Variability in Human Performance – the Roles of Context Specificity and Closed-Loop Control

Abstract

Objective: This report briefly addresses sources of variability in five different domains of human performance: movement behavior, cognition and learning, performance under displaced feedback, human error performance, and social and team performance. Results: In every case: (1) context specificity makes a key contribution to variability observed with these domains; and (2) a control systems interpretation can be applied to account for the basis of these effects. Conclusion: This analytical approach can readily be extended to other performance domains, such as variability in complex sociotechnical systems. Application: Given that HF/E science is primarily concerned with performance-design interaction, it can be argued that an emphasis on the contribution of design (context) to performance variability has a scientific and practical significance for the field that far exceeds the possible influence of innate biological factors on such variability.