Think Human: exploring the exhibition of ergonomics to enhance education and engagement: establishing the CIEHF 75th anniversary exhibition.

The field of ergonomics and human factors (E/HF) has an urgent need for increased uptake of specialists to meet the growing demands of the sector and related industries employing ergonomists. In the absence of E/HF being part of the school curriculum, one way of achieving this is through public engagement activities. Specialists in E/HF are motivated by understanding people and interactions, inherent qualities in outreach and engagement, so we are well placed to practice what we preach by understanding our own users, the consumers of our science. In this paper, we present a curriculum map and museum exhibition model as part of ongoing work to develop a public exhibition, called 'Think Human', hosted at the Museum of Making in Derby, England, from September 2024, as part of ongoing work in timely celebration of the 75th anniversary of the UK's Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors (CIEHF).

We present a framework for public engagement with ergonomics, exemplified through the development of a museum exhibition which draws on a model of user experience. With 14­18 year-old students being a key target audience, we map elements of the school curriculum onto the core ergonomics knowledge areas.

The Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors at 75: perspectives on contemporary challenges and future directions for Ergonomics and Human Factors.

As the UK's Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors (CIEHF) celebrates its 75th anniversary, it is worth reflecting on our discipline's contribution, current state, and critical future endeavours. We present the perspectives of 18 EHF professionals who were asked to respond to five questions regarding the impact of EHF, contemporary challenges, and future directions. Co-authors were in agreement that EHF's impact has been only limited to date and that critical issues require resolution, such as increasing the number of suitably qualified practitioners, resolving the research-practice gap, and increasing awareness of EHF and its benefits. Frequently discussed future directions include advanced emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, the development of new EHF methods, and enhancing the quality and reach of education and training. The majority felt there will be a need for EHF in 75 years; however, many noted that our methods will need to adapt to meet new needs.Practitioner statement: This article provides the perspectives of 18 Ergonomics and Human Factors (EHF) professionals on the impact of EHF, contemporary challenges and critical future directions, and changes that are necessary to ensure EHF remains relevant in future. As such, it provides important guidance on future EHF research and practice.

To automate or not to automate: advocating the 'cliff-edge' principle.

We reflect briefly on the last forty years or so of ergonomics and human factors research in automation, observing that many of the issues being discussed today are the same as all those decades ago. In this paper, we explicate one of the key arguments regarding the application of automation in complex safety-critical domains, which proposes restraining the capabilities of automation technology until it is able to fully and completely take over the task at hand. We call this the 'cliff-edge' principle of automation design. Instead, we espouse a use for the technology in a more problem-driven, human-centred way. These are not entirely new ideas and such a philosophy is already gaining traction in ergonomics and human factors. The point is that in a given system, tasks should be controlled either by human or by automation; anything in between only causes problems for system performance.

Human factors problems with automation have been with us for over forty years, and have changed little in that time. This brief review shows a groundswell of opinion that points to what we call the cliff-edge automation principle ­ restraining the full capabilities of technology until it is ready to fully and completely take over the task. This approach improves human performance in the system by keeping the person in the loop and in control. Researchers and practitioners in ergonomics and human factors should continue to push this message to the designers and manufacturers of automated systems.

The use of Bayesian Belief Networks (BBNs) to probe deeper into railway safety management systems - Two studies from Great Britain and Italy.

The importance of Safety Management Systems (SMS) to the railway industry is underlined by the fact that all organisations operating on UK railways are required by law to have one. Analysing SMSs can provide a reliable systemic tool to identify hazards and weaknesses within complex systems like the railway, making it possible to significantly increase safety, reducing the odds of near misses and accidents. However, there is little empirical research evidence to determine the impact on safety of a structured SMS. The current paper describes two studies which use Bayesian Belief Networks (BBN) to conceptualise SMSs and their impact on front-line performance. The paper presents the usefulness of BBNs to compare complex systems and reconcile cultural differences within the railway industry, identifying factors that are deemed vital within Italy and Britain. The two studies allowed us to identify the most influential factors within a SMS and how they interact with each other, as well as the strength of the identified relationships. A BBN is particularly useful in estimating how changing some of the node states (e.g., by making safety leadership present) affected the other factors. The current study showed that safety leadership has an impact on the SMSs of the British and Italian railway industries.

Local knowledge in rail signalling and balancing trade-offs.

