Graduation Semester and Year
Fall 2024
Language
English
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Engineering
Department
Bioengineering
First Advisor
George V. Kondraske
Second Advisor
Georgios Alexandrakis
Third Advisor
Khosrow Behbehani
Abstract
Composite Performance Measures (CPMs) of human performance are widely employed in applications that range from mundane to life-changing, yet they are frequently presented without explanation or reference to theoretical underpinnings. The conceptual soundness of a widely used CPM approach, based on additive combination of constituent components, has been called into question by Kondraske. He argues the relevance of General Systems Performance Theory (GSPT) and performance capacity envelope concepts when applied to multidimensional CPM measures.
To obtain evidence-based answers to assertions regarding CPM types and rationale employed in medical and non-medical contexts, a Systematic Descriptive Review was conducted. Separately, the GSPT-based approach was applied to human movement performance and its relationship to the widely accepted Fitts' Law addressing speed-accuracy tradeoffs was investigated. The Fitts and GSPT-based approaches both yield a CPM labeled Neuromotor Channel Capacity in prior research. A third study component investigated the overarching hypothesis that "NMCC is coordination" by assessing NMCC characteristics relative to those expected of an ideal coordination measure determined by human motion expert surveys.
Of the Systematic Descriptive Review papers, the overwhelming majority (118 of 119) used an additive CPM method and none provided a conceptual basis or rationale. In multiple contexts and over a wide range of values, strong agreement was shown between the simple-to-compute GSPT-based CPM and Fitts’ Index of Performance (IP) with accuracy adjustment, providing a Fitts' Law expression containing both speed and accuracy variables. The overarching hypothesis that “NMCC is coordination” was supported based on statistical evaluations of six sub-hypotheses determining that actual NMCC characteristics agreed with those of an idealized coordination measure.
It is concluded that: 1) additive CPM approaches dominate current research, without reporting rationale, leading to substantially different quantitative results than the GSPT-based alternatives, 2) the GSPT-based NMCC CPM including a speed-accuracy product was shown to agree with Fitts' Index of Performance, and 3) the characteristics of NMCC reflect those expected in an idealized coordination capacity CPM. The findings contribute to compelling justification to consider use of GSPT-based CPM methodology for medical and non-medical applications.
Keywords
Composite performance measure, Composite score, Human performance capacity, Performance capacity envelope
Disciplines
Human Factors Psychology | Motor Control | Neurosciences | Numerical Analysis and Computation | Other Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering | Other Kinesiology | Psychology of Movement | Systems and Integrative Engineering
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
DiSalvi, Lawrence, "HUMAN SYSTEM COMPOSITE PERFORMANCE MEASURES: GENERAL SYSTEMS PERFORMANCE THEORY INSIGHTS" (2024). Bioengineering Dissertations. 196.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/bioengineering_dissertations/196
Included in
Human Factors Psychology Commons, Motor Control Commons, Neurosciences Commons, Numerical Analysis and Computation Commons, Other Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons, Other Kinesiology Commons, Psychology of Movement Commons, Systems and Integrative Engineering Commons