Human Bottleneck

Bottleneck Blog

Benchmarking

What kind of test do we need?

1. One which we can measure the novel information flow unambiguously

2. It must be quantifiable, e.g. in bits per second, not just hearsay

3. That requires the involvement of the conscious mind (as that is what we are trying to reach), and is not a simple reflex

4. Where the task of the unconscious mind is sufficiently simple that the resulting performance is limited by our human input / output interface, and not by the complexity of the intellectual task

5. Long enough that it is representative of our long term learning capability (memory tests over a few seconds are probably not)

6. ?

Note: The first 2 requirements are difficult to quantify for Spoken and Written language.

So far I have focussed on:

•  "Simple" Memory tests:
  • Rapid memorising of Decimal and Binary Digits, and Playing Cards
• Simple Maths tests
  • e.g. adding all the digits in a 100digit input

As there are world records for such achievements from which the bit rate can be deduced.

I welcome any other suggestions via the Blog

                                                                           © Richard Epworth 2009  Updated 2010-May-27 UK Time