The control of rail signalling is known to be highly dependent on local knowledge and local factors. It is also known to be highly cognitive in its nature involving a constant balancing of system performance within the constraints of safety. In the current paper, data generated through field work with signallers were used to understand the role of local knowledge, set against the background of an existing Local Knowledge Framework (Pickup et al., 2013) that was proposed to help determine the contents and mechanisms behind local knowledge in rail signalling. The field work included interviews with signallers and operations managers along with observations of signaller work. The results showed that the local knowledge framework needs to be expanded to include aspects related to the general public at user worked crossings and level crossings. In addition, the analysis highlights some of the issues with the transmission of local knowledge. The paper then discusses some of the gaps in the current framework, highlighting the importance not only of local knowledge for specific functions of signalling, but how these interact to support trade-offs to balance performance with safety. The implications for the design of signaller work are discussed.

Festschrift in honour of Professor Neville Stanton: A lone crusader in a world of driving simulators.

The automotive future has always pointed to a world of intelligent co-pilots and robot cars, but perhaps no more so than Knight Rider. In this 1980's television series the fictional Knight Industries Two Thousand (KITT) was a supercomputer on wheels with 1000 megabytes of memory. The protagonist was Michael Knight, a young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent and the helpless. This was a shadowy flight into the trials and tribulations of different levels of automation, re-claiming control when automation failed, and a wilful, chatty computer co-driver. An amusing metaphor, perhaps, for the research impact made by Neville Stanton in the field of vehicle automation. Without question - to paraphrase the Knight Rider outro - "one man can make a difference". This festschrift in Neville's honour tells the story of how.

Making ergonomics accountable: Reliability, validity and utility in ergonomics methods.

In this paper, we discuss the ways in which Neville Stanton has challenged himself, his research colleagues, PhD students, the many co-authors and contributors to his publications, and the entire Ergonomics community to determine what it means for there to be 'consistent standards for how [Ergonomics] methods are described and reported.' Only in this way, can it be possible to make claims about whether or not a method in Ergonomics is effective. Given that he is Chartered as both an Occupational Psychologist and an Ergonomist, it is not surprising that he has been concerned with the question of the reliability and validity of Ergonomics methods. In Occupational Psychology, psychometric and personnel selection methods are expected to exhibit acceptable levels of reliability, but this is an expectation which is still somewhat alien to Ergonomics. Neville's work has been instrumental in raising this issue and in providing approaches which can be used to critically evaluate the methods we use. We think that, despite his ground-breaking work, there is still much to do in the Ergonomics community to create the situation for which he has long argued.

State of science: mental workload in ergonomics.

Mental workload (MWL) is one of the most widely used concepts in ergonomics and human factors and represents a topic of increasing importance. Since modern technology in many working environments imposes ever more cognitive demands upon operators while physical demands diminish, understanding how MWL impinges on performance is increasingly critical. Yet, MWL is also one of the most nebulous concepts, with numerous definitions and dimensions associated with it. Moreover, MWL research has had a tendency to focus on complex, often safety-critical systems (e.g. transport, process control). Here we provide a general overview of the current state of affairs regarding the understanding, measurement and application of MWL in the design of complex systems over the last three decades. We conclude by discussing contemporary challenges for applied research, such as the interaction between cognitive workload and physical workload, and the quantification of workload 'redlines' which specify when operators are approaching or exceeding their performance tolerances.

Vibrotactile pedals: provision of haptic feedback to support economical driving.

The use of haptic feedback is currently an underused modality in the driving environment, especially with respect to vehicle manufacturers. This exploratory study evaluates the effects of a vibrotactile (or haptic) accelerator pedal on car driving performance and perceived workload using a driving simulator. A stimulus was triggered when the driver exceeded a 50% throttle threshold, past which is deemed excessive for economical driving. Results showed significant decreases in mean acceleration values, and maximum and excess throttle use when the haptic pedal was active as compared to a baseline condition. As well as the positive changes to driver behaviour, subjective workload decreased when driving with the haptic pedal as compared to when drivers were simply asked to drive economically. The literature suggests that the haptic processing channel offers a largely untapped resource in the driving environment, and could provide information without overloading the other attentional resource pools used in driving. PRACTITIONER SUMMARY: Overloaded or distracted drivers present a real safety danger to themselves and others. Providing driving-related feedback can improve performance but risks distracting them further; however, giving such information through the underused haptic processing channel can provide the driver with critical information without overloading the driver's visual channel.

Age and inconsistency in driving performance.

