§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what funding is given to the study of the psychology of the interface between computers and human operators, with a view to redesigning computers; and what representations he has received from Science and Engineering Research Council and Natural Environment Research Council on this topic.
Mr. JacksonA variety of work is carried out on the human-computer interface, although not all of it is applicable to the redesigning of computers. The Science and Engineering Research Council has spent some £11.5 million on collaborative research into studies of the interface between computers and human operators over the five years of the Alvey programme. The Medical Research Council is supporting research on the psychology of the interface between computers and human operators, at its applied psychology unit and the MRCESRC social applied psychology unit. In 1986–87, the funding on this research was £0.51 million. The economic and social research council has supported research costing in total about £0.25 million over the last three years, largely in support of the cognitive science and information technology initiative. We have received no formal representations from these councils.