Fully up-to-date coverage of human factors engineering?plus online access to interactive demonstrations and exercises Engineering accomplishments can be as spectacular as a moon landing or as mundane as an uneventful drive to the local grocery store. Their failures can be as devastating as a plane crash or a massive oil spill. Over the past decade, psychologists and engineers have made great strides in understanding how humans interact with complex engineered systems?human engineering. Introduction to Humans in Engineered Systems provides historical context for the discipline and an overview of some of the real-world settings in which human engineering has been successfully applied, including aviation, medicine, computer science, and ground transportation. It presents findings on the nature and variety of human-engineering environments, human capabilities and limitations, and how these factors influence system performance. Important features include: Contents organized around the interaction of the human operator with the larger environment to guide the analysis of real-world situations A web-based archive of interactive demonstrations, exercises, and links to additional readings and tools applicable to a range of application domains Web content customizable for focus on particular areas of study or research

Table of Contents:
Preface xiii Part I Historical Perspective 1 References 4 1 Natural and Engineered Systems 7 Purposeful Design 7 User-Centered Design 8 Design against Failure 10 Summary 12 References 12 2 Historical Roots 14 Engineering for Physical Limitations 14 Size 14 Strength 17 Speed and Efficiency 17 Engineering for Human Cognition 21 Writing 21 Number Systems 24 Point-and-Click Interfaces 25 The Modern Era 25 Aviation 26 The Digital Computer 28 A Fractured Field 30 Human Factors/Ergonomics 31 Human-Computer Interaction 33 Human-Systems Integration 33 Summary 34 References 34 3 The Current Practice 37 Aerospace 38 The Human-System Specialist in Aerospace 39 Medicine 40 The Human-System Specialist in Medicine 42 Automotive Industry 42 The Human-System Specialist in the Automotive Industry 43 Computer Industry 43 The Human-System Specialist in Human-Computer Interfaces 44 Summary 44 References 45 Part II The Environment 49 References 51 4 The Varied Nature of Environments 53 Static vs. Dynamic Domains 54 Sources of Difficulty in Static Environments 56 Modes 56 Comprehension 57 Sources of Difficulty in Dynamic Environments 58 Lag 58 Plant Dynamics 59 Control Order 63 Perturbation and Noise 66 Internal vs. External Pacing 67 Error Tolerance 68 Summary 69 References 69 5 The Social Context 71 Methodological Consequences of Group Size 74 Length/Variability of Response Times 74 Methods of Study and Analysis 75 Communication and Coordination Consequences of Group Size 76 Summary 79 References 80 6 Analysis Techniques 81 Modeling Static Environments: Finite State Representations 82 Modeling Dynamic Environments 84 Control Theory 85 Signal Detection Theory 88 Task Analysis 93 Measuring Complexity Using Information Theory 94 Modeling Throughput Using Queuing Theory 97 Summary 99 References 99 Part III The Human Element 101 References 103 7 Determinants of Human Behavior 105 The Human Factor 106 Structure and Content 107 Levels of Analysis 109 Summary 111 References 111 8 The Structure of Human Information Processing 113 Processing Stages 115 Cognition and Action 117 Cognition and Goal-Directed Behavior 119 Response Selection 119 The Hick-Hyman Law 120 Compatibility 123 The Nature of Capacity Limitations 125 Summary 126 References 126 9 Acquiring Information 127 Sensory Processing 127 Vision 127 Illumination 128 Reflectance of the Surface 128 Reflectance of Surrounding Surfaces 131 Anatomy of the Eye 131 Visual Acuity 132 Acuity and Retinal Eccentricity 135 Adaptation 138 Saccadic Eye Movements 139 Temporal Vision 141 Masking and Crowding 141 The What and Where of Vision 142 Summary 143 Color Vision 143 CIE Color Space 144 The Uses of Color 147 Audition 147 The Human Auditory System 149 Auditory Perception 150 Pitch, Masking, and Critical Bands 152 Auditory Localization 153 Auditory-Visual Cross-Modal Interactions 154 Sensory Processing Summary 157 Attention 157 Selective Attention 157 The Cocktail Party