Mental work and automation

European Commission Directorate-General For Employment Social Affairs And Inclusion

Description

Mental activity, mental fatigue and control and supervision occupations in industry
Working conditions

Sujets

• Automation
• Ergonomics
• History of ferrous metallurgy
• Telecommuting
• Sociologie, société et politique

Informations

• Publié par: EUROPEAN-COMMISSION-DIRECTORATE-GENERAL-FOR-EMPLOYMENT_SOCIAL-AFFAIRS-AND-INCLUS
• Nombre de lectures: 18
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
DIRECTORATE GENERAL FOR SOCIAL AFFAIRS
STUDIES IN INDUSTRIAL PHYSIOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY
STUDY No 6
MENTAL WORK AND
AUTOMATION
(Mental activity, mental fatigue and control
and supervision occupations in industry)
(Analysis — by Professors J. LEPLAT and H. SCHMIDTKE — of work done in
this field. This analysis constitutes one of the preparatory phases of the com­
missioned research on mental stress in the iron and steel industry — research
project No 6242/21/01-02-03-04 — sponsored by the Commission of the European
Communities, carried out by Dr. KALSBEEK, Prof. LEPLAT and Prof. SCHMIDTKE]
LUXEMBOURG 1968 COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
DIRECTORATE GENERAL FOR SOCIAL AFFAIRS
STUDIES IN INDUSTRIAL PHYSIOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY
STUDY No 6
MENTAL WORK AND
AUTOMATION
(Mental activity, mental fatigue and control
and supervision occupations in industry)
(Analysis — by Professors J. LEPLAT and H. SCHMIDTKE — of work done in
this field. This analysis constitutes one of the preparatory phases of the com­
missioned research on mental stress in the iron and steel industry — research
project No 6242/21/01-02-03-04 — sponsored by the Commission of the European
Communities, carried out by Dr. KALSBEEK, Prof. LEPLAT and Prof. SCHMIDTKE]
LUXEMBOURG 1968 FOREWORD
AC the end of 1966, the High Authority of the E.C.S.C, decided to
institute a programme of research on tasks of supervision and control in
the iron and steel industry together with the mental effort and mental fa­
tigue associated with this type of work. Indeed, technological progress is
introducing more and more mechanised and automated devices of an ever in­
creasing complexity, requiring an ever increasing amount of mental and
nervous activity from their operators. The efficiency and safety of these
installations frequently depend on the adjustment of both man and the s to one another.
Two types of problem are examined in this programme of research.
First, an attempt is made to devise ways as objective as possible of as­
sessing the intensity of the mental effort required of the operator and of
measuring the mental fatigue which may arise during the course of the work.
Second, an attempt is made to analyse the relationships between the oper­
ator, the control mechanisms, the technological processes to be kept under
supervision and, in a general way, the industrial system in which the oper­
ator performs his task. Thus, we may determine the nature and the charac­
teristics of the information which the operator must obtain, possibly by
means of technical devices, and the characteristics of the responses which
he must give in the form of decisions or adjustment of his controls. The
importance of these studies from the point of view of the design of auto­
mated systems are clear.
This research was entrusted to three institutes working in con­
junction :
1. The Laboratory for Ergonomie Psychology in Amsterdam, under the di­
rection of Dr. J.W.H. KALSBEEK; 2. The Laboratory for applied psychology of Che Ecole Pratique des Hautes
Etudes in Paris, under the direction of Prof. J. LEPLAT;
3. The Institute of Ergonomics at the Technical University of Munich, under
the direction of Prof. H. SCHMIDTKE.
To prepare the ground for their work, these research workers first of
all reviewed the research already done on their subject and Mr. CUNY, Prof.
LEPLAT and Prof. SCHMIDTKE edited the material to produce the two comple­
mentary parts of this study. Prof. LEPLAT and Mr. CUNY have analysed con­
trol activities in industries, whilst Prof. SCHMIDTKE has studied problems
of mental fatigue.
Although this review of material does not attempt to be an exhaustive
survey of all the aspects of the problem, it does constitute a source of
documentation and reference sufficiently comprehensive to warrant circu­
