ergonomics

Question 1

what is ergonomics?

Answer 1

the study of designing equipment and devices that fit the human body, its movements and cognitive abilities

Question 2

cognitive ergonomics

Answer 2

ensuring machinery is designed to fit in with the way people think

Question 3

what is working memory?

Answer 3

information passes through sensory memory -> working memory -> long term memory
there are different systems for different types of information

Question 4

different systems in working memory

Answer 4

central executive controls the visuo-spatial sketch pad and the phonological loop
allocates data to subsystems
is responsible for mental arithmetic and problem solving

Question 5

visuo-spatial sketch pad

Answer 5

stores and processes information on spatial form, and is important in navigation

Question 6

phonologcial loop

Answer 6

deals with spoken and written material

Question 7

what happens when information is presented in different ways?

Answer 7

it reduces cognitive overload by using different processing mechanisms

Question 8

what is cognitive overload?

Answer 8

there is a limit to the amount of stimuli that people can handle

1) limited capacity to process incoming stimuli
2) capacity to process information is exceeded by amount of information making a claim on our attention -> leads to tunnel vision/attentional blindness
3) more attention is given to intense, uncontrollable stimuli
4) attention capacity can be depleted by prolonged demands

Question 9

how is cognitive overload measured?

Answer 9

• by complex tasks and secondary tasks. raises ethical issues by actively causing stress
• also by self report, which becomes subjective

Question 10

the hawthorne effect

Answer 10

tendency of people to try harder and perform better when they are participants in an experiment

Question 11

social facilitation

Answer 11

performance is altered due to the presence of other people, and an audience can have a positive/negative effect.
- presence of others doing the same activity enhances performance (triplett 1898)
- an evaluating audience increases performance
but sometimes people perform worse. individual differences can affect performance with an audience.

Question 12

social faciliation theory

Answer 12

zajonc (1965) proposed that being in the presence of others causes arousal, leading to an increase in performance

• general performance on tasks was enhanced by an audience
• performance on harder tasks was decreased

Question 13

what did drews and doig (2014) aim to study?

Answer 13

• aimed to create an ICU display to support detection of actue physiological changes in patients
• whether new display reduces cognitive overload on staff

Question 14

what did the prototype monitor show?

Answer 14

current state objective (CSO) providing info on current state of patient and their vital signs
used shapes and colours to increase speed at which info could be processed

Question 15

who were the participants in drews and doig’s (2014) study?

Answer 15

42 registered nurses- experimental group and control

used new display vs simplified version

Question 16

what were the four different scenarios in drews and doig’s (2014) study?

Answer 16

3 critical vs 1 stable patient in a random order

• told to verbally evaluate the physiological status
• early sepsis, septic shock, pumolnary embolism, stable state

Question 17

what were the results of drews and doig’s (2014) study?

Answer 17

speed- 30% faster with new CVS display

accuracy- increased by a third

Question 18

what did drews and doig (2014) conclude?

Answer 18

better display design can reduce cognitive load and increase patient care

Question 19

strategies to reduce cognitive load

Answer 19

• reducing strain on working memory by integrating various sources of information
• reduce amount of unecessary repitition load
• use visual and auditory techniques to increase short term memory capacity
• remove unecessary visual elements
• use chunking to reduce number of things that have to be attented to at once
• reduce choices needed to make a decision. time to decide increases with number of choices available