The Role of Conceptual Structures in Analyzing Operator Behavior

摘要

A consistent description and explanation of operator behavior must be based on the conceptual structures of the operator, his mental models and representation of knowledge, which can be inferred from an analysis of behavioral data. Three major problems in this analysis presented are: (1) the level or abstractness of the language used in the description of operator behavior, e.g., natural language versus a theoretically loaded terminology; (2) the degree of concreteness of the conceptual structure and the depth of explanation, i.e., the criteria by which the explanation is considered sufficient; and (3) the relation between competence and performance, in particular the role of performance criteria and the role of a demand resource fit. The relation between strategies and models and a description of the essential concepts in the conceptual structure are discussed.