Includes bibliographical references and index.

pt. I. Activity in studying performance. Introduction to applied systemic-structural activity theory ; The relationship between external and internal aspects in activity theory and its importance in the study of human work -- pt. II. Human-computer interaction. Task concept and its major attributes in ergonomics and psychology ; Task concept in production and nonproduction environments ; Microgenetic principles in the study of computer-based tasks ; Abandoned actions reveal design flaws : an illustration by a Web-survey task -- pt. III. Evaluation of computer users' psychophysiological functional state. Optimization of human-computer interaction by adjusting psychophysiological state of the operator ; Psychophysiological analysis of students' functional states during computer training -- pt. IV. Work activity in aviation. Characteristics of pilots' activity in emergency situations resulting from technical failure ; Functional analysis of pilot activity : a method of investigation of flight safety ; Methodology for teaching flight-specific English to nonnative English-speaking air-traffic controllers -- pt. V. Special topics in the study of human work from the activity theory perspective. Functional analysis of attention ; Real and potential structures of activity and the interrelationship with features of personality ; Applications of laser-based acupunture to improve operators' psychophysiological states ; Information processing and holistic learning and training in an organization : a systemic-structural activity theoretical approach ; Effort, fatigue, sleepiness, and attention networks activity : a functional magnetic resonance imaging study.