Pragmatism in Cognitive Psychology

Reviews the book, Engineering Psychology and Human Performance by Christopher D. Wickens (1984). Engineering Psychology and Human Performance presents a considerable array of psychological data addressed to questions about human capacities and to some of the problems occurring when humans use machines. Throughout the discussion of standard topics like working memory, perceptual capacity, and attention, Wickens presents practical examples to demonstrate the importance of designing the user's capabilities into a machine environment. A variety of topics in cognitive psychology are introduced clearly and with enough examples to interest the uninitiated. The chapters on signal detection and on decision making are especially notable. Wickens's emphasis on theories of limited capacity in characterizing human performance begins to make clear that people are no longer substantially more flexible than current technology. The limitations on working memory, on perceptual capacity, on reasoning ability, and on output capability provide good guidelines to be considered when the next new device is designed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)