With the advent of time sharing computer systems in the late 1960s, temporal factors came into the focus of human-computer interaction (HCI). To the present author’s knowledge, NICKERSON et al. (1968) and CARBONELL, et al. (1968) were the first authors to point to the psychological importance of involuntary delays in HCI. They concluded that computer-system originated waiting times should either be rather short, thus preventing the work flow from being interrupted, or be long enough to allow for the so-called job swapping which means executing another task during the waiting period.
Access provided by Autonomous University of Puebla. Download to read the full chapter text
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
References
Barber RE, Lucas HC (1983) System response time, operator productivity, and job satisfaction. Communications of the ACM, 26: 972–986.
Boucsein W (1988) Wartezeiten am Rechner – Erholung oder Streß? Zeitschrift für Arbeitswissenschaft, 42: 222–225.
Boucsein W (1993) Psychophysiology in the work place – goals and methods. In: Schriftenreihe der Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsmedizin, Sonderschrift 2: Psychophysiology of mental workload. Haefner, Berlin, 35–41.
Boucsein W (2000) The use of psychophysiology for evaluating stress-strain processes in human-computer interaction. In: Backs RW, Boucsein W (Eds.) Engineering Psychophysiology. Issues and Applications. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ, 289–309.
Boucsein W (2006) Psychophysiologische Methoden in der Ingenieurpsychologie. In: Zimolong B, Konradt U (Eds.) Enzyklopädie der Psychologie. Themenbereich D Praxisgebiete. Serie III Wirtschafts-, Organisations- und Arbeitspsychologie. Band 2 Ingenieurpsychologie. Hogrefe, Göttingen: 317–358.
Boucsein W (2007) Systemresponsezeiten. In: Landau K (Ed.) Lexikon Arbeitsgestaltung. Best Practice im Arbeitsprozess. Gentner Verlag, Stuttgart: 1215–1217.
Boucsein W, Figge BR, Goebel M, Luczak H, Schaefer F (1998) Beanspruchungskompensation beim Multi-Tasking während der Bearbeitung einer CAD-Simulation. Zeitschrift für Arbeitswissenschaft, 52: 221–230.
Boucsein W, Greif S, Wittekamp J (1984) Systemresponsezeiten als Belastungsfaktor bei Bildschirm-Dialogtätigkeiten. Zeitschrift für Arbeitswissenschaft, 38: 113–122.
Carbonell JR, Elkind JI, Nickerson RS (1968) On the psychological importance of time in a time sharing system. Human Factors, 10: 135–142.
Card SK, Moran TP, Newell A (1983) The psychology of human-computer interaction. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ.
Carriero NJ (1975) The effects of paced tapping on heart rate, skin conductance, and muscle potential. Psychophysiology, 12: 130–135.
Greif S (1983) Streß und Gesundheit: Ein Bericht über Forschungen zur Belastung am Arbeitsplatz. Zeitschrift für Sozialisationsforschung und Erziehungssoziologie, 3: 41–58.
Henning RA, Sauter SL, Salvendy G, Krieg EF (1989) Microbreak length, performance, and stress in a data entry task. Ergonomics, 32: 855–864.
Holling H (1993) Reduction of stress by the display of system operations in human computer interaction. In: Luczak H, Çakir A, Çakir G (Eds.) Work with display units. North-Holland, Amsterdam, 129–134.
Holling H, Gediga G (1987) Some theorems on stress in waiting times – predictions from a mathematical model. In: Roskam EE, Suck R (Eds.) Progress in mathematical psychology. North-Holland, Amsterdam: 233–249.
Hüttner J, Wandke H, Rätz A (1995). Benutzerfreundliche Sofware. Psychologisches Wissen für die ergonomische Schnittstellengestaltung. Berlin, Paschke.
Jacko JA, Sears A, Borella MS (2000) The effect of network delay and media on user perception of web resources. Behavior and Information Technology, 19: 427–439.
Kohlisch O, Kuhmann W (1997) System response time and readiness for task execution – the optimum duration of inter-task delays. Ergonomics, 40: 265–280.
Kohlisch O, Schaefer F (1996) Physiological changes during computer tasks: responses to mental load or to motor demands? Ergonomics, 39: 213–224.
Kuhmann W (1979) Realisation eines Verfahrens zur experimentellen Anforderungssteuerung bei einer einfachen Konzentrationsaufgabe. In: Vaitl D (Ed.) Psychophysiologie und Verhaltensmodifikation, Bericht über dams IV. Kolloquium "Psychophysiologische Methodik", 13. – 16.12. 1979, Spitzigsee, Obb. Justus-Liebig-Universität, Gießen, 223–228.
Kuhmann W (1989) Experimental investigation of stress-inducing properties of system response times. Ergonomics, 32: 271–280.
Kuhmann W, Boucsein W, Schaefer F, Alexander J (1987) Experimental investigation of psychophysiological stress-reactions induced by different system response times in human-computer interaction. Ergonomics, 30: 933–943.
Kuhmann W, Schaefer F (2007) Benutzerverhalten und Benutzerzustand in Abhängigkeit von der Vorhersehbarkeit systembedingter Wartezeiten. Zeitschrift für Arbeitswissenschaft, 61: 183–194.
