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nMultiple resource theory says that people have different pools of resources that they can attend to, e.g. an auditory pool and a visual pool. These pools have different resource limits. According to multiple resource theory you should be able to increase capacity or performance by putting additional information on to the other pool. Since gestures are visual and speech is auditory, they use different pools. This may allow more communication transfer.
marking: 3 marks – 1 for understanding that the different resources are sense related and in this case we’re tapping auditory and visual, 1 for being very clear that it is the listener who is doing the information processing, 1 for the idea of increasing capacity by using two different resource pools or clearly stating that using two pools the person processes more information)

Not accepted: “more efficient” too vague, explain how, “added redundancy” you can add redundancy on the same channel and not increase the information, “being more interesting” this may be true but doesn’t use MRT

2. A worker cleaning an auxiliary building at a power plant catches his shirt on a breaker. In pulling it free, he activates the breaker, shutting off current to the control rods in the reactor. The reactor shut down automatically and it took 4 days to bring it up again. Explain why this is an accident caused by system characteristics.

3. Mary sends out this message “I am writing a midterm today” in two different ways, once using Morse Code, and then using email. (Morse code is way of communicating that has only two keys, dash and dot, and alphabet letters are made by combinations of three dashes or dots. Assume Mary is very proficient at both Morse code and typing. Which method will she likely send out the message the fastest? Why? Which method will she have the fastest keystroke/second speed? Why?

Total message will be faster typing – due the Decision Complexity Advantage. because more information is being sent per keystroke. I was picky and wanted the specific law named as well as the explanation for 1 mark.

Keystroke speed will be faster with Morse Code because of the Hick Hyman law. The HH law states that decision speed is faster with fewer decisions to be made, in this case, 2 keys rather than 26. Again state the law.

Not accepted: Fitts law. There is no information on target width or distance to target (amplitude) so you really can’t solve this problem with Fitts law.

marking: (4 marks, 2 for the choice of method and 2 for the reasons why)

4. Use Action Cycle to explain what happened in the case study “the Lost Cord”.

Sequence of Actions: tape electrodes to girl’s chest , run lead across mattress, plug into heart monitor machine

Interpretation: wrong amount of electricity into girl, wrong piece of equipment.

Evaluation: could not monitor girl’s condition , girl dead ; goal not achieved * you need to tie back to goal

marking: 8 marks, 1 for each level of the cycle (1/2 mark for labels and ½ mark for explanation)

You are expected to use the human action cycle directly. There is no information on the state of the world , there is no information to perceive, there is no information to evaluate.

Reversible: Allow Mary Beth to look at her entry and revise it before starting treatment

Impossible: Prevent the device from emitting fatal levels of radiation under all circumstances.

Bob is in his final year of high school. He is interested in 2 universities and is trying to decide which one to go to. The universities differ on certain attributes. Use Multi-attribute utility theory to determine which university Bob should go to.

7. (7 marks) Explain what “Automation Complacency” is. Describe its effect on human operators. Give an example of automation complacency from the film “Why Planes Crash”.

From the notes, automation complacency refers to a situation where operators overtrust the automation. (1 mark)

An example from the film is when the pilots focus on the burned out lightbulb. They assume the plane is in autopilot and stop monitoring the altitude. By the time they realize the plane has descended too much they are unable to intervene. (2 marks)

Attribute	Utility of the Attribute	U1 score	U2 score

Social life	10	2	8
Reputation	3	10	3
Closeness to home	5	3	7
Sports teams	9	4	5
Quality	7	8	4
SCORE		157	197