Human factors

"Human factors" is a term used mainly in the United States. Variants include "human factors engineering", an extension of an earlier phrase, "human engineering". In Europe and the rest of the world, the term "ergonomics" is more prevalent.

"Human factors" is an umbrella term for several areas of research that include human performance, technology, design, and human-computer interaction. It is a profession that focuses on how people interact with products, tools, procedures, and any processes likely to be encountered in the modern world.

Human factors practitioners can come from a variety of backgrounds; though predominantly they are Psychologists (Cognitive, Perceptual, and Experimental) and Engineers. Designers (Industrial, Interaction, and Graphic), Anthropologists, and Computer Scientists also contribute.

Whereas ergonomics tends to focus on the anthropometrics for optimal human-machine interaction, human factors is more focused on the cognitive and perceptual factors.

Areas of interest for human factors practitioners may include the following: workload, fatigue, situational awareness, usability, user interface, learnability, attention, vigilance, human performance, human reliability, control and display design, stress, visualization of data, individual differences, aging, accessibility, shift work, work in extreme environments, and human error.

Simply put, human factors involves working to make the environment function in a way that seems natural to people. Although the terms "human factors" and "ergonomics" have only been widely known in recent times, the field's origin is in the design and use of aircraft during World War II to improve aviation safety.