Kuhmann W, Schaefer F, Boucsein W (1990) Effekte von Wartezeiten innerhalb einfacher Aufgaben: Eine Analogie zu Wartezeiten in der Mensch-Computer-Interaktion. Zeitschrift für Experimentelle und Angewandte Psychologie, 37: 242–265.
Lambert GN (1984) A comparative study of system response time on program developer productivity. IBM Systems Journal: 23, 36–43.
Lightner NJ, Bose I, Salvendy G (1996) What is wrong with the World-Wide-Web? A diagnosis of some problems and prescription of some remedies. Ergonomics, 39: 995–1004.
Luczak H (1987) Psychophysiologische Methoden zur Erfassung psychophysischer Beanspruchungszustände. In: Kleinbeck U, Rutenfranz J (Eds.) Enzyklopädie der Psychologie, Serie III, Band 1. Hogrefe, Göttingen, 185–259.
Martin J (1973) Design of man-computer dialogue. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NY.
Melin B, Lundberg U (1997) A biopsychosocial approach to work-stress and musculoskeletal disorders. Journal of Psychophysiology, 11: 238–247.
Miller RB (1968) Response time in man-computer conversational transactions. Proceedings of the Fall Joint Computer Conference, Vol. 33. AFIRS Press, Reston, VA, 267–277.
Monat A, Averill JR, Lazarus RS (1972) Anticipatory stress and coping reactions under various conditions of uncertainty. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 24: 237–253.
Nickerson RS, Elkind JI, Carbonell JR (1968) Human factors and the design of time sharing computer systems. Human Factors, 10: 127–134.
Nielsen J (2000) Designing web usability: the practice of simplicity. New Riders, Indianapolis.
Peters T (1977) Arbeitsmedizinische Forderungen an die Bildschirmtextverarbeitung. Report, 5th European Congress for Text Processing, Intertext 1977.
Polkosky MD, Lewis JR (2002) Effect of auditory waiting cues on time estimation in speech recognition telephony applications. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 14: 423–446.
Rauterberg M (1992) An empirical comparison of menu-selection (CUI) and desktop (GUI) computer programs carried out by beginners and experts. Behaviour and Information Technology, 11: 227–236.
Sackman H (1970) Experimental analysis of man-computer problem-solving. Human Factors, 12: 187–201.
Schaefer F (1990) The effect of system response times on temporal predictability of work flow in human-computer interaction. Human Performance, 3: 173–186.
Schaefer F, Kohlisch O (1995) The effect of anticipatory mismatch in work flow on task performance and event related brain potentials. In: Grieco A, Molteni G, Occhipinti E, Piccoli B (Eds.) Work With Display Units 94 North-Holland, Amsterdam, 241–245.
Schaefer F, Kuhmann W, Boucsein W, Alexander J (1986) Beanspruchung durch Bildschirmtätigkeit bei experimentell variierten Systemresponsezeiten. Zeitschrift für Arbeitswissenschaft, 40: 31–38.
Schaefer F, Schäfer R, Boucsein W (2000) Auswirkungen von Prozeßlaufzeit und Prozessindikatoren beim Multi-Tasking auf Arbeitsstrategie und Beanspruchung des Benutzers. Zeitschrift für Arbeitswissenschaft, 54: 267–275.
Schleifer LM, Amick BC (1989) System response time and method of pay: stress effects in computer-based tasks. International Journal of Human Computer Interaction, 1: 23–39.
Schleifer LM, Okogbaa OG (1990) System response time and method of pay: cardiovascular stress effects in computer-based tasks. Ergonomics, 33: 1495–1509.
Shneiderman B (1984) Response time and display rate in human performance with computers. Computing Surveys, 16: 265–285.
Shneiderman B (1984) The psychology of human-computer interaction. Datamation, 30: 236–240.
Shneiderman B (1992) Response time and display rate. In Shneiderman B (Ed.) Designing the user interface. Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass, 277–301.
Shneiderman B, Plaisant C (2005) Designing the user interface: strategies for effective human-computer interaction. Addison-Wesley, Boston.
Smith D (1983) Faster is better: a business case for subsecond response time. In Depth, Computerworld (April 18), 2–22.
Thum M, Boucsein W, Kuhmann W, Ray WJ (1995) Standardized task strain and system response times in human-computer interaction. Ergonomics, 38: 1342–1351.
Treurniet WC, Hearty PJ, Planas MA (1985) Viewers’ responses to delays in simulated teletext reception. Behaviour and Information Technology, 4: 177–188.
Trimmel M, Meixner-Pendleton M, Haring S (2003) Stress response caused by system response time when searching for Information on the Internet. Human Factors, 45: 615–621.
Williges RC, Williges BH (1982) Modeling the human operator in computer-based data entry. Human Factors, 24: 285–299.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Boucsein, W. (2009). Forty Years of Research on System Response Times – What Did We Learn from It?. In: Schlick, C. (eds) Industrial Engineering and Ergonomics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-01293-8_42
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-01293-8_42
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-01292-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-01293-8
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)