Inducing effective operator control through ecological interface design

Ecological Interface Design (EID) is a theoretical framework for designing interfaces for complex human – machine systems . This article investigates the utility of EID in inducing ef fective real-time operator control performance during both normal and abnormal conditions . Two interfaces for a thermal-hydraulic process were compared , an EID interface based on physical and functional (P 1 F) system representations and a more traditional interface based solely on a physical (P) representation . Subjects were given 4 weeks of daily practice with one of the two interfaces before their performance on normal events and unfamiliar faults was evaluated . Under normal conditions , there was no performance dif ference between the P 1 F and P interfaces . However , dual task results indicate that the P interface loads more on verbal resources , whereas the P 1 F interface loads more on spatial resources during normal trials . Furthermore , a process tracing analysis of the fault trials showed that the P 1 F interface led to faster fault detection and more accurate fault diagnosis . Moreover , the P 1 F subjects exhibited a more sophisticated and ef fective set of fault management strategies that are similar to those observed in field studies of experienced operators in complex human – machine systems . In addition , a deficiency of the P 1 F interface was identified , suggesting a need for integrating historical information with emergent feature displays . Collectively , these findings have significant practical implications for the design of advanced computer interfaces for complex industrial systems . ÷ 1996 Academic Press Limited