Research in cognitive neuropsychology suggests that investigation of the within-person variability, or inconsistency, of cognitive performance may provide valuable insights into ageing mental processes. It is rare though, for this interest in intraindividual variability to extend to everyday activities. As this may provide important information about driving behaviour, we therefore assessed age differences in driving inconsistency in younger (n=24, M age=21.29 years) and older (n=21, M age=71.24 years) persons who drove in residential, urban and motorway conditions in a fully immersive driving simulator. In measures of headway (maintaining a safe distance to a preceding vehicle) and lateral lane position, older drivers exhibited significantly greater performance inconsistency, and this was particularly marked in the faster motorway condition. Older drivers also recorded greater perceived mental demands associated with driving, and greater within-person variability across a range of cognitive measures. The findings suggest that age-related deficits in attentional and executive control may affect the consistency of driving performance in older persons. Discussion considers interventions to introduce in-vehicle systems to help maintain attention in older drivers, and to intervene when safety-critical boundaries are exceeded.

Driving into the sunset: supporting cognitive functioning in older drivers.

The rise in the aging driver population presents society with a significant challenge-how to maintain safety and mobility on the roads. On the one hand, older drivers pose a higher risk of an at-fault accident on a mile-for-mile basis; on the other hand, independent mobility is a significant marker of quality of life in aging. In this paper, we review the respective literatures on cognitive neuropsychology and ergonomics to suggest a previously unexplored synergy between these two fields. We argue that this conceptual overlap can form the basis for future solutions to what has been called "the older driver problem." Such solutions could be found in a range of emerging driver assistance technologies offered by vehicle manufacturers, which have the potential to compensate for the specific cognitive decrements associated with aging that are related to driving.

Safe driving in a green world: a review of driver performance benchmarks and technologies to support 'smart' driving.

Road transport is a significant source of both safety and environmental concerns. With climate change and fuel prices increasingly prominent on social and political agendas, many drivers are turning their thoughts to fuel efficient or 'green' (i.e., environmentally friendly) driving practices. Many vehicle manufacturers are satisfying this demand by offering green driving feedback or advice tools. However, there is a legitimate concern regarding the effects of such devices on road safety--both from the point of view of change in driving styles, as well as potential distraction caused by the in-vehicle feedback. In this paper, we appraise the benchmarks for safe and green driving, concluding that whilst they largely overlap, there are some specific circumstances in which the goals are in conflict. We go on to review current and emerging in-vehicle information systems which purport to affect safe and/or green driving, and discuss some fundamental ergonomics principles for the design of such devices. The results of the review are being used in the Foot-LITE project, aimed at developing a system to encourage 'smart'--that is safe and green--driving.

Predicting pilot error: testing a new methodology and a multi-methods and analysts approach.

The Human Error Template (HET) is a recently developed methodology for predicting design-induced pilot error. This article describes a validation study undertaken to compare the performance of HET against three contemporary Human Error Identification (HEI) approaches when used to predict pilot errors for an approach and landing task and also to compare analyst error predictions to an approach to enhancing error prediction sensitivity: the multiple analysts and methods approach, whereby multiple analyst predictions using a range of HEI techniques are pooled. The findings indicate that, of the four methodologies used in isolation, analysts using the HET methodology offered the most accurate error predictions, and also that the multiple analysts and methods approach was more successful overall in terms of error prediction sensitivity than the three other methods but not the HET approach. The results suggest that when predicting design-induced error, it is appropriate to use a toolkit of different HEI approaches and multiple analysts in order to heighten error prediction sensitivity.

Crash dieting: the effects of eating and drinking on driving performance.

Previous research suggests that compared to mobile phone use, eating and drinking while driving is more common and is seen as lower risk by drivers. Nevertheless, snacking at the wheel can affect vehicle control to a similar extent as using a hands-free phone, and is actually a causal factor in more crashes. So far, though, there has not been a controlled empirical study of this problem. In an effort to fill this gap in the literature, we used the Brunel University Driving Simulator to test participants on a typical urban scenario. At designated points on the drive, which coincided with instructions to eat or drink, a critical incident was simulated by programming a pedestrian to walk in front of the car. Whilst the driving performance variables measured were relatively unaffected by eating and drinking, perceived driver workload was significantly higher and there were more crashes in the critical incident when compared to driving normally. Despite some methodological limitations of the study, when taken together with previous research, the evidence suggests that the physical demands of eating and drinking while driving can increase the risk of a crash.

Back to the future: brake reaction times for manual and automated vehicles.

