4 successive cohorts of low-income families were randomly assigned either to a home-based intervention program that focused on modeling verbal interaction between mother and child around selected toys and books or to comparison treatments. Large program effects were found on maternal interaction styles in videotaped observations. Small IQ and program-specific effects were found for children in contrast to much larger IQ effects found in earlier research. IQ effects did not appear to have been mediated by changes in maternal behavior. A variation in which toys and books were supplied without home visits was as effective as the full program on IQ but not on maternal behavior. 3 years postprogram , there were no detectable effects in achievement or IQ tests or in first grade teachers' ratings of school adjustment and performance, but IQ and achievement scores were near national norms. Reasons for discrepancies with earlier results are discussed. The results highlight the need for continued experimental evaluation of early intervention programs with safeguards to insure that samples are educationally at risk.

This Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) sponsored study has identified human performance research that may be needed to support the review of a licensee's implementation of new technology in nuclear power plants. To identify the research issues, current industry developments and trends were evaluated in the areas of reactor technology, instrumentation and control technology, human-system integration technology, and human factors engineering (HFE) methods and tools. The research issues were organized into seven high-level HFE topic areas: Role of Personnel and Automation, Staffing and Training, Normal Operations Management, Disturbance and Emergency Management, Maintenance and Change Management, Plant Design and Construction, and HFE Methods and Tools. The issues were then prioritized into four categories using a "Phenomena Identification and Ranking Table" methodology based on evaluations provided by 14 independent subject matter experts. The subject matter experts were knowledgeable in a variety of disciplines. Vendors, utilities, research organizations and regulators all participated. Twenty issues were categorized into the top priority category. This Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) technical report provides the detailed methodology, issue analysis, and results. A summary of the results of this study can be found in NUREG/CR-6947. The information gathered in this project can serve as input to the development of a long-term strategy and plan for addressing human performance in these areas through regulatory research. Addressing human-performance issues will provide the technical basis from which regulatory review guidance can be developed.

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Automation is ubiquitous in modern complex systems, and commercial nuclear-power plants are no exception. Beyond controlling the plant's functions and systems, automation is applied to a wide range of other functions, including monitoring and detection, situation assessment, response planning, response implementation, and interface management. Automation has become a "team player" supporting personnel in nearly all aspects of operating the plant. In light of its increasing use and importance in new-and future-plants, guidance is needed to enable the NRC's staff to conduct safety reviews of the human factors engineering (HFE) aspects of modern automation. The objective of our research that we describe in this report was to develop guidance for reviewing the operator's interface with automation. We first characterized the important HFE aspects of automation, based on how it is implemented in current systems. This description had six dimensions: Levels of automation, functions of automation, processes of automation, modes of automation, flexibility of allocation, and reliability of automation. Next, we reviewed literature on the effects of all of these aspects of automation on human performance, and on the design of human-system interfaces (HSIs). Then, we used this technical basis established from the literature to develop guidance for reviewing designs. It consists of the following seven topics: Automation displays, interaction and control, automation modes, automation levels, adaptive automation, error tolerance and failure management, and, HSI integration. In addition, we offer our insights into the automationdesign process, operator training, and operations. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This research is sponsored by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The views presented represent those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of the NRC. The authors wish to thank Stephen Fleger, the NRC Project Manager, and former Project Managers, Mike Boggie and Niav Hughes for their guidance and input during this research project. We are grateful to Val Barnes for her insights and helpful comments on the report. We also thank Avril Woodhead for her technical editing of this report and Maryann Julian for preparing the manuscript.

The primary tasks performed by operators of complex computer-based systems involve high-level cognitive activities, such as monitoring, detection, situation assessment, and response planning and implementation. To perform these tasks satisfactorily, operators must also perform interface management (IM) tasks. These are secondary tasks such as display navigation and window manipulation performed to interact with the human-system interfaces (HSIs). We investigated the effects of IM tasks on primary task performance using information obtained from literature, discussions with experts, and visits to process control facilities. Evidence for two basic IM effect models was found. In the resource-limited effect model, primary task performance suffers because operator attention may need to be directed away from that task towards the IM task. In the data-limited efSect model, operators minimize their performance of IM tasks to concentrate on the primary tasks, thus failing to retrieve important information in a timely manner. The HSI characteristics that were strongly associated with the IM effects included: information volume and organization, display area, and HSI flexibility. These findings have implications for HSI design. First, HSIs should be designed to minimize the need for IM tasks when difficult, time-critical, or safety-critical tasks are being performed. This can mean providing sufficient viewing area to display all important information and controls simultaneously, thereby reducing the need to make repetitive transitions between displays. Second, the organization of the display networks should (1) be easily understood by operators so that the location of information in the computer system is readily known, and (2) minimize the need for navigation through the display network. This may require a display organizational scheme different than those commonly used, which are often based on the characteristics of the system rather than the tasks to be performed. Finally, although sufficient flexibility should be provided to enable operators to deal with unanticipated situations or where personal preference can improve performance, flexibility should be carefully evaluated to minimize the likelihood that working with the HSI becomes a complex decision-making task in itself.The two models, the Prediction of Operator Performance (POP) and the Information Processing/Perceptual Control Theory (IP/PCT), are summarized and some of their fundamental differences are presented. These models approach the issue of workload prediction from opposite ends of the field with POP adopting an intensity-based approach popularized by McCracken and Aldrich while IP/PCT has adopted a time-based approach, reminiscent of early time occupied approaches. That being said, neither of the modelling approaches lies solely in one camp and both incorporate features that span the range of workload modelling approaches. Results from each of the models, derived from an simulation in a commercial task network modelling environment, the Integrated Perform...