11/21/2019

Faculty of Engineering IE 342

Industrial Engineering Department Human Factors Engineering

Chapter 10: Information Ergonomics

Faculty of Engineering IE 342

Industrial Engineering Department Human Factors Engineering

 Key Topics
 Information processing (Perception)
 Attention
 Stimuli response

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Faculty of Engineering IE 342

Industrial Engineering Department Human Factors Engineering

 Information Processing
 The interaction between a human and a machine relies on the
exchange of information between the operator and the system.

 Detailed and precise models of machines and machine

behavior have been made available by designers in order to
improve the interaction between humans and machines.

 Information can be defined as the absorption of interpreted

data, directly or indirectly, through human sensory functions.

Faculty of Engineering IE 342

Industrial Engineering Department Human Factors Engineering

 Information Processing
 Information processing is a part of ergonomics science that used
to evaluate cognitive tasks that performed by individuals.

 There are a various approaches & techniques that used to measure

the performance of individual (objectively).

 Information Theory and Signal Detection Theory (SDT) are an

examples of communication theory.

 Objective measures of “communication theory” such as:

- Amount of transmitted information.
- Receiver sensitivity.
- Biases or deviation from optimality.

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Faculty of Engineering IE 342

Industrial Engineering Department Human Factors Engineering

 Information Processing (Communication Theories

system) consist of:

Transmitter Receiver
• Consumer group • Sensory (vision and
• Educational Institute hearing)
• Designer • Might be a particular
• Manufacturer • Media (television,
• Learned people individual who
• Standard-Making signal, or auditory
• Is called Encoder decode the message
Organization alarm)
• Is called Decoder
Information
Channel
Source

Faculty of Engineering IE 342

Industrial Engineering Department Human Factors Engineering

Information Theory
Information theory measures information in bits (binary digit).

For equally likely alternatives:

H = log2n
H = the amount of information
n = the number of equally likely alternatives
log2n = 1.4427 × lnn

When alternatives are not equally likely:

H = Σ[pi × log2(1/pi)]
pi = probability of the ith event (alternative)
i = alternatives from 1 to n

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Faculty of Engineering IE 342

Industrial Engineering Department Human Factors Engineering

Information Theory
Example: tossing a coin with two equally loaded faces:
H = log2n = log22 = 1.0 bit
If the coin is loaded so that one face is 9 times more likely (p = 0.9):
H = Σ[pi×log2(1/pi)]
= 0.9×log2(1/0.9)+ 0.1×log2(1/0.1)
= 0.469 bit

This implies that the amount of information processed increases as

the events get equally likely.

Faculty of Engineering IE 342

Industrial Engineering Department Human Factors Engineering

 Perception
 Perception awareness of some event; process by which the
mind refers its sensations to external objects as their cause.

 The most primitive form of perception is detection.

 Detection involves knowing whether or not a signal or

target is present.

 Signal detection theory is one of the primary means used

to evaluate perception.

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Faculty of Engineering IE 342

Industrial Engineering Department Human Factors Engineering

Signal Detection Theory

 The outcomes of the signal detection theory are summarized in
the following Signal Noise

Hit: Saying there is a signal when there is a signal. Yes Hit False Alarm

False alarm: Saying there is a signal when there is Correct

No Miss
no signal. Rejection

Miss: Saying there is no signal when there is a

signal.

Correct rejection: Saying there is no signal when

there is no signal.

Note: no signal = noise

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Industrial Engineering Department Human Factors Engineering

Signal Detection Theory

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Faculty of Engineering IE 342

Industrial Engineering Department Human Factors Engineering

Signal Detection Theory

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Industrial Engineering Department Human Factors Engineering

Signal Detection Theory

β (signal-to-noise-ratio) = b/a
2/2
ysignal = b = e–Zb /(2π)0.5
2
ynoise = a = e–Za /2 /(2π)0.5
Sensitivity (dˊ) = z (1–Correct rejection) – z (1–hits)

Increase sensitivity by feedback.

