THE EFFECTS OF CURVILINEAR AND DISCRETE TRANSFORMATIONS OF ERROR INFORMATION ON HUMAN TRACKING PERFORMANCE,
Abstract
The effects of discrete nonlinear transformations of tracking error information on the accuracy and efficiency with which the human operator can perform a compensatory tracking task were studied. Nine groups of seven subjects each were given forty 1-min. trials under nine different informational display conditions. The nine informational conditions were obtained by combining three levels of information quantization (3, 7, or 11 categories of information) with three types of overall relationships between the displayed error and the actual error (linear, nonlinear magnification, or nonlinear minification). Indices of tracking accuracy and tracking efficiency were obtained by integrating absolute values of the voltage analogs of the actual tracking error and of the control stick deflections, respectively. Greater tracking accuracy was associated with (1) a linear relationship between displayed error and actual error, (2) a larger number of informational categories and (3) practice. Generally, tracking accuracy improved in a negatively accelerated fashion as the number of informational display categories increased. Tracking efficiency generally increased with practice. Also, practice exhibited a differential influence on tracking efficiency depending upon the number of informational display categories. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 1963
- Accession Number
- AD0432707
Entities
People
- Darwin P. Hunt
Organizations
- University of Dayton