ABSTRACT
In this paper, the framework proposed by Marquié (1993) to formalize adaptive behavior mechanisms from a psycho-ergonomics perspective is presented and applied to different transport contexts (driving and travelling by public transports) and categories of vulnerable road users (older, brain injured, blind). This framework proposes that to adjust his performance level, the individual can differently mobilize his/her basic cognitive processes and knowledge, or implement accommodation processes, namely strategic compromise related to either the goals (changing the goal structure), or the means (mobilizing new technical or human resources). Components of the framework are illustrated by recent results obtained with vulnerable road users (older or people with disabilities) through structured and instrumented observations of actual behavior in situations of moving and through laboratory studies, some of them using a driving simulator. Possible ways of improving the framework are discussed.
