THE EFFECT OF A PARTICULAR STRESS ON ONE MAN'S PERFORMANCE OF VARIOUS TRACKING TASKS
Abstract
A study was made to determine whether certain tracking tasks can be used as accurate indicators of stresses on human beings. The task used for this work is Zero Input Tracking in which the only input is the subject's own error, hence the errors can give a direct indication of the condition of the subject. Preliminary work showed that auditory shadowing even by a skilled subject could cause catastrophic degradation in performance of a tracking task. The present report investigates the effect for an acceleration control tracking task over a wide range of control stiffnesses (8.3 to 915.0 mils/sq sec) and control lag (0. 0 to 1.55 sec). The results indicate (a) That the percentage increase in error due to control lag, and due to auditory shadowing is independent of control stiffness. (b) That the effect of auditory shadowing is small (40%- 5% increase in error) with no lag, but very great (over 200% increase in error) if the lag is 0.3 seconds or more. (c) That under conditions where severe degradation of the tracking task occurs, the accuracy of the auditory shadowing is also seriously degraded.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1963
- Accession Number
- AD0420043
Entities
People
- Elizabeth De Socio
- Norman K. Walker