COGNITIVE-BEHAVIOR OF NUCLEAR-REACTOR OPERATORS

In complex, uncertain and high risk work conditions, such as may be found in computerized industrial process plants when a malfunction occurs, human performance becomes highly cognitive and therefore largely non-observable. The nuclear power plant operator's actions are taken as a model of human performance in such situations. To develop a methodology that could adequately describe and measure that operator's cognitive processes, it was necessary to develop a task-oriented model which identified five critical performance stages, together with the cognitive errors that could be made in each stage. The diagnostic processes required to resolve complex malfunctions require significant changes in system design and training, error definition, and measurement methodology.