Abstract
This paper describes a study on the adaptive response characteristics of a human operator to step changes in the dynamics of a compensatory tracking system.
It is already known that the human operator can adapt himself quickly to a change in the dynamics. The process of adaptation has not, however, been investigated in detail because the adaptation takes place in a very short period.
It is found that the operator adjusts not only his gain but also some other response characteristics. An analysis reveals the following important characteristics;
1) The delay in taking actions in a transient state is smaller than that in a steady state.
2) The operator responds in an open loop fashion and the greater part of the actions seems to be determined by the initial state of the control error.
3) The response characteristics in a transient state are similar to those of the response to a step input.
