Neville Moray

• BA, MA, D.Phil.
• Professor Emeritus at University of Surrey

In his 1993 IEA keynote address Neville Moray urged the ergonomics discipline to face up to the global problems facing humanity and consider how ergonomics might help find some of the solutions. In this State of Science article we critically evaluate what the ergonomics discipline has achieved in the last two and a half decades to help create a sec...

This paper shows how to combine field observations, experimental data and mathematical modelling to produce quantitative explanations and predictions of complex events in human-machine interaction. As an example, we consider a major railway accident. In 1999, a commuter train passed a red signal near Ladbroke Grove, UK, into the path of an express....

Poem for her father Neville Moray

Online conference paper on cmplacency

This book looks at the relation of science and philosophy to the analysis of human nature, mind, will, consciousness, life, etc. It will be published in ebook and paperback or hardback around January 2015, print on demand from Authorhouse.co.uk or via Amazon. Not available as full text on ResearchGate.

To go with papers on Copilia

To go with Copilia papers

To go with papers on Copilia

A mathematical model of dynamic visual attention is presented. The purpose of the model is to allow prediction of the direction of attention in dynamic real-­‐time real-­world tasks,not to explain the nature of attention. It is a predictive performance model, not a process model and is applicable to a range of tasks from eye movements scanning the...

A mathematical model of dynamic visual attention is presented. The purpose of the model is to allow prediction of the direction of attention in dynamic real-time real-world tasks, not to explain the nature of attention. It is a predictive performance model, not a process model and is applicable to a range of tasks from eye movements scanning the en...

The relatively small amount of material which has been prepared for use in experiments on statistical approximations to English means that there may be marked differences in its statistical properties from one sample to another. The present paper investigates the relation between the source of the sample and the amount of repetition which occurs at...

In a repeat of the experiment by Hess in which chicks were reared wearing hoods which bore prisms to distort the visual field by imposing a right deviation to it, we have found such animals do not show a systematic displacement of their pecks. On the other hand, they become progressively less accurate in their pecking.

Replicated an experiment by E. Lawson (see 40:11) with more adequate controls. Ss were 19 students. Contrary to previous findings, listeners made more errors in responding to pure tones in speech messages when they occurred in a rejected than in an accepted dichotic message, and the most common errors were omissions. This reopens the question as to...

Sumario: This paper is concerned with errors in the acquisition of information which are caused by perceptual and attentional mechanisms. Failures to schedule attentional sampling of the environment will lead to accidents. Theorical models exist for attention and for data acquisition. These models suggest how designers might approach human-machine...

Acquisition and use of information about system state to initiate action is central to the safety and efficiency of human–machine operations. A model of limits is presented on the rate at which past information can affect the perception of a system's state and thus the rate at which decisions affect the future. The model represents timescales of ph...

This article places the 50th anniversary edition of the Human Factors journal in a historical context. It is appropriate to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of Human Factors and the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, but in so doing, we celebrate only the recent history of ergonomics. By digging into the history of ergonomics, we c...

IntroductionCharacteristics of Industrial SystemsConceptual FrameworksCognitive Functions in Industrial SystemsCognition in the DL CycleSummaryReferences

As automated controllers supplant human intervention in controlling complex systems, the operators' role often changes from that of an active controller to that of a supervisory controller. Acting as supervisors, operators can choose between automatic and manual control. Improperly allocating function between automatic and manual control can have n...

Several initiatives have recently been taken to provide international cooperation in supplying human factors (ergonomics) resources to the nuclear industry world wide. The aim of this paper is to draw attention to the degree to which cultural , organisational and even ergonomic differences may have to be overcome if such transfer of knowledge and b...

Arguments for the importance of contextual factors in understanding human performance have been made extremely persuasively in the context of the process control industries. This paper puts these arguments into the context of the train driving task, drawing on an extensive analysis of driver performance with the Automatic Warning System (AWS). The...

This paper addresses theoretical and empirical gaps in the relationships between the nature of institutional origin, firm resources and growth in the context of spinning off ventures from public research organisations (PROs). Institutional origin is considered a two dimensional construct consisting of the formality of technology transfer and the re...

Constraints on human-machine systems’ performance are generally treated as due to anatomy, physiology, and cognitive or behavioral limits. It is assumed that research findings can be universally applied to the design of such systems. It is now clear that social and cultural constraints are equally important, even in simple work systems. Context and...

Starting from an examination of two modern papers, about situation awareness and about allocation of function in human-machine systems, this paper examines the requirements for a quantitative predictive model of rule-based behaviour. It shows that much relevant empirical evidence exists in papers of 30 to 40 years ago, and that there has been conve...

