Human information processing in man-machine interaction

Information and information processing are one of the most important aspects of dynamic systems. The term `information' might better be replaced with one that incorporates novelty, activity and learning. Many important communications of learning systems are non-ergodic. The ergodicity assumption in Shannon's communication theory restricts concepts to systems that cannot learn. For learning systems that interact with their environments, the concept of `variety' has to be used instead of probability. Humans have a fundamental need for variety: they can't permanently perceive the same context, and they can't always do the same things. The fundamental need for variety leads to a different interpretation of human behaviour that is often classified as `errors'. Variety in the relationship between a learning system and its context can be expressed as incongruity. Incongruity is the difference between the internal complexity of a learning system and the external complexity of the context. Traditional concepts of information processing are models of homeostasis on a basic level without learning. Activity and the learning process are driving forces that cause permanent inhomeostasis in the relationship between a learning system and its context. A suitable model for information processing of learning systems must be conceptualised on a higher level: a homeostatic model of inhomeostasis. A concept of information processing is presented that derives an inverted U-shaped curve between incongruity and information. This concept leads to important design recommendations for man-machine systems