Phenomenon and Echoic Memory 158 Iconic Memory in Vision 159 Resource and Data Limits 160 The Capacity of Attention 163 The Processing of Unattended Items 163 Controlling Attention 164 Visual Search 164 Visual Monitoring 170 Information Foraging Theory 170 Summary 171 References 172 10 Central Processing Limitations on Multitasking 181 Bottleneck Theories 181 Central Bottleneck Theory 182 The Psychological Refractory Period Paradigm 183 Central Bottleneck Theory and Driving 185 Central Bottleneck Theory and Human-Computer Interaction 187 Fitts’ Law 189 Project Ernestine 190 Capacity Theories 191 Complexity in Resource Allocation 191 Allocation of Limited-Capacity Resources 192 Multiple Resource Theory 195 Using Multiple Resource Theory 198 Applications of Single-Channel and Multiple Resource Theories 200 Timesharing 201 Task-Switching Costs 201 Cognitive Operations in Task Switching 202 Timesharing Strategies and the Control of Processing 203 Speed-Accuracy Trade-Off 204 Optimal Strategies 205 Summary 205 References 206 11 Memory 210 Types of Memories 210 Short-Term Memory 211 Working Memory 213 Long-Term Memory 215 Episodic versus Semantic Memory 217 Retaining and Forgetting Information 218 Interference 220 Forgetting to Remember to Remember: Prospective Memory 223 Retrieving Information 224 Short-Term Memory Retrieval 225 Long-Term Memory Retrieval 226 Summary 230 References 231 12 Decision Making 236 Anatomy of a Decision 236 Normative Approaches to Decision Making 239 Rational Decisions 240 Bayes Theorem 240 Utility and Expected Value 242 Nonoptimality of Human Decisions 243 Failure to Consider Base Rate Information 244 Judging Numerical Quantities 245 Failure to Appreciate Statistical Properties 245 Cognitive Approaches to Decision Making 246 Confirmation Bias 247 Framing Effects 248 Overconfidence 249 Heuristics in Human Decisions 250 Availability 250 Representativeness 251 Anchoring 253 The Use of Heuristics 254 Other Influences on Decision Making 254 Process Models of Human Decision Making 256 Naturalistic Decision Making 259 Relationship between Decision-Making Models and Systems Engineering 262 Summary 263 References 263 Part IV Human-System Integration 267 References 269 13 A Case Study in Human-System Performance: The Exxon Valdez 271 An Account of the Grounding of the Tankship Exxon Valdez 272 The Nature of the Error 274 Mode Errors 274 Control Dynamics and Detection Times 276 Time Estimation 277 Decision Biases 278 Multitasking 279 Summary 281 References 282 14 Human Error 284 Human Error and System Error 284 The Nature of Human Error 285 Theories of Human Error 288 Error Types 289 Error Forms 290 Situation Awareness 292 Situation Awareness in Individuals 292 Situation Awareness of Teams 294 Cognitive Processing in Establishing Situation Awareness 295 Measuring Situation Awareness 296 Inferring Situation Awareness from Eye Fixation Patterns 299 Summary of Situation Awareness 300 Summary 301 References 301 15 Contextual Factors Affecting Human-System Performance 307 Workload 307 Defining and Measuring Workload 308 Performance-Based Metrics 308 Cognitive Task Analysis 313 Physiological Indices of Workload 316 Subjective Ratings of Workload 318 Workload Summary 320 Interruption 320 Operator State 323 Fatigue 324 Sleep Deprivation and Circadian Rhythms 326 Summary 327 References 327 16 The Role of Automation in Human-System Performance 339 Using Automated Devices 341 Levels of Automation 343 A Taxonomy of Automation Levels 345 Automation as a Decision Support Aid 348 Automation and System Safety 352 Summary 354 References 354 0 Alarms and Alerts 360 Sensory Characteristics of Good Alerts and Alarms 361 Design Considerations in Alerts and Alarms 362 Human Factors Issues with Alerts and Alarms 363 Information Displays 364 Transform Information to Take Advantage of Human Perceptual Systems 365 Match Perceptual Cues to the Nature of the Judgment 365 Choose Perceptual Depictions Compatible with Internal Representations 367 Provide Feedback 371 Use Presentation Techniques That Minimize Demand for Focal Visual Attention 372 Use Perceptual Distinctions That Match Visual and Auditory Capabilities 372 Apply the Proximity Compatibility Principle 374 Create Barriers 374 Summary 377 References 377 Index 383