Engineering Psychology and Cognitive Ergonomics : Volume 2: Job Design and Product Design

This book describes some of the most recent advances and examines emerging problems in engineering psychology and cognitive ergonomics, bridging the gap between the academic theoretitians, who are developing models of human performance, and practitioners in the industrial sector, responsible for the design, development and testing of new equipment and working practices.

This is the second of two edited volumes from an international group of researchers and specialists, which together comprise the edited proceedings of the First International Conference on Engineering Psychology and Cognitive Ergonomics, organized by Cranfield College of Aeronautics at Stratford-upon-Avon, England in October 1996. The applications areas include aerospace and other transportation, human-computer interaction, process control and training technology. Topics addressed include: the design of control and display systems; human perception, error, reliability, information processing, and human perception, error, reliability, information processing, and awareness, skill acquisition and retention; techniques for evaluating human-machine systems and the physiological correlates of performance. While Volume one is more clearly focused on the domain of aviation and ground transportation, Volume two is concerned with human factors in job and product design, the basics of decision making and training, with relevance to all industrial domains. Part one opens with a keynote chapter by Ken Eason. It is followed by Part two dealing with learning and training, while Part three reflects the rapidly growing area of medical ergonomics. Part four entitled ''Applied Cognitive Psychology'' is biased towards human capabilities, an understanding of which is central to sound human engineering decisions. Part five firmly emphasizes equipment rather than its human operators.