This volume seeks to answer the question: "Can findings from cognitive science enhance the user-computer interaction process?" In so doing, it recognizes that user-computer interfaces (UCIs) are often essential parts of an information or decision support system -- and often critical components of software-intensive systems of all kinds. From the outset, the authors note that the design, prototyping, and evaluation of user-computer interfaces are part of larger systems and are therefore ideally designed, developed, and evaluated as part of a larger design and developmental process or "life cycle." Thus, this book describes the process by which functional, nonfunctional, or display-oriented requirements are converted first into prototypes and then into working systems. While the process may at times seem almost mysterious, there is in fact a methodology that drives the process -- a methodology that is defined in terms of an adaptive life cycle. There are a number of steps or phases that comprise the standard life cycle, as well as methods, tools and techniques that permit each step to be taken. Describing the effort to implement this process to enhance user-computer interaction, this book presents a methodological approach that seeks to identify and apply findings from cognitive science to the design, prototyping, and evaluation of user-computer interfaces.

This volume provides an exceptional perspective on the nature, evolution, contributions and future of the field of Cognitive Systems Engineering (CSE). It is a resource to support both the teaching and practice of CSE. It accomplishes this through its organization into two complementary approaches to the topic. The first is an historical perspective: In the retrospections of leaders of the field, what have been the seminal achievements of cognitive human factors? What are the "lessons learned" that became foundational to CSE, and how did that foundation evolve into a broader systems view of cognitive work? The second perspective is both pedagogical and future-looking: What are the major conceptual issues that have to be addressed by CSE and how can a new generation of researchers be prepared to further advance CSE? Topics include studies of expertise, cognitive work analysis, cognitive task analysis, human performance, system design, cognitive modeling, decision making, human-computer interaction, trust in automation, teamwork and ecological interface design. A thematic focus will be on systems-level analysis, and such notions as resilience engineering and systems-level measurement. The book features broad coverage of many of the domains to which CSE is being applied, among them industrial process control, health care, decision aiding and aviation human factors. The book’s contributions are provided by an extraordinary group of leaders and pathfinders in applied psychology, cognitive science, systems analysis and system design. In combination these chapters present invaluable insights, experiences and continuing uncertainties on the subject of the field of CSE, and in doing so honor the career and achievements of Professor David D. Woods of Ohio State University.

Technological development has changed the nature of industrial production so that it is no longer a question of humans working with a machine, but rather that a joint human machine system is performing the task. This development, which started in the 1940s, has become even more pronounced with the proliferation of computers and the invasion of digital technology in all wakes of working life. It may appear that the importance of human work has been reduced compared to what can be achieved by intelligent software systems, but in reality, the opposite is true: the more complex a system, the more vital the human operator's task. The conditions have changed, however, whereas people used to be in control of their own tasks, today they have become supervisors of tasks which are shared between humans and machines. A considerable effort has been devoted to the domain of administrative and clerical work and has led to the establishment of an internationally based human-computer interaction (HCI) community at research and application levels. The HCI community, however, has paid more attention to static environments where the human operator is in complete control of the situation, rather than to dynamic environments where changes may occur independent of human intervention and actions. This book's basic philosophy is the conviction that human operators remain the unchallenged experts even in the worst cases where their working conditions have been impoverished by senseless automation. They maintain this advantage due to their ability to learn and build up a high level of expertise -- a foundation of operational knowledge -- during their work. This expertise must be taken into account in the development of efficient human-machine systems, in the specification of training requirements, and in the identification of needs for specific computer support to human actions. Supporting this philosophy, this volume *deals with the main features of cognition in dynamic environments, combining issues coming from empirical approaches of human cognition and cognitive simulation, *addresses the question of the development of competence and expertise, and *proposes ways to take up the main challenge in this domain -- the design of an actual cooperation between human experts and computers of the next century.