A Year in Review

Abstract

Reviewing the articles within this journal in 2016 reveals a diverse set of approaches and applications but consistent themes: first, translating practice to science and, second, translating science to practice. The first theme addresses the difficulty in understanding cognitive performance in complex work environments. For this, we need improved models of the myriad activities of workers in complex operations—recognizing that experts will adapt their behavior and need to respond to unexpected situations. Many of this year’s articles note the need for multiple perspectives, for integrating multiple theories, and for recognizing that all parts of cognitive behavior are independent and, thus, no one factor can be isolated. The second theme, translating science to practice, then addresses the difficulty in applying this knowledge to improved designs. Such designs may focus on the worker (e.g., training), on processes and procedures, or on technology—regardless, they serve to translate understanding into implementation. A range of design approaches and insights are proposed in this year’s articles, in domains ranging from rugby to aviation, health care, accident analysis, and autonomous systems.