A Preliminary Theory of the Effects of Task and Environmental Factors on Human Performance

An attempt is made to develop a systematic approach to the prediction of human performance as a function of task variables and environmental factors. The approach uses the basic literature of experimental psychology and of physiology in a context in which postulates and assumptions about underlying processes and empirical relationships are made as specific as possible. This paper is a presentation of the postulates, assumptions, and models for handling them. Its aim is toward organization and feasibility rather than toward a final theory of human performance. What is presented is more in the nature of a model of what a general theory might be and the variables of importance rather than a theory as such.

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