A model of human behavior based on visual information processing mechanism for reliability-based system design

The aim of this study is to discuss the relation between the reliability of structural systems and the performance of human perception in human–machine systems. In this paper, we would like to evaluate the effect of performance deterioration on structural safety from the viewpoint of uncertainties in human behavior. The sensitivity of structural safety to such uncertainties is discussed on the basis of a stress–strength model by considering that uncertainties in structural systems can be divided into objective and subjective uncertainties in applied stress and strength. There are two types of subjective uncertainties, one associated with the designer and the other associated with the operator. In this context, the performance of the operator in terms of visual perception was investigated through visual tasks. Concretely, two kinds of experiments such as response time and useful field of view were carried out. Based on experimental results and analysis, it was shown that the relations between subjective uncertainty of machine and human performance affect the final probability of failure of structural systems, including human-machine systems.