ERGONOMICS

 Literal Definition
 Ergon(work)+Nomos(rules or habits)
= The Rules of Work
(Fitting the job to the worker)

1
 History of Ergonomics
 Since beginning of time, people have been trying
to make everything more efficient with less stress.
 In 1857, Wojciech Jastrzebowski created the word
“Ergonomics”
 The idea became popular around the industrial
revolution
 The name Ergonomics was officially proposed at a
1949 meeting of the British Admiralty (July 12) by
Prof. Hugh Murrel and was officially accepted in
the year 1950.

2
 ERGONOMICS
 It is the scientific study of how people interact
effectively with products, equipments, facilities,
procedures and environment used at work and in
everyday living.
 It seeks to match the design of machines, jobs and
workplaces with the capabilities, limitations and
needs of people.
 It seeks to maximize ease of use and optimize
operator productivity, comfort and health.
 Also called Human factors and is multidisciplinary
applied science.
3
 Objectives of Ergonomics
 To enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of
work such as ease of use, reliability,
performance, productivity.
 To reduce error
 To enhance certain desirable human values such
as safety, satisfaction, comfort, quality of life
 To improve working situations in harmony with
the activities of the worker
 To reduce waste, fatigue, stress, accidents

4
 Difficulties in achieving the objectives

• Human operator is flexible, adaptable and also

most unpredictable
• There are large individual differences
– Obvious differences- physical size, strength etc
– Non obvious differences- culture, style, level of
skill etc

5
 Focus of Ergonomics
• The focus is on the interaction between the
person and the machine and the design of the
interface between the two.
• The way the interface is designed determine
how easily and safely we can use the machine.

6
 Scope of Ergonomics
 Work environment
 Physical demands
 Skill demands
 Risk demands
 Time demands
 Physical environment
 Physical agents
 Chemical agents
 Geological agents
7
 Scope (contd….)
 Technology
 Product design
 Hardware interface design
 Software interface design
 Psychosocial environment
 Social
 Cultural
 Life style

8
 Approach of Ergonomics
 Collection of relevant data by scientific
investigations (human capabilities, limitations,
characteristics, behavior, motivation etc)
 Apply these information in design
 These data may be useful for design
recommendations and for predicting the
probable effects of various design alternatives
 Evaluation of designed things to ensure that they
satisfy intended objectives
9
 System
 A system is an entity that exists to carryout
some purpose
 A system is an organized complex whole: an
assemblage or combination of things or parts
forming a complex unitary whole

10
Work System

11
 Human Machine System
• Is an interacting combination at any level of
complexity, of people, materials, tools,
machines, software, facilities and procedures
designed to work together for some common
purpose.

12
Human Machine System

13
 System goals
 Mission oriented – where system goal is of
prime importance, persons have least
importance – eg. Mission to the moon
 Service oriented – where needs of people or
users are important – eg. A hotel

14
 Types of systems
 Manual system –
 Operator with hand tools and other aids control
operation. Physical energy of operator is the source -
screw driver, hammer etc
 Mechanical system –
 Operator controls the powered machine tools with the
help of control devices. Power is given by machine -
hand drill, car etc
 Automated systems –
 Operator uses only supervisory control to monitor
system performance - robotic assembly line
15
 System characteristics
1. Systems are purposive –
 Every system has a purpose, objective or goal.
 Example is a university.
2. Systems can be hierarchical –
 A system may be composed of more than one molecular
systems or sub systems.
 So we need to define system boundaries, limit of resolutions
and the components.
3. Systems operate in an environment
 Immediate environment- work station
 Intermediate environment- factory
 General environment- city
 Distant environment- solar system
16
 System characteristics (contd…)
4. System components serve functions
 Each component serves at least one function
such as sensing, information storage, information
processing, action function.
 Allocation of these functions to people or
machine is a key area in Ergonomics

17
Basic Functions

18
 System characteristics (contd…)
5. System components interact
 Components interact or work together to achieve
system goals.
 Components can be machines or people

19
 System characteristics (contd…)
6. Systems have inputs and outputs
 A system receives input from the environment and gives
the output to the environment.
 Output of one subsystem can be input to another
 Inputs can be physical entities such as materials,
products, electrical impulses, mechanical forces or
information.
 Systems can be categorized based on impact of inputs
and outputs
• Open loop – once activated, no control is possible - gun
• Closed loop – requires continuous control - car, chemical process
• Feed forward – step by step information feeding to achieve final
goal – lunar lander, catching a ball

