Information Processing¶

Status: emerging
Last updated: 2026-05-31
Sources: 9781119636113.Ch5.Pdf
Tags: [information-processing, attention, selective-attention, visual-search, working-memory, multitasking, cognitive-foundations]

Summary¶

Information processing describes how a human operator perceives information, transforms it, acts on it, and processes feedback from that action (Wickens & Carswell, 2021). The chapter contrasts open-loop models from cognitive psychology with closed-loop models from control engineering and ecological psychology, then traces processing through attention, perception, memory and cognition, action selection, and multitasking. Because each transformation takes time and can produce error, understanding the stages is central to predicting and modelling human-system interaction.

Body¶

Context¶

Wickens and Carswell (2021), in their handbook chapter on Information Processing, examine how a human operator perceives information, transforms it, acts on it, and processes feedback from that action. They present two representations of this sequence: the classic open-loop model derived from psychological research and a closed-loop model rooted in control engineering and ecological psychology. Because each transformation takes time and may produce error, the chapter treats the stages, their time demands, and their characteristic failures as the basis for modelling human-system interaction. Within this knowledge base the article is the cognitive backbone of the cognitive-ergonomics domain named in Human Factors Ergonomics Discipline: its perceptual front end extends Sensation And Perception, its action stage feeds Selection And Control Of Action, its attentional limits underlie Mental Workload and Situation Awareness, and its display-organisation findings inform Representation Design.

Key Points¶

The classic information-processing approach applies the digital-computer metaphor to human behaviour. Wickens and Carswell credit Broadbent, Neisser, Sternberg, and Posner with developing, across the 1950s to 1970s, the conception of information passing through a finite number of discrete stages. These stages are identifiable through experimental manipulation and through converging evidence from brain physiology, such as the morphological distinction between perceptual and motor cortex. A human factors rationale supports the stage distinction: different task and environmental factors influence different stages, which carries design implications. Ageing, for example, affects action selection more than perceptual encoding speed, and immersed 3D displays may improve perceptual-motor interaction while inhibiting attention allocation (PDF pp. 1–2, orig. pp. 114–115).

Attention is the gateway to processing. The chapter covers selective attention, focused attention, discrimination and confusability, and visual search under the heading of selecting information. Perception and data interpretation are treated as decision-making problems shaped by expectancy and context, including judgments of two- and three-dimensional position, distance, size, and motion. Perceptual organisation, display organisation, and the proximity compatibility principle connect perception directly to display design (PDF pp. 3–14, orig. pp. 116–127).

Higher cognition and multitasking complete the model. Wickens and Carswell address working memory, dynamic working memory and situation awareness, text and language comprehension, spatial awareness and navigation, planning, problem solving, and metacognition (PDF pp. 18–28, orig. pp. 131–141). Action selection is treated in terms of choice complexity, compatibility, the speed-accuracy tradeoff, continuous manual control, and errors (PDF pp. 29–32, orig. pp. 142–145). Multitasking is divided into sequential multitasking and concurrent processing, both of which determine how well operators handle demands that exceed single-task capacity (PDF pp. 33–35, orig. pp. 146–148).

Conclusion¶

Wickens and Carswell (2021) conclude that information processing, traced through attention, perception, memory and cognition, action selection, and multitasking, is central to predicting and modelling human-system interaction. Understanding the stages and their characteristic failures lets designers anticipate where time costs and errors arise.

References¶

Wickens, C.D. & Carswell, C.M. (2021) 'Information Processing', in Salvendy, G. & Karwowski, W. (eds.) Handbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics. 5th edn. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. wickens2021informationprocessing

Open Questions¶

When do open-loop stage models and closed-loop ecological models give conflicting design guidance, and how should designers reconcile them?
How do different sources of workload map onto specific processing stages, as Wickens and Carswell (2021) note remains an active question?