Human Factors Engineering Flashcards
7 cards from real AEP practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Human Factors Engineering flashcards as text
In human factors, 'population stereotypes' refer to:
Answer: Culturally shared expectations about control-display relationships
Population stereotypes are widely shared expectations about how controls should move relative to displays (e.g., clockwise = increase), which vary by culture and region.
A system requires a technician to remember 12 steps from memory with no job aid. Which human factors intervention is BEST to reduce error risk?
Answer: Implement a written checklist
Checklists are a proven memory support (cognitive aid) that reduce reliance on unaided recall and lower procedural error rates in complex tasks.
The concept of 'ecological validity' in human factors research means that:
Answer: Laboratory results can be extrapolated to real-world conditions
Ecological validity refers to the degree to which research findings obtained in controlled settings can be generalized to real-world operational contexts.
Which of the following is a PROACTIVE human factors approach to accident prevention?
Answer: Prospective task analysis and hazard identification during design
Proactive approaches identify hazards before failures occur; conducting task analysis and hazard identification during system design is the classic proactive strategy.
In hierarchical task analysis (HTA), a 'plan' specifies:
Answer: The conditions under which sub-tasks are performed and their order
In HTA, a plan defines the conditions and ordering rules (e.g., 'do 1, then 2, then 3 if condition X') that govern when and how sub-tasks are executed.
The 'Gulf of Evaluation' in Norman's action cycle model occurs when:
Answer: The user cannot determine whether the system responded to their action
The Gulf of Evaluation is the difficulty users have in interpreting system state and determining whether their action had the intended effect.
Which phenomenon explains why adding a redundant visual alert (a flashing light alongside an auditory alarm) can improve detection performance?
Answer: Redundancy gain / multiple resource benefit
Redundancy gain occurs when presenting a signal through multiple sensory channels increases detection probability, as supported by Multiple Resource Theory.