20
 Reliability
It is the dependability (of a component or system) of
performance in carrying out an intended function.
Reliability of a system depends upon the reliability
of components and the way they are combined.
Components in series –
Rs =R1 x R2 x R3 x…….
Components in parallel -
Rs =1-[(1-R1) x (1-R2) x (1-R3) x…….]
For any system, the system performance is only as
good as that of the weakest link.
21
 HUMAN INFORMATION PROCESSING
 Information is the key for survival
 Info about outside world is acquired by exteroceptors- 5
senses - vision, audition, olfaction, tactile, gustation
 Info about our internal state is acquired by interoceptors
(sensory nerves and receptors located at various parts
inside our body)
 Kinesthesis- the ability to feel movements of limbs and body
 Proprioception- awareness about position of one’s body
 Our brain constantly sift (sieve) the info stream for relevant
cues (signals) rather than the irrelevant cues (noises).

22
 Information
 Information is defined as the reduction of
uncertainty
 Highly probable events convey little info
 Seat belt warning when a car is switched on
 Highly unlikely events convey greater info
 High engine temp warning when a car is running

23
 Information and behaviour
 Info load has functional effects on human
performance
 Info load dramatically affects the speed of a
response
 Info load dramatically affects the accuracy of a
response

24
 Information and reaction time
 The speed of reaction to information depends
on the time to -
 Activate the sensory receptor
 Transmit nerve impulses from the sense organ to
the brain
 Process nerve impulses in the brain
 Transmit nerve impulses to the muscles
 Energize and activate the muscles and execute
movement

25
 Simple Reaction Time(SRT)
 The time between receiving the stimulus and
producing the response
 For visual sense SRTs ranges between 150-200
milliseconds
 For auditory sense, SRTs are approximately 50
milliseconds faster than visual SRTs
(considering a vehicle moving at 82kmph, this
equals to about 1.2 m difference in braking
distance)
26
 Choice Reaction Time(CRT)
 Different responses depending upon signals.
 Example an operator has to push one of four
buttons depending on which of four lights
comes on.
 Reaction time to a stimulus increased as the
number of equally likely alternatives increased
 Hick-Hyman law- “Choice Reaction Time is a
linear function of stimulus information”

27
 Information Theory
 Information is quantified in bits and represented by “H”
 A bit is the amount of information required to decide
between two equally likely alternatives
 H = log2 N, where N = no of alternatives with equal
probabilities
 When N=2, H=1; N=4, H=2; N=8, H=3…..
 What is the amount of info conveyed in bits if all the
students have equal probability to top score in HFE ?
 All have equal probability to top score (p=1/66)
 N=66, H= log2 66 =???

28
 Information Theory
 When the alternatives are not equally likely, the info
conveyed by an event is found by the equation hi
=log2(1/pi)
where hi is the info in bits associated with event i
and pi is the probability of occurrence of that event
Discussion
1. Probability that X pass HFE =0.5, what is h i
2. Probability that Y pass HFE=0.1, what is hi
3. Probability that Z pass HFE=1.0, what is h i

29
 Information Theory
 For a series of events with differing probabilities,
Hav = Σi=1…N pi [log2(1/pi=1)]
 If p1 =0.5, p2 =0.4, p3 =0.1, then
Hav=0.5{log2(1/0.5)}+0.4{log2(1/0.4)}+0.1{log2(1/0.1)}=
 Max possible info is obtained when the alternatives are equally
probable
 The greater the departure from equal probability, the greater
the reduction in info from the maximum.
 Redundancy is the reduction in info from the maximum value
owing to unequal probabilities of occurrence
• Redundancy = Hmax-Hav
• % Redundancy = (Hmax-Hav)x100/Hmax
30
 Bandwidth
• Bandwidth of communication channel is the rate
of info transmission over a channel measured in
bits/seconds.
• Bandwidth of the human eye – 1000 bits/s
• Bandwidth of the human ear – 10000 bits/s
• Bandwidth of human brain is much lower than
that of sensory system
• What we receive from hearing and seeing are
filtered out at a peripheral level to match the brain
capacity.
31
 Displays
• Designed to present information to the public
• Broadly classified as dynamic & static displays
• Dynamic – information presented in the display
continuously changes through time
Traffic lights, speedometer, radar displays, temp and pr gauges
• Static - information presented in the display
remain fixed over time or at least for a time
traffic signs, charts, graphs, tables, printed or written
alphanumeric data

