Review of a Pivotal Human Factors Article: “Humans and Automation: Use, Misuse, Disuse, Abuse”

Abstract

Objective: This paper considers the influence of “Humans and Automation: Use, Misuse, Disuse, Abuse” and examines how it relates to the evolving issue of human-automation interaction. Background: Automation presents important practical challenges that can dramatically affect satisfaction, performance, and safety; philosophical challenges also arise as automation changes the nature of work and human cognition. Method: Papers cited by and citing “Humans and Automation” were reviewed to identify enduring and emerging themes in human-automation research. Results: “Humans and Automation” emerges as an important node in the network of automation-related papers, citing many and being cited by many recent influential automation-related papers. In their article, Parasuraman and Riley (1997) integrated previous research and identified differing expectations across designers, managers, and operators regarding the need to support operators as a source of automation problems. They also foresaw and inspired research that addresses problems of overreliance and underreliance on automation. Conclusion: This pivotal article and associated research show that even though automation seems to relieve people of tasks, automation requires more, not less, attention to training, interface design, and interaction design. The original article also alludes to the emergence of vicious cycles and dysfunctional meta-control. These problems reflect the coevolution of automation and humans, in which both adapt to the responses of the other. Application: Understanding this coevolution has important philosophical implications for the nature of human cognition and practical implications for satisfaction, performance, and safety.