Development and Utilization of Internal Models in Dynamic Systems. A Comparison of Monitors and Operators as Failure Detectors.

摘要

The development of the internal model as it pertains to the detection of step changes in the order of control dynamics is investigated for two modes of participation: when the subjects are actively controlling those dynamics and when they are monitoring the same dynamics under autopilot control. The experiment used a transfer of training design to evaluate the relative contribution of proprioception and visual information to the overall accuracy of the internal model. The subjects either tracked or monitored the system dynamics of a 2-dimensional pursuit display under single task conditions and concurrently with a sub-critical tracking task at two difficulty levels. Detection performance was faster and more accurate in the manual as opposed to the autopilot mode. The cue utilization strategies of the subjects were analyzed by ensemble averaging technique and it was found that monitors of automatic systems who have had prior manual experience rely upon different perceptual cues in making their detection responses than those who have not. The proprioception channel was found to have an attention focusing role and once incorporated into the internal model this attention focusing mechanism can be used to advantage even when there is no proprioceptive feedback.