32
 Classification of information
1.Quantitative information- pressure, temp,
speed etc- may be static or dynamic
2.Qualitative information- trend, rate of change,
direction of change etc
3.Status information- on-off indications, stop-
caution-go lights etc
4.Warning and signal information- indicate
emergency or unsafe conditions, presence or
absence of something, static or dynamic

33
 Classification of information (contd..)
5.Representational information- Pictorial or
graphic representations of objects, areas etc.
Can be dynamic(tv, movie), symbolic(blips in
CRT) or static(photos, graphs, charts, maps)
6.Identification information- To identify some
static condition, object, situation (usually in
coded form) such as hazards, traffic lanes,
color coded pipes

34
 Classification of information (contd..)

7.Alphanumeric and symbolic information-

verbal, numeric and related info in many
forms such as signs, labels, placards,
instructions, music notes, printed and typed
material including braille, and computer print
outs. Usually static but can be dynamic also
8. Time phased information- signals that are
controlled by duration and inter signal
intervals –morse code and blinker lights
35
 Auditory
• Message is simple
• Message is short
• Message will not be
referred to later
• Message deals with events
in time
• Message calls for
immediate action
• Visual system of person is
overloaded
• Location too bright or too
dark
• Need to move around in job
Visual
• Message is complex
• Long
• Message will be referred to
later
• Message deals with
location in space
• Does not calls for
immediate action
• Auditory system of person
is overloaded
• Location is too noisy
• Need to be in one position
36
 Coding of Information
• Coding of information means conversion of
the original stimulus information into a new
form for displaying symbolically.
– Radar screen representing aircraft by blips
– Map showing airport by sketch of airplane
– Maps showing population by color
– Resistance represented by color bands on resistors

37
 Characteristics of a good coding system
1.Detectability of Codes- a threshold is determined for
coding dimension- positive detection for 50% of
time- how large, how bright, how loud etc the
stimulus be under the working environment, to be
detected.
Method of adjustment- the stimulus dimension is
manipulated on a continuously varying scale until it is just
noticeable
Method of serial exploration or method of limits-
experiments with values below the threshold values to above and
vice-versa
Method of constant stimuli- values at random, above and
below threshold values
38
Characteristics of a good coding system
2.Discriminability of Codes- even if the codes are
detectable, they must be discriminable from other
code symbols. The degree of difference between
adjacent stimuli along a stimulus dimension also
influence the ease of discrimination. Discriminability
is measured the same way as detectability except
that the unchanging standard stimulus is compared
with variable comparison stimulus. The size of the
difference that is just noticeably different from the
standard 50% of the time are determined (JND).

39
Characteristics of a good coding system
3.Meaningfulness of Codes- Meaning can be
inherent in the code (bent arrow for curved
road ahead) or meaning can be learned (red to
denote danger)
4.Standarsization of Codes- Standard schemes are
to be followed in all sections (plants) in a factory
and also in all factories. When needed, duplicate
an existing coding scheme (red should mean the
same thing on all displays)

40
 Characteristics of a good coding system
5.Use of multidimensional Codes- The number
and discriminability of coding stimuli can be
increased by multidimensional codes. This is
done by redundant and orthogonal coding.
example-(size x brightness)
7 sizes and 5 brightness, 35 is possible.

41
 Compatibility
Refers to the relationship of stimuli and
responses to human expectations. It implies a
process of information transformation or
recoding. When there is greater compatibility,
we need less recoding, enables faster learning,
faster response times, fewer errors and less
mental workload.

42
 Compatibility
1.Conceptual compatibility- deals with the degree
to which codes and symbols correspond to the
conceptual association people have (eg. airport
represented by aircraft symbol)
2.Movement compatibility- it relates to the
relationship b/w the movement of displays and
controls and the response of the system being
displayed or controlled (eg. clockwise rotation of a
knob for increase in the system parameter, upward
movement on a vertical scale for increase in parametric
value)
43
 Compatibility
3.Spatial compatibility- it refers to the physical
arrangement in space of controls and other
associated displays (eg. horizontal displays and
their corresponding horizontal controls)
4.Modality compatibility- it refers to the fact
that certain stimulus-response modality
combinations are more compatible with same
tasks than with others. Refer figure (Some
combinations give good response time)

