Cover Image
QR Code

Decision support improves information integration and criterion placement in a multi-cue signal-identification task.

Identifying contacts in a military context can require operators to integrate multiple cues and to adjust response criteria to event base rates. The current experiment tested whether support from a decision aid would improve these processes. Participants performed a signal identification task that r...

Full description

Published in:Ergonomics Vol. 68; no. 7; pp. 1011 - 1025
Main Authors: McCarley, Jason S., Knight, Matthew, Fletcher, Kingsley
Format: research tables/charts Journal Article
Published: Taylor & Francis Ltd Jul2025
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=186082135&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: ccm
    uiTerm: 186082135
    longDbName: CINAHL Complete
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    dissinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        00140139
        ERO
      jtl: Ergonomics
      issn: 00140139
      maglogo: Y
    pubinfo:
      dt: Jul2025
      vid: 68
      iid: 7
      pid: 377
      pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd
      place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    artinfo:
      ui:
        186082135
        178874050
        186082135
        186082135
        10.1080/00140139.2024.2386562
        186082135
      ppf: 1011
      ppct: 14
      formats:
      tig:
        atl: Decision support improves information integration and criterion placement in a multi-cue signal-identification task.
      aug:
        au:
          McCarley, Jason S.
          Knight, Matthew
          Fletcher, Kingsley
        affil: School of Psychological Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
      sug:
        subj:
          Decision Support Techniques
          Quality Improvement
          Information Management
          Task Performance and Analysis
          Cues
          Decision Making
          Military Services
          Signal Processing, Computer Assisted
          Human
          Interpersonal Relations
          Descriptive Statistics
          Automation
          Funding Source
      ab: Identifying contacts in a military context can require operators to integrate multiple cues and to adjust response criteria to event base rates. The current experiment tested whether support from a decision aid would improve these processes. Participants performed a signal identification task that required them to integrate cues displayed as visual scale readings. In a static condition, participants saw a single set of readings each trial. In dynamic conditions, readings were updated over time. Base rates of signal categories were unequal, requiring participants to adopt biased response criteria to maximise response accuracy. Participants worked with or without an aid that combined cues and base rate information in an ideal manner. Support from the aid pushed participants' response criteria towards optimal and improved integration of dynamic cues. Decision aids may be especially useful when task demands require biased response criteria and when cues are sampled over time. Practitioner summary: Applied decision making often requires operators to gather and integrate multiple probabilistic cues. An experiment examined the information processing steps in multiple-cue decision tasks that could be improved by an automated decision aid. Statistically ideal aids improved operators' response bias and information integration, although operator performance remained suboptimal.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
    refInfo:
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N