Effects of Controlled Element Dynamics on Human Feedforward Behavior in Ramp-Tracking Tasks

In real-life manual control tasks, human controllers are often required to follow a visible and predictable reference signal, enabling them to use feedforward control actions in conjunction with feedback actions that compensate for errors. Little is known about human control behavior in these situations. This paper investigates how humans adapt their feedforward control dynamics to the controlled element dynamics in a combined ramp-tracking and disturbance-rejection task. A human-in-the-loop experiment is performed with a pursuit display and vehicle-like controlled elements, ranging from a single integrator through second-order systems with a break frequency at either 3, 2, or 1 rad/s, to a double integrator. Because the potential benefits of feedforward control increase with steeper ramp segments in the target signal, three steepness levels are tested to investigate their possible effect on feedforward control with the various controlled elements. Analyses with four novel models of the operator, fitted to time-domain data, reveal feedforward control for all tested controlled elements and both (nonzero) tested levels of ramp steepness. For the range of controlled element dynamics investigated, it is found that humans adapt to these dynamics in their feedforward response, with a close to perfect inversion of the controlled element dynamics. No significant effects of ramp steepness on the feedforward model parameters are found.