There have been several claims that operators exercising supervisory control over automated systems can become too trusting if the systems are highly reliable. This has been called “complacent” behaviour. While it is true that operators sometimes fail to observe faults or other important signals, a quantitative analysis of monitoring behaviour show...

This paper is concerned with "safety culture" and its role in reducing the probability of accidents. After defining "safety culture" we shall examine • what is known about the nature and advantages of strong safety cultures, • how safety culture can be developed in an organisation, • problems in maintaining effective safety cultures and in assessin...

This paper gives a probabilistic model for dynamic allocation of visual attention by assuming that human may be modeled as a single-channel sequential scheduling sampler. A linear zero-one integer-programming problem is formulated so that an optimal solution may serve as a normative model for visual attention allocation. The basic model is extended...

Quality of paper, colour and design are important factors which influence the recipient in preferring the paper mails. But whether the paper mail (p-mail) will survive the onslaught of other forms of communication like Internet and e-mail is a pressing problem now a days. According to a report from the Digital World Research Centre (DWRC) the new f...

The beginning of a new century is an appropriate moment to consider the role of ergonomics in relation to the problems facing society. To help solve these serious global problems, ergonomics needs to be open to new disciplines, particularly those in the social sciences. Also, it may be difficult to generalize research on human-centred sociotechnica...

Although the Sheridan-Verplank Scale to describe levels and modes of human-machine interaction has existed for more than 20 years little systematic work has been done to evaluate the properties of the different levels. This paper describes the first stages of a program to compare Sheridan-Verplank level, system reliability, and quality of automated...

A recurring worry in recent applied research on the role of humans in highly reliable automated systems has been the fear of “complacency‘, or the tendency to trust automation too much, with the consequence that faults or abnormal function go undetected. Existing evidence does not support the conclusion that operators are complacent. Rather, it sup...

The well-known Sheridan and Verplank scale of human-machine interaction suggests that there will be considerable differences in the kind of mental model operators will acquire of systems which they control. This paper reports the use of observing responses and Markov modelling to try to identify such differences in mental models. The method detects...

An experiment on adaptive automation is described. Reliability of automated fault diagnosis, mode of fault management (manual vs. automated), and fault dynamics affect variables including root mean square error, avoidance of accidents and false shutdowns, subjective trust in the system, and operator self-confidence. Results are discussed in relatio...

The problem of complacency is analysed, and it is shown that previous research that claims to show its existence is defective, because the existence of complacency can not be proved unless optimal behaviour is specified as a benchmark. Using gedanken experiments, it is further shown that, in general, not even with optimal monitoring can all signals...

A mathematical model of dynamic visual attention is presented. The purpose of the model is to allow prediction of the direction of attention in dynamic real-time real-world tasks, not to explain the nature of attention. It is a predictive performance model, not a process model and is applicable to a range of tasks from eye movements scanning the en...

A report about computational "agents" that pay attention

In supervisory control, operators are expected to monitor automation and to intervene if there is an opportunity to improve system productivity or if faults develop which cannot be managed by the automation. Central to how humans interact with automation is the degree to which they trust the system to perform well and handle unforeseen events. This...

This paper discusses how Go/NoGo decision can be supported by human-interface for attaining takeoff safety within the framework of human-centered automation in which human is assumed to be in authority of decision and control. It is shown experimentally that a human-interface which issues a “Go” or an “Abort” message upon an engine failure is more...

There have been several claims that operators exercising supervisory control over automated systems can become too trusting if the systems are highly reliable. This has been called " complacent " behaviour. While it is true that operators sometimes fail to observe faults or other important signals, a quantitative analysis of monitoring behaviour sh...

Cultural and national characteristics are examined at three levels of nuclear power plant design and operation. It is shown that at each level, ergonomics, control room organisation, and national characteristics of the workforce there seem to be substantial differences that have potential impacts on nuclear safety and productivity. The implications...

This paper discusses trust in situation-adaptive autonomy (SAA), where the automation may change its level dynamically and it can have the authority of decision making under time critical situation. Although SAA is necessary and effective for attaining systems safety, it is not obvious whether or not humans accept SAA. We analyze subjective rating...

The term mental model is widely used, and its meanings vary just as widely, from a proposed mechanism for logical deduction to an operator's memory of the structure of a complex industrial system. In this chapter, the relationships between these and other uses are explained, examples of mental models in applied psychology are presented, and a forma...

The notion of a `mental model' is widespread but ill defined. Its meaning can be clarified by noting both the cognitive processes of the worker and the context of the task. A mental model is a mapping of the properties of the task to its representation in the mind of the worker. Traditionally, such models have been identified by the use of protocol...