lation among experts interested in these questions. CONTENTS
Part 1 : Research on remote control
(by Mr. X. CUNY and Prof. J. LEPLAT)
Page
I - INTRODUCTION 13
II - DESCRIPTION OF THE CONTROL SYSTEM AND ITS "CONTEXT" 1
A. Aims and methods
B. Situation of the workplace 15
1) In the geographic space of the overall system 1
2) In the functional framework of the production chain6
C. Functioning of the workplace9
1) Description of the structure 20
2) Functional description3
D. Description of the activity of man within the system 3
1) The conventional techniques 3
2) Modern techniques1
III - HUMAN FUNCTIONS IN SYSTEMS 42
1) Function of the system and function of the components .... 4
2) Definition of the functions of man in the system 4
3) Analysis of the human functions in terms of the pro­
cessing of the data transmitted8 IV - INTEGRATION OF THE HUMAN OPERATIVE IN THE SYSTEM 53
1) Presentation of data 55
2) Planning the control device 68
3) Memory problems 76
4) Control of the efficiency of the coupling 8
V - CONCLUSION 8
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS (Part 1)
Figure 1 : Part of a biscuit making plant 17
Figure 2 : Part of a block diagram to describe the chain of operations
in the manufacture of biscuits (from data contained in the
report of P. NAVILLE (1961))8
Figure 3 : Diagram of a system after J.E. McGRATH and P.C. NORDLIE
(1960) 21
Figure 4 : Generalised model of a man-machine system showing the es­
sentials of the dynamism of the "action-retroaction"flow
involved in the functioning of the system (after KIDD,
1962)4
Figure 5 : Diagram analysing the functions of a dispatch system 26
Top portion : Designation of functions
Bottom portion : Constituents involved in the performance
of these functions
Figure 6 : Block diagram and flow chart for a paper making control
system (after BEISHON, 1966) 28
Figure 7 : Example of the description of a detailed task (after MILLER) 33
Figure 8 : Simplified example of an "ordonnograph" applied to pro­
duction instructions (in the case of continuous production)
(after MONTMOLLIN, 1961) 36 7
Figure 9 : Start of an information processing flow chart (after
LEPLAT and BISSERET, 1965) 37
Figure 10: Control diagram (after HERBST) 41
Figure 11: Functional diagram of a simple control system 45
Figure 12: The three main categories of human functions (after GAGNE) 50
Figure 13 : General diagram of a man-machine system (see text for
explanation) 54
Figure 14: Different presentations of an installation component
(after POPESCU-NEVEANU et al., 1964) 59
Figure 15: General form of the relationship between the capacity of
the channel and the number of independently variable stimu­
lus attributes (after MILLER, 1956) 80
Part 2 : Research on the problem of mental fatigue
(by Prof. H. SCHMIDTKE)
I - PROBLEMS OF DELIMITATION - DEFINITION 91
II - FORMS OF MENTAL FATIGUE 92
A - Successive forms of mental fatigue
Β - States akin to fatigue4
III - THEORIES OF MENTAL FATIGUE6
A - THORNDIKE's "theory of biological reaction" 9
Β - VON BRACKEN'S "theory of multiple components"7
C - Theory of fatigue based on the results of neurophysiologi-
cal research 99 RESEARCH ON MEASURING METHODS 105
A - Physiological measurement methods6
1) Methods relating to muscular physiology
2)sg to the physiology of the central nervous
system 107
3) Methods relating to the physiology of the vegetative
system8
4) Methods relating to the field of sensorial physiology
(sensing disturbances) Ill
Β - Physiological methods of measurement 114
1) Methods of measuring perception disorders6
2)s ofg co-ordinations
3) Methods of measuring attention and concentration dis­
orders 121
4) Methods of measuring thought disorders 135
5)s ofg the disorders of motor and directing
functions of the personality 136
6) Methods of measuring disorders in social relations 142
RESULTS OF THE MEASUREMENT TESTS 142
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS (Part 2)
Figure 1 : Sketch of the ascendant reticular activation system (ARAS)
in which collateral impulses are received from the spe­
cific sensory conduction paths (after LINDSLEY) 103
Figure 2 : Heart race variations in a cellist playing in Verdi's
"Othello" (after SCHMALE and SCHMIDTKE) 110
Figure 3 : Effect of uninterrupted motorway driving at night on the
amount of lighting required for a lorry driver to perceive
a test figure (after HARTMANN) 119