Detection of Random Process Failures by Human Monitors

This paper considers the interaction of human monitors with systems of a stochastic nature. The problem, i.e. the dilemma, of the human monitor is that of determining when a process is operating correctly. Monitoring is an important aspect of many human activities and, with the likely proliferation of automatic systems utilizing microprocessors, monitoring is likely to be even more important for safe and reliable operation of these systems. Monitoring for failure detection and performance assessment may fruitfully be considered as a special case of decision making: “Is the system working correctly?”.