Integrating Physical and Cognitive Ergonomics

Abstract

Ranjana K. Mehta Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Texas A&M University, 1266 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843, USA The field of human factors and ergonomics (HF/E), since its inception, has been instrumental in developing methods, tools, and solutions when considering cognitive and physical systems independently. However, every human action is orchestrated by mind (and brain) and body interactions. To comprehensively understand how humans (from the neck up and down) interact with their environments, it is necessary to employ approaches that effectively identify, assess, and facilitate development of controls and remedial measures that address these mind-body interactions. The study of physical ergonomics is concerned with human anatomic, anthropometric, physiological, and biomechanical characteristics as they relate to physical work systems. The study of cognitive human factors is concerned with mental processes, such as perception, memory, reasoning, and motor response, as they affect interactions among humans and other elements of a system. Most work systems involve some level of mental or cognitive processing in addition to physical efforts, so that ideally physical and cognitive demands should be considered together when examining human behavior at work. High cognitive demands can influence physical capabilities, and physical demands can influence cognitive processing. So, while HF/E is a highly multidisciplinary field that considers humans relative to some aspect of their work environment, efforts are needed to integrate physical and cognitive subsystems during evaluation and (re)design when considering the human in the context of the work situation. The goal of this special issue is to contribute to the growing body of scientific literature on integrating physical and cognitive ergonomics that brings researchers closer as an interdisciplinary HF/E field. The breadth of topics covered includes studies that focus on quantifying human behavior when interacting with physical and cognitive subsystems, applied research that proposes predictive tools to assess multidimensional work demands, theoretical positions and new methodologies that challenge how we currently examine these interactions, and finally, evidence that highlights business outcomes of the interplay between physical and cognitive processes. Mental workload, fatigue, and stress, stemming from an overloaded cognitive subsystem, have been shown consistently to affect several aspects of human physical capabilities. For example, cognitive distractors and social stress can alter biomechanical strategies during controlled processes such as upper extremity and low back exertions ( Marras, Davis, Heaney, Maronitis, & Allread, 2000; Mehta & Agnew, 2011; Mehta, Nussbaum, & Agnew, 2012) as Corresponding author. E-mail: rmehta@tamu.edu