The operator as a purposive system: a new approach to human factors

It is argued that the information processing model represents an incomplete foundation for a human-factors account of cognitive tasks. The authors propose the inclusion of purposive and proactive accounts that are more consistent with the requirements for explaining goal-oriented reasoning and behavior. They review a number of related approaches and sketch out the beginnings of a theoretical foundation for human factors in the form of assumptions that bound human behavior. The initial focus is on basic assumptions governing the availability and use of cognitive resources, but the assumptions suggested elsewhere (e.g. the model human processor approach) are also utilized.<>