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Biomedical subjects

N A Stanton

Publications and source records attributed to N A Stanton.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Behavioural compensation by drivers of a simulator when using a vision enhancement system.

Technological progress is suggesting dramatic changes to the tasks of the driver, with the general aim of making driving environment safer. Before any of these technologies are implemented, empirical research is required to establish if these devices do, in fact, bring about the anticipated improvements. Initially, at least, simulated driving environments offer a means of conducting this research. The study reported here concentrates on the application of a vision enhancement (VE) system within the risk homeostasis paradigm. It was anticipated, in line with risk homeostasis theory, that drivers would compensate for the reduction in risk by increasing speed. The results support the hypothesis although, after a simulated failure of the VE system, drivers did reduce their speed due to reduced confidence in the reliability of the system.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed2000

A field study of team working in a new human supervisory control system.

This paper presents a case study of an investigation into team behaviour in an energy distribution company. The main aim was to investigate the impact of major changes in the company on system performance, comprising human and technical elements. A socio-technical systems approach was adopted. There were main differences between the teams investigated in the study: the time of year each control room was studied (i.e. summer or winter), the stage of development each team was in (i.e. < 3 months or > 10 months), and the team structure (i.e. hierarchical or heterarchical). In all other respects the control rooms were the same: employing the same technology and within the same organization. The main findings were: the teams studied in the winter months were engaged in more 'planning' and 'awareness' type of activities than those studies in the summer months. Newer teams seem to be engaged in more sharing of information than older teams, which may be indicative of the development process. One of the hierarchical teams was engaged in more 'system-driven' activities than the heterarchical team studied at the same time of year. Finally, in general, the heterarchical team perceived a greater degree of team working culture than its hierarchical counterparts. This applied research project confirms findings from laboratory research and emphasizes the importance of involving ergonomics in the design of team working in human supervisory control.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1998

Learning to predict human error: issues of acceptability, reliability and validity.

Human Error Identification (HEI) techniques have been used to predict human error in high risk environments for the past two decades. Despite the lack of supportive evidence for their efficacy, their popularity remains unabated. The application of these approaches is ever-increasing, to include product assessment. The authors feel that it is necessary to prove that the predictions are both reliable and valid before the approaches can be recommended with any confidence. This paper provides evidence to suggest that human error identification techniques in general, and SHERPA in particular, may be acquired with relative ease and can provide reasonable error predictions.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Human error identification techniques applied to public technology: predictions compared with observed use.

In this paper, we consider the use of human error identification (HEI) techniques as a possible alternative to observation studies for product evaluation. The HEI techniques used were Task Analysis for Error Identification (TAFEI) and Predictive Human Error Analysis (PHEA). The comparison was undertaken in connection with the prediction of errors in the use of a ticket vending machine. Two main findings emerged from the study. First, predictions derived from the HEI techniques compared favourably with errors observed in actual machine use. Second, the HEI techniques took far less time than direct observation to reach comparable levels of performance. Such rates suggest that these techniques can be usefully applied to the study of consumer products.

Journal Article↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Distributed situation awareness in dynamic systems: theoretical development and application of an ergonomics methodology.

The purpose of this paper is to propose foundations for a theory of situation awareness based on the analysis of interactions between agents (i.e. both human and non-human) in subsystems. This approach may help to promote a better understanding of technology-mediated interaction in systems, as well as helping in the formulation of hypotheses and predictions concerning distributed situation awareness. It is proposed that agents within a system each hold their own situation awareness, which may be very different from (although compatible with) that of other agents. It is argued that we should not always hope for, or indeed want, sharing of this awareness, as different system agents have different purposes. This view marks situation awareness as a dynamic and collaborative process binding agents together on tasks on a moment-by-moment basis. Implications of this viewpoint for the development of a new theory of, and accompanying methodology for, distributed situation awareness are offered.

Awareness↗