44
 Compatibility
Modality compatibility

45
Model of Information Processing

46
 Perception
 Dictionary meaning- “It is the act or faculty of knowing
through the senses”.
 Perception is an active process whereby the brain strives
to make sense of sensory info and fit this to known
pattern. Perception creates our reality.
 Perception has 3 levels-
• Detection- determination of whether a stimulus is present or
absent (hit, false alarm, miss, correct rejection)
• Recognition- noticeable familiarity without the ability to label the
stimulus
• Identification- full identification of the stimulus with recognition
and labeling.
47
 Perception
 Certain factors that influence perception-
Proximity, similarity, closure, continuity, figure around.
 Certain factors that remain as constants in
forming perceptions-
Size, shape, color, brightness
Eg. Snow looks white in all types of lights
Coal looks black in all types of lights
Paper of a book looks white under low through
bright light

48
 Perception
 Perception can be easily fooled to create illusions.
Visual illusions can arise because of-
– Cue conflicts, cue competition, cue ambiguity, cue
orientation, cue time and redundancy, cue context and mixed
cues.
 Linear environmental cues and environmental texture
cues help with depth perception
 Principles of perception apply to each of the senses
 Ignoring principles of perception can create
dysfunctional information display
 Knowledge of principles of perception helps us to
design more effective info displays
49
 Memory
 Memory is a collection of systems for the storage
and recall of information (like personal experience,
emotions, facts, procedures, skills and habits)
 There are no universally accepted model for memory
 Memory systems are imperfect, they are not like
electronic storage systems
 Memory systems have limited capabilities
 Memories can be self created (false memories)
 “The goal of memory is to leave you with a coherent
story of what happened” Reinitz, 2001

50
 Human memory system
 Has been conceptualized as 3 subsystems
– Short term sensory storage
– Working memory (short term memory)
– Long term memory
1.Short term sensory storage - All the five sensory
channels have temporary storage mechanism
that prolongs the stimulus representation for a
short period of time (1s) after the stimulus has
been ceased.
 For visual system-iconic storage - <1s
 For auditory system- echoic storage - few seconds
51
 Sensory storage (contd…..)
• Info in sensory storage are not coded but
remain in the same sensory representation
• Need not attend to the info to maintain it.
After a short period it disappear by itself.
• It is relatively automatic
• Length of time cannot be increased
• To retain the info, it has to be encoded and
transferred to working memory.

52
 Working memory (Short Term Memory)
 Info from sensory storage is encoded and
transferred to working memory
 To hold an info in working memory, the person has
to direct attention to the process
 Info in working memory is coded with 3 types of
codes
 Visual codes- visual representations of stimuli
 Phonetic codes- auditory representations of stimuli
 Semantic codes- abstract representation of the meaning
of a stimulus rather than the sight or sound generated
by the stimulus
53
 Working memory (Short Term Memory)
 Temporary storage with limited capacity
 Time 30 s to few minutes
 Effectiveness decreases with aging
 Capacity 7±2 chunks (item of info)
 Learning to chunk info dramatically improves memory
 For maximum effect working memory requires
uninterrupted rehearsal
 Maintenance rehearsal- by repetition
 Integrative rehearsal- takes ~ 30minutes- contents of STM are
compared with LTM
 Can be disrupted by interference and time decay effects
 Has a serial position effect
54
 Long Term Memory (LTM)
 LTM involves encoding- by giving meaning to the info and
relating it to info already stored in LTM and putting them into
the store
 Decoding- retrieving item from the store
 Recognition- familiarity with the item but unable to fully identify
or name this item
 Recall- able to fully identify and name an item
 Info in LTM can persist for decades
 LTM is very poor in <3 years and old people
 Memory processes “what” and “when” by different parts of
brain
 Episodic (old/new judgment) or semantic (living non-living
decision) retrieval tasks involves item transfer from working
memory.
55
 Memory
 Procedural memory- that involves a sequence
of actions and that enables us to perform
skilled tasks (involves motor memory as well
as other systems). eg. How to walk, talk,
write, drive etc.
 Episodic memory- that of significant events in
your life. Includes images, sounds, smells,
emotions etc. Event playback can occur in the
same order as you remember them.
56
 Memory
 Flash bulb memory- a special form of episodic
memory. Reserved for events combining
personal and societal importance (eg. What
were you doing when challenger disaster
occurred). Often accurate.
 Semantic memory- that are stored as
associative links in a semantic net
 Mnemonics- this can aid LTM performance and
makes info retrieval easier
57
 Decision making
 Heart of info processing
 Complex process by which people evaluate
alternatives and select a course of action
 Human capacity to process and evaluate all info is
limited and hence optimum decisions are usually
not reached
 Biases that can affect decision making are
1.Undue importance or weightage to early evidence or info
2.People do not extract as much info from sources as they
optimally should
3.Comparison of alternatives are not made accurately
58
 Decision making (contd…)
4.With more info, people become more confident but need
not be more accurate
5.Gather far more info than they can absorb adequately
6.Treat all info as equally reliable but they may not be
7.Humans cannot process more than 3 or 4 hypotheses at a
time
8.Give more attention to few critical attributes at a time and
consider 2-4 possible choices that are ranked high on
those few attributes
9.Course of action is chosen first and seek info that confirms
the same leaving out all other info
59
 Decision making (contd…)
10.A potential loss is viewed as having a greater
consequence and hence exerts a greater influence on
decision making behaviour than does a gain of the
same amount
11.People prefer mildly +ve outcomes than mildly –ve
or highly +ve outcomes
12.People tend to believe that highly –ve outcomes are
less likely than mildly –ve outcomes.

