ABSTRACT
Compatibility refers to “the capability of … performing … in harmonious … or congenial combination with another or others” (American Heritage Dictionary). As applied to the psychology of information processing, the concept thus refers to the congenial or harmonious combination of information representation at a set of entities (i.e. more than one). In the context of human factors (human interaction with systems), five such entities concern us: (1) information represented within the system; (2) information displayed by the system; (3) information perceived by the human; (4) information understood by the human using their cognitive mental model; and (5) information associated with the response. From the perspective of compatibility, the representation of the display and within perception can be combined into a single entity. In psychological research, the term “stimulus” usually refers to perception. In human factors applications, the concern is typically with the display, which is perceived. Since compatibility defines the harmonious relationship or mapping between sets of entities, there are several types of compatibility to consider here. High compatibility between the display and either the mental model or the response is a critically important feature for effective systems design (Wickens 1992; Proctor and Van Zandt 1994).
