Talk by Sanna Pampel (Research Fellow, Human Factors Research Group)

Sanna Pampel, a Research Fellow in the Human Factors Research Group, will give a guest talk to the lab.

Mental Model research in the automotive domain – understanding drivers and building understandable cars

Mental Model theory extends beyond the stimulus-response paradigm, which views the human as a ‘black box’. It explains people’s knowledge of a technology, system or process and their responses to them. I will begin the presentation with a short summary of my PhD investigating Mental Models of eco-driving. It found that drivers know how to drive fuel-efficiently, although eco-driving support systems are often designed to fill a knowledge gap. I will then present applications of Mental Model theory in automotive Human Machine Interface design, with a view on why they are especially important in vehicle automation.