MRI. This region in particular has subdivisions for reach, grasp, and saccades. In additional to the parieto–occipital junction, the posterior parietal cortex is believed to play an important role in relating proprioception and the transformation of motor sensory input to plan and control movement with regards to visual input.

Many of these areas, in addition to controlling saccades or reach, also show eye position signals that are required for transforming visual signals into motor commands. In addition, some of the areas involved in reach, like the medial intraparietal cortex, show a gaze-centered remapping of responses during eye movements in both monkeys and humans. However, when single neurons are recorded in these areas, the reach areas often show some saccade-related responses and the saccade areas often show some reach related responses. This may aid in eye–hand coordination or hint at the ability of cells to wire together as they're used more frequently.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_cortex

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebellum

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_ganglia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_stem

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinal_cord

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peripheral_nervous_system

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontal_cortex

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parietal_cortex

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parietal_lobe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occipital_lobe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FMRI


Eye-guided hand movement When eyes and hands are used for core exercises, the eyes generally direct the movement of the hands to targets. Furthermore, the eyes provide initial information of the object, including its size, shape, and possibly grasping sites that are used to determine the force the fingertips need to exert to engage in a task. For shorter tasks, the eyes often shift onto another task to provide additional input for planning further input is used to adjust for errors in movement and to create more precise movement.

For sequential tasks, eye-gaze movement occurs during important kinematic events like changing the direction of a movement or when passing perceived landmarks. This is related to the task-search-oriented nature of the eyes and their relation to the movement planning of the hands, and the errors between motor signal output and consequences perceived by the eyes and other senses that can be used for corrective movement. The eyes have a tendency to "refixate" on a target to refresh the memory of its shape, or to update for changes in its shape or geometry in drawing tasks that involve the relating of visual input and hand movement to produce a copy of what was perceived. In high accuracy tasks, when acting on greater amounts of visual stimuli, the time it takes to plan and execute movement increases linearly as per Fitts's Law.


Response time Response time is the sum reaction time plus movement time. Reaction time is the elapsed time between the presentation of a sensory stimulus and the subsequent behavioral response. It indicates how fast the thinker can execute the mental operations needed by the task at hand. In turn, speed of processing is considered an index of processing efficiency.

The behavioral response is typically a button press but can also be

an eye movement, a vocal response, or some other observable behavior.


Types of response time Simple reaction time is the motion required for an observer to respond to the presence of a stimulus.

Recognition or Go/No-Go reaction time tasks require that the subject press a button when one stimulus type appears and withhold a response when another stimulus type appears. For example, the subject may have to press the button when a green light appears and not respond when a blue light appears.

Choice reaction time (CRT) tasks require distinct responses for each possible class of stimulus. For example, the subject might be asked to press one button if a red light appears and a different button if a yellow light appears. The Jensen box is an example of an instrument designed to measure choice reaction time.

Discrimination reaction time involves comparing pairs of simultaneously presented visual displays and then pressing one of two buttons according to which display appears brighter, longer, heavier, or greater in magnitude on some dimension of interest.

Due to momentary attentional lapses, there is a considerable amount of variability in an individual's response time, which does not tend to follow a normal (Gaussian) distribution. To control for this, researchers typically require a subject to perform multiple trials, from which a measure of the 'typical' response time can be calculated. Taking the mean of the raw response time is rarely an effective method of characterizing the typical response time, and alternative approaches (such as modeling the entire response time distribution) are often more appropriate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jensen_box

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_dispersion


References

Proctor R., Zandt T. V., Human Factors in simple and complex systems. Allyn & Bacon

Murrell H., Ergonomics: Man in his working environment. Chapman & Hall

LEE J. D., Emerging challenges in cognitive ergonomics: managing swarms of self-organizing agent-based automation. Issues in ergonomics. VOL. 2, NO. 3. 238,250.

Gerrit C. van der Veer., Cognitive Ergonomics in Interface Design : Discussion of a Moving Science . Journal of Universal Computer Science, vol. 14, no. 16 (2008), 2614-2629

Sumner T, Bonnardel N., Kallak H.B., The Cognitive Ergonomics of Knowledge Based Design Support Systems

Goebel R., Siekmann J., &Wahlster W. Engineering psychology and Cognitive Ergonomics. Springer

Cañas J.J., Velichkovsky B.B. & Velichkovsky B.M. Human Factors and Ergonomics

Franklin S, Baars Bernard J., Ramamurthy Uma, Ventura M. The role of consciousness in memory