PSY3082

Psychology of work and disability

Professor T.J. Triggs, Dr. J.G. Phillips

6 points - Second semester - Two 1-hour lectures and one 2-hour laboratory/seminar per week - Distance education students must complete a minimum of 12 hours on-campus weekend school laboratory work - Clayton - Prerequisites: PSY2011 and PSY2022

Objectives On completion of this subject, students will be aware of the perceptual, cognitive, motoric and biomechanical factors limiting human performance; understand how these human characteristics contribute to the human-machine system; understand how deficits in perceptual, cognitive, motoric and biomechanical factors manifest themselves in human performance; have a more specific knowledge of models describing human performance (ie psychophysical functions, signal detection, information channels, models of attention and memory, population stereotypes and stimulus-response compatibility, Fitts' law) within the human-machine system; have a more specific knowledge of the nature and causes of selected disorders (ie prosopagnosia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Parkinson's disease, cerebellar dysfunction, repetitive strain injury) and their implications for independent functioning; be familiar with good ergonomic practice in the design of human/machine systems for healthy and disabled individuals; be able to critically evaluate literature on the human factors affecting both performance in the workplace and the performance of individuals experiencing a specific disorder; be able to evaluate factors contributing to effective human-machine systems both within the laboratory and within industrial settings.

Synopsis This unit will address the human factors contributing to performance upon tasks within the workplace, with a view to assisting an understanding of disability. Human factors psychology addresses the application of knowledge from human performance theory, information processing and decision-making to the design of systems. These lectures will emphasise the classes of mathematical models dealing with the performance of humans in a systems context. In addition, the human factors contributing to a number of basic tasks will be addressed (eg face recognition, reaching and grasping, walking and balance, typing, drawing and writing, attending), which in turn can provide a firm grounding for an understanding of disorders associated with these tasks (eg prosopagnosia, Parkinson's disease, cerebellar disorder, repetitive strain injury, writer's cramp, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). A better of such mechanisms can lead to possible interventions. What is understood is less frightening and less disabling

Assessment One 3-hour examination: 55% - One 2000-word laboratory report: 20% - One 2000-word essay: 20% - One seminar presentation: 5%

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