Models of the Mind and Machine: Information Flow and Control between Humans and Computers

Publisher Summary The human–computer interface has become a focal point in the development of complex control systems, and the mediator of the flow of control and information between the operator and the system. This chapter provides an overview of the survey models and modeling approaches at the human–computer interface with emphasis over many of the aspects, issues, and developments in models and modeling. The human–computer interface is itself a model of the interaction between the machine and the human, and is based on mental models and interface object models. System models of the operator are the models of the operator's mental models, which are internal representations of interface object models. Different tasks and different environments impose different requirements and constraints on the human–computer interface. The models that have been used in human computer interfaces are the cognitive model, conceptual model, mental model, system model of operator, interface object models, and interface model. One must unfold the models of the human–computer interface and trace the outward paths back to the task and machine environments. It is only with respect to the observable products and the answers that one can evaluate the models of the human–computer interface, which is a multifaceted, interdisciplinary enterprise that should not be dominated by one or another element or model of the mind or the machine. Nevertheless, the development of the interface will continue in spite of both itself and its critics.