60
 Attention (4 types)
1.Selective attention- need to monitor several sources of info
to determine whether a particular event has occurred or not
(pilot scanning the instruments for deviations)
Guidelines-
• When multiple channels are needed, use as few channels as possible
• Give info about relative importance of channels
• Reduce the overall stress of the person
• Provide preview info to person about where signal will occur in future
• Train person to effectively scan info channels
• If multiple visual channels are to be scanned, put them close together
• If multiple auditory channels are to be scanned, avoid masking
• Avoid extremely short interval signals (less than 0.5 s)

61
 Attention (contd…)
2.Focused attention- attend only one source of info and
exclude other sources (reading a book)
Guidelines
• Make competing channels as distinct as possible from the
channel to which the person is to attend
• Separate the competing channels in physical space
• Reduce number of competing channels
• Make the channel of interest larger bigger, louder or more
centrally located

62
 Attention (contd…)
3.Divided attention- two or more separate tasks
musty be performed simultaneously and attention
must be paid to all on time sharing basis (driving a
car while talking to a co-passenger)
Guidelines
• Minimize number of potential sources of info
• When time sharing is likely to cause stress, inform relative
priority
• Keep difficulty level of tasks as low as possible
• Make tasks as dissimilar as possible
• When manual tasks are time shared with sensory or
memory task, ensure greater learning of manual task

63
 Attention (contd…)
4.Sustained attention, monitoring, vigilance- a person sustains
attention for a prolonged period of time without rest in order to
detect something (watching a monitor to find an intruder). (20-
25s).
Guidelines
• Provide work-rest schedules and task variations
• Make signal larger, more intense, more duration
• Reduce uncertainty about time of occurrence
• Inject artificial signals to study feedback and performance
• Provide adequate training to person
• Improve motivation of person
• If rate at which signal occur is high, reduce it
• Maintain noise, temp, illumination, humidity etc at optimal level if possible

64
 Age and information processing
 Progressive disruptive effect throughout during
adulthood and become noticeable after the age of 65
 Large individual difference in above statement
 Changes with age-
1.Slowing of performance
2.Increased disruption of working memory
3.Difficulty in searching for material in LTM
4.Difficulty in dealing with conceptual, spatial and
movement compatibility
5.Decrease in perceptual encoding of ambiguous stimuli
6.Difficulty in processing or identifying complex or confusing
stimuli.
65
 Age and information processing
 While designing for old people-
1.Strengthen the signals
2.Controls and displays should reduce irrelevant
details or noises
3.Keep high levels of spatial, conceptual and
movement compatibility
4.Reduce time-sharing demands
5.Give time gap b/w signal and responses
6.Give more time and practice initially

66
 Mental workload

 Mental workload is defined as the difference

b/w the amount of resources available within
a person and the amount of resources
demanded by the task situation.
 It is a measurable quantity of “information
processing demands” placed on an individual
by a task.