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Faculty of Engineering IE 342

Industrial Engineering Department Human Factors Engineering

Signal Detection Theory

Example:
Signal: defective
Noise: acceptable

Types of operators:
(a) conservative:
Small d ’ and β>1
(b) average:
Average d ’ and β=1
(c) risky:
Small d ’ and β<1
(d) sensitive:
Large d ’ and β=1

Faculty of Engineering IE 342

Industrial Engineering Department Human Factors Engineering

Example of SDT:

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Industrial Engineering Department Human Factors Engineering

Example of SDT Cont.:

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Industrial Engineering Department Human Factors Engineering

Example of SDT Cont.:

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Faculty of Engineering IE 342

Industrial Engineering Department Human Factors Engineering

Example of SDT Cont.:

Faculty of Engineering IE 342

Industrial Engineering Department Human Factors Engineering

Signal Detection Theory

Applications of Signal Detection Theory:

Manufacturing: quality applications (e.g., inspections)
Medical: radiological scanning, medical examinations
Airline industry: air traffic controllers
Military: radar observation

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Faculty of Engineering IE 342

Industrial Engineering Department Human Factors Engineering

 Attention
 Attention is the activity that facilitates the processing of
specific information present in our surroundings.

 Four basic types of attention exist and include:

•Focused attention
•Sustained attention
•Selective attention
•Divided attention

Faculty of Engineering IE 342

Industrial Engineering Department Human Factors Engineering

 Attention (cont.)

 Focused attention
 Focused attention requires maintaining attention of one or a few channels of
information and not getting distracted by other channels of information.
(Examples, using a securing machine or screens).

 Some ergonomics guidelines to reduce the impact of Focused attention :

• Make the competing channels as distinct as possible from the channel to which
the user is to attend.

• Separate in physical space the competing channels from the channel of interest.

• Make the channel of interest larger, brighter, louder, or more centrally

located than the competing channels.

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Faculty of Engineering IE 342

Industrial Engineering Department Human Factors Engineering

 Attention (cont.)

 Sustained attention
 Sustained attention or vigilance requires users to maintain focused attention
for extended periods of time while remaining alert. (Examples, driving and
flying tasks)

 Some ergonomics guidelines to reduce the impact of Sustained attention :

• Provide appropriate work-rest schedules and task variation
• Increase the conspicuity of the signal by making it louder, bigger, or
more intense.
• Monitor environmental factors (lighting, temperature and noise).
• More feedback
• Provide caffeine
• False signals

Faculty of Engineering IE 342

Industrial Engineering Department Human Factors Engineering

 Attention (cont.)

 Selective attention
 Selective attention requires the monitoring of several channels or sources of
information to perform a simple task. It is up to the person to select between
the channels. (Examples, listening for a particular instrument or alarm while a
full orchestra or alarms are performing, customer service employees).

 Some ergonomics guidelines to reduce the impact of Selective attention :

• When multiple channels must be scanned for signals, use as few channels as
possible.

• Reduce overall level of stress on the user.

• Train the user in effective scanning.

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Faculty of Engineering IE 342

Industrial Engineering Department Human Factors Engineering

 Attention (cont.)

 Divided Attention
 Divided attention requires the allocation of resources to a variety of task
elements. It is important to consider various input modalities for divided
attention tasks, for example, auditory signals for one task and visual signals for
another. (Examples, using mobile while driving car at the same time, instant
translation, call centers).

 Some ergonomics guidelines to reduce the impact of divided attention :

• Whenever possible, the number of potential sources of information should be
minimized.

• If time share is likely to stress a person’s capacity, it is important to provide

relative priorities of the tasks to optimize the strategy of dividing attention.

• Tasks should be dissimilar.

Faculty of Engineering IE 342

Industrial Engineering Department Human Factors Engineering

 Stimuli Response
 Reaction time refers to the time that elapses from the appearance of a
proximal stimulus (e.g., light) and the initiation of the movement (e.g., a
movement of the foot).

 Motion time refers to the additional time required to perform an appropriate

movement (e.g., stepping on a brake pedal).

 Response time equal reaction time plus motion time .

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Faculty of Engineering IE 342

Industrial Engineering Department Human Factors Engineering

 Stimuli Response (Cont.)

 There are two types of reaction times: simple reaction time and choice
reaction times.

 Simple reaction time is the time to make a single simple response to a

single stimulus.

 Choice reaction times is the time involved when there are two or more
stimuli and two or more corresponding possible responses to every stimulus.

Faculty of Engineering IE 342

Industrial Engineering Department Human Factors Engineering

 Stimuli Response (Cont.)

 There are several factors that can affect the response time and they include
the following:
• Auditory: Simple reaction time is considerably quicker to auditory than visual
signals. Factors such as signal pattern (one or two signal), frequency (Hz) and
background noise are to be considered.

• Visual: dependent on intensity, flash duration, location, and size of the

stimulus.

• Uncertainty: the more uncertainty the longer it takes for a decision.

• Number of choices: the more choices, the longer the time to make a decision.

• Aging: slower for people less than 15 and greater than 60 years.

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