High-velocity human factors

High-velocity human factors (HVHF) is a paradigm in the human factors sciences that specifically studies human performance in mission critical domains (MCD), such as military combat, law enforcement, fire fighting, etc., when it experiences nonequilibrium. The domain in the human factors standpoint is said to experience nonequilibrium when the situation is perceived by the human agent as being volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. This is usually accompanied by stress caused by time pressure and emotional reactions (high stakes, little time) inherent to the event or situation. A major component of HVHF theory is informed by the emotional modulation of cognition in the context human–systems interaction. The HVHF paradigm was developed by Moin Rahman, currently a Principal Scientist, at HVHF Sciences, LLC, based on his research done in mission critical domains such as fire fighting, law enforcement, warfare, among others, to better understand human performance during peak and critical moments of a mission. The findings from this research are used to inform the design of human-machine interfaces for the technologies used by mission critical personnel under high stress and for training purposes.

The HVHF analyzes human performance by positing three dimensions:
 * 1) Velocity differential (lag in information processing between situational demands and capacity of the human agent)
 * 2) Psychophysiological reactions (cardiac defense, attentional tunneling, functional decortication, etc.)
 * 3) Decision-making (heuristics, recognition-primed decision-making)

A discourse on the theory and practice of HVHF for the law enforcement domain has been developed and published to inform the design of products and systems for police. Most recently a peer-reviewed paper pertaining to HVHF on understanding human decision making under life threatening conditions was published at the 9th International Conference on Naturalistic Decision Making (NDM).