67
 Factors Affecting Mental Workload
Bridger (481)

1. Ambiguity of the goal-Mental workload can be reduced by making

explicit the criteria used for assessing performance.
2. Competing goals-When goals are in conflict, there can be
problems in assigning priorities.
3. Serving strategy-Mental workload increases when there is no
clear strategy or rule for dealing with incoming tasks. First-in,
first-out is the simplest strategy. Or prioritization based on
deadlines or importance may help.
4. Task complexity- Less complex task cause less load.
5. Adequacy of information-Insufficient or excess info can both
increase mental workload.
6. Signal dicriminability-Improper display design affecting
dicriminabilty can cause mental w/l
68
 Factors Affecting Mental Workload
Bridger (481)

7. Redundancy-Provide more than the minimum info to detect the

signal to reduce mental w/l
8. Compatibility-
9. Parallel versus serial processing-Serial displays good for sequential
tasks. Parallel displays can reduce w/l when comparisons have to
be made.
10.Time sharing-It increase mental w/l if both requires high level of
attention. Mental w/l can be reduced by relaxing the time
standard for the work.
11.Delays-System response delays can increase mental w/l if info has
to be held in memory until the system can receive it.

69
 Factors Affecting Mental Workload
Bridger (481)

12.Mental models-Provision of an explicit mental model of the

process/system appropriate to the operator’s level of involvement can
reduce mental w/l by improving the operator’s ability to understand
current and predict future system behaviour.
13.Absolute versus relative judgment-
14.Working Memory load-
15.Recognition versus recall-Presenting operators with a list of options is
better than options to recall.
16.Controllability-Ease of operation can reduce mental workload.
17.Error tolerance-Higher tolerance for lesser load
18.Environmental design-Optimize noise, lighting and climate.
19.Social Interaction-Provide opportunities for communication and
interaction.
20.Time pressure-Workload can be reduced by relaxing the time standard
for the job 70
 Mental workload (contd…)
 Measurement of workload is needed for purposes like
1.Allocation of tasks and functions b/w humans and
machines based on predicted mental workload.
2.Comapring alternative equipment and tasks designs in
terms of workload imposed.
3.Monitoring operators for complex equipments and
make changes in work allocation based on mental
workload during operations
4.Choosing operators of higher mental work load
capacities for demanding tasks or jobs.
71
 Mental workload (contd…)
 Criteria in measurement of mental w/l
1.Sensitivty- The measure should distinguish or separate
different task situations that require different levels of
mental work load.
2.Selectivity- External factors such as physical load,
emotional stress etc should not affect the measure.
3.Interference- the measure should not interfere with,
contaminate, or disrupt performance of the primary
task where w/l is being assessed.
4.Reliability- The measure should be reliable.
5.Acceptability-The method used must be acceptable to
the person being assessed.
72
 Measurement of mental w/l
 Primary task measure
Workload = time required to perform a task
time available to perform a task
Computer based programs were developed to perform these
calculations on a minute by minute basis throughout a scenario
of tasks.
Statistical workload assessment model(SWAM)- This does not
take into account the time sharing scope of many of the tasks.
Workload Index(W/INDEX)-Accommodates time sharing and is
superior
 A problem faced by all primary task measures of mental
workload is that they are all task specific, and it is difficult to
compare the workload imposed by dissimilar tasks.
73
 Measurement of mental w/l
 Secondary task measure
Two tasks are given and the spare mental capacity not
being directed towards the primary task will be used
for the secondary task. If more resources are used for
primary task, less will be available for secondary task
and hence its performance will be poor. The person is
instructed to devote all necessary resources to
maintain performance of the primary task and the
performance in the secondary task is taken as a
measure of its difficulty.
To measure the spare resource capacity, both tasks
should tap the same resources .
74
 Measurement of mental w/l
 Physiological measures- Info processing involves central
nervous system activity and this activity or its manifestations
(such as variability in heart rate, evoked brain potential,
pupillary response, respiration rate, body fluid chemistry etc)
can be measured.
This method has advantages such as continuous data collection
during task performance, no interference with primary task
performance, no need of any additional activity etc.
Disadvantages-
1.The need of bulky equipments to be connected to the person.
2.The measures do not isolate the specific stages of info
processing being loaded by the primary task.

75
 Measurement of mental w/l
 Subjective measures- Believed to be the best method as it tap the
essence of the concept. It uses rating scales that are easy to
administer and easy to complete.
– Oldest and most extensively validated subjective measure of workload is
Cooper-Harper Scale
– Can be used with minimal rewording for a wide variety of motor and
psychomotor tasks
– A modified version which combines a decision tree and a unidimensional 10
point rating scale can be used for perceptual, cognitive and communication
tasks.
– Another approach consider measurement of mental w/l as a three
dimensional construct (time load, mental effort load, psychological stress)-
(SWAT)
– Another one by NASA (NASA Task Load Index) provides an overall workload
score based on weighted average ratings on six subscales(mental demands,
physical demands, temporal demands, own performance, effort and
frustration) 76