Interactions between display gain and task-induced stress in manual tracking

Abstract

"It is important for the human engineer to know how the performance of man-machine systems is affected by factors which stress or overload the human operator… . Five systems, all of which had the same dynamics but differed in display magnification, were employed. Operators were given considerable training on all five systems, after which they were required to control the systems under a series of stressful conditions. Performance was measured both in terms of system error and error at the display. The results indicated that stress increased error in all systems, but the order of merit of the various systems was unchanged by stress. The results are discussed in terms of their relevance to the study of man-machine systems. The pitfalls of purely psychological interpretations of the behavior of tracking systems are outlined." (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)