A History and Primer of Human Performance Modeling

Abstract

Human performance models are abstractions, usually mathematical or computational, that attempt to explain or predict human behavior in a particular domain or task. This includes a wide range of techniques and approaches, from ideas that are most likely familiar to the majority of human factors professionals (such as signal detection theory) to more novel and complex approaches (such as computational models of dual tasking while driving). This chapter provides a sampling of modeling approaches and domains to which those approaches have been applied; for a more in-depth review, see Pew and Mavor (1998). We also discuss some of the issues faced by modelers as well as describe some of the rich history of the modeling endeavor over the past 50 years.