Sheridan's `Levels of Automation' were explored in an experiment on fault management of a continuous process control task which included situation adaptive automation. Levels of automation with more or less automation autonomy, and different levels of advice to the operator were compared, with automatic diagnosis whose reliability varied. The effic...

Research over the last decade on interface design has suggested that `configural' or `direct perception' displays provide better support for complex operator tasks than single-sensor single-indicator displays. In this paper we focus on the development of displays to support the human operator role in nuclear power plant start-up procedures, which i...

Although it is sometimes stated that there is a danger of a loss of vigilance in supervisory tasks where the main task is monitoring, there appears to be no experimental research on the vigilance decrement in complex realistic tasks. In this paper we report an experiment on the detection of dynamic faults in a rather complex microworld, PASTEURISER...

The need for production systems that can react or respond to dynamic changes is continuously increasing because of the reduction of product life cycle time and the rise of competition. To improve responsiveness, we show that integrating the intelligence of the human operator into the system helps to face complexity. However, little work has been do...

This paper reports an experimental examination on trading of authority between the human and the automation. The effect of reliability of automation, magnitude of fault, human trust in automation, and human self-confidence in their ability to perform manual control on human acceptance of situation-adaptive autonomy (SAA) are investigated to show th...

This paper investigates usefulness of dynamic and flexible allocation of authority for decision and control during takeoffofan aircraft. Even though one of the authors' previous mathematical analysis claims that the authority should be exchanged between humans and automated systems depending on situations, it is not obvious whether human pilots are...

In modern railway systems there is an increasing use of automation and artificial intelligence, but humans are retained as intelligent agents. This means that safety depends on the reliability of both human and non-human agents. The traditional approach to safety involves a probabilistic estimate of reliability. We suggest a new approach which supp...

The work of systems researchers such as Conant and Ashby (1970) and Wonham (1976) has shown that good controllers of dynamic systems logically require internal models of the processes controlled. Since human operators are good controllers it follows that they must use mental models and hence the remaining problem is to elucidate their nature, but t...

Human factors and ergonomics are quickly evolving and new areas of application are introduced around the world. In industrially developing countries (IDC's) the emphasis was in the past on physical workload. With the introduction of computers there has been a sudden shift in interest, and the problems of HCI and usability of complex systems have be...

Traditionally, nuclear power plant control rooms have been designed according to a single-sensor single-indicator (SSSI) philosophy. Various researchers have proposed new display design principles, such as the mapping principle, which tries to overcome the limitations associated with the traditional approach by displaying higher-order functional in...

Two experiments are reported which examined operators' trust in and use of the automation in a simulated supervisory process control task. Tests of the integrated model of human trust in machines proposed by Muir (1994) showed that models of interpersonal trust capture some important aspects of the nature and dynamics of human-machine trust. Result...

An account of a visit to Chinato teach at Huazhong Technical Unversity

The traditional single-sensor-single indicator display is poorly matched to the cognitive abilities of operators, especially for large and complex systems. Our research aims to provide direct perception displays which will greatly reduce the cognitive load on the operator and allow the use of perceptual rather than cognitive mechanisms to support s...

Strategic behavior is frequently characterized by the need to decide among several courses of action, each of which may lead to a desired goal, subject to time constraints. Often strategic behavior can be regarded as a series of answers to the question, "In what sequence should I perform the set of actions required, and when should I start and stop...

Sumario: The world will face major ecological and social problems in the coming century, including population pressure, pollution, water shortage, urbanization, etc. To solve these problems requires changing human behaviour. What is the role of ergonomics? Can we design constraints that are perceived as freedom? Can there be a metaphysics of ergono...

Frequently claims are made that what the discipline of human factors and ergonomics needs are better and more detailed data bases which can be used by designers as “look up” tables to specify the properties of human beings. Several of these already exist but they seem not to be satisfactory. The experience of teaching user centered design has convi...

Following the suggestions of Beltracchi (1987) a direct perception interface for the thermal hydraulic systems of a pressurized water nuclear power reactor (PWR) was developed. It presents operators with an animated graphic of the Rankine heat cycle describing the functional relations of steam generation in a PWR. The ability of students of thermal...

The decomposition of tasks and the problems of allocating them to humans and machines in complex systems is discussed from three perspectives: systems engineering as manifested in the design of flexible manufacturing systems, organization design as applied to decision-making teams that monitor and control engineering systems, and cognitive ergonomi...

As automated controllers supplant human intervention in controlling complex systems, the operators' role often changes from that of an active controller to that of a supervisory controller. Acting as supervisors, operators can choose between automatic and manual control. Improperly allocating function between automatic and manual control can have n...

An abstract is not available.

Wuhan People's Republic of China 1 Copyright Neville Moray 1986 1 Current address: moray2@wanadoo.fr 2 Introduction