Rear-end collisions are often quoted as being a major cause of road traffic accidents. In response to this, a great deal of ergonomics research effort has been directed towards the analysis of brake reaction times. However, the engineering solution has been to develop advanced systems for longitudinal control, which, it is argued, will mitigate the problem of rear-end collisions. So far, though, there have been few empirical studies to determine how brake reaction times will be affected by such vehicle automation. This paper presents a literature review summarizing the current state of knowledge about driver responses in non-automated vehicles. The review covers driver factors, vehicle factors and situational factors. Following the review, some empirical data are presented from a driving simulator experiment assessing brake reaction times of skilled and unskilled drivers under two different levels of automation. When compared to previous data gathered during manual driving, there seems to be a striking increase in reaction times for these automated conditions. Implications for the design and safety of automated vehicle systems are discussed.

The ironies of vehicle feedback in car design.

Car drivers show an acute sensitivity towards vehicle feedback, with most normal drivers able to detect 'the difference in vehicle feel of a medium-size saloon car with and without a fairly heavy passenger in the rear seat' (Joy and Hartley 1953-54). The irony is that this level of sensitivity stands in contrast to the significant changes in vehicle 'feel' accompanying modern trends in automotive design, such as drive-by-wire and increased automation. The aim of this paper is to move the debate from the anecdotal to the scientific level. This is achieved by using the Brunel University driving simulator to replicate some of these trends and changes by presenting (or removing) different forms of non-visual vehicle feedback, and measuring resultant driver situational awareness (SA) using a probe-recall method. The findings confirm that vehicle feedback plays a key role in coupling the driver to the dynamics of their environment (Moray 2004), with the role of auditory feedback particularly prominent. As a contrast, drivers in the study also rated their self-perceived levels of SA and a concerning dissociation occurred between the two sets of results. Despite the large changes in vehicle feedback presented in the simulator, and the measured changes in SA, drivers appeared to have little self-awareness of these changes. Most worryingly, drivers demonstrated little awareness of diminished SA. The issues surrounding vehicle feedback are therefore similar to the classic problems and ironies studied in aviation and automation, and highlight the role that ergonomics can also play within the domain of contemporary vehicle design.

Driver behaviour with adaptive cruise control.

This paper reports on the evaluation of adaptive cruise control (ACC) from a psychological perspective. It was anticipated that ACC would have an effect upon the psychology of driving, i.e. make the driver feel like they have less control, reduce the level of trust in the vehicle, make drivers less situationally aware, but workload might be reduced and driving might be less stressful. Drivers were asked to drive in a driving simulator under manual and ACC conditions. Analysis of variance techniques were used to determine the effects of workload (i.e. amount of traffic) and feedback (i.e. degree of information from the ACC system) on the psychological variables measured (i.e. locus of control, trust, workload, stress, mental models and situation awareness). The results showed that: locus of control and trust were unaffected by ACC, whereas situation awareness, workload and stress were reduced by ACC. Ways of improving situation awareness could include cues to help the driver predict vehicle trajectory and identify conflicts.

Taking the load off: investigations of how adaptive cruise control affects mental workload.

It has been posited that Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) represents a new generation of vehicle automation, in that it has the potential to relieve drivers of mental as well as physical workload. The results of previous research however, have raised some confusing issues about the specific effects of Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) on driver mental workload (MWL)--some studies report reduced MWL compared to manual driving, while others find no effect. Two hypotheses are proposed in an attempt to explain these discrepancies: (a) that any potential MWL reductions due to ACC could be masked by the overriding influence of steering demand; or (b) that the tasks designed in some experiments do not exploit the adaptive nature of the ACC system, therefore precluding any potential benefits. Two related experiments were designed to test these hypotheses. It was found that the main reason for the discrepant findings was the nature of the driving task chosen--constant-speed tasks do not realise the mental workload benefits of ACC. Future researchers using ACC devices are advised to use variable-speed tasks to ensure that all aspects of device functionality are covered.

Giving ergonomics away? The application of ergonomics methods by novices.

A re-occurring theme in applied ergonomics is the idea of "giving the methods away" to those with little formal education in the subject. Little is known, however, about the reliability and validity of these methods when applied to the design process, for novices or experts. It is important to establish just how well the methods will perform in the hands of the analyst. The study reported in this paper presents data on novice intra-analyst and inter-analyst reliability together with criterion-referenced validity across a range of methods. Considerable variation in the reliability and validity of the methods was found. The data were then used in utility analysis, to determine the cost-effectiveness of the methods for an example of car radio-cassette design. The analysis shows that estimates of cost-effectiveness may help in the selection of methods.