Human Performance Assessment Methods
Abstract
There is growing interest in the effects of environmental stressors on human performance. Particular attention has been given to military and industrial tasks in which stress-induced error may have serious consequences. Unfortunately differences in testing procedures have hindered the integration of findings for a particular task or a particular stressor. In traditional psychometrics, a lengthy development phase usually precedes presentation of the test in a completely standardized form. However, the performance tests used in stress research are often borrowed from techniques reported in the theoretical literature on human cognition. Sternberg's (1966) memory search technique is an example of a performance test that was originally developed as a theoretical tool. A memory set of items is presented, followed by a probe item and the subject is required merely to indicate whether the probe was present in or absent from the memory set. For example, the memory set may be fixed or variable; the range of memory set sizes may vary; the inter stimulus interval may be experimenter-or subject-paced; and the stimuli may be familiar or unfamiliar. Systematic variations within the memory search paradigm, such as the use of visually degraded probes, are of great interest to the theorist. Well- accepted paradigms such as memory search form the building blocks for test batteries that provide broad profiles of human performance. Such batteries are usually developed in response to an applied problem such as selection for employment or evaluation of the effects of an environmental stressor on job performance, and represent an attempt to solve the applied problems of a particular sponsor.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1989
- Accession Number
- ADA211106
Entities
Organizations
- AGARD