Jeremy Schwark

Using System-Wide Trust Theory to Reveal the Contagion Effects of Automation False Alarms and Misses on Compliance and Reliance in a Simulated Aviation Task

System-wide trust theory (Keller & Rice, 2010) suggests that automated aids associated with multiple independent gauges tend to be treated as one system. Meyers (2001, 2004) compliance–reliance model indicates that false-alarm-prone and miss-prone automated aids affect operator behavior differently. This study integrates system-wide trust theory with Meyers compliance–reliance model. Participants monitored 8 gauges, each augmented by an automated aid. Aid 1 was either 100% or 70% reliable (either false alarm- or miss-prone), whereas the other aids were perfectly reliable. Participants generally employed a system-wide trust strategy, but this effect was stronger for false alarms compared to misses.

Research Report: Effects of cooperative gaming and avatar customization on subsequent spontaneous helping behavior

Cooperative gaming is quickly becoming the preferred form of entertainment among children and teens. Although game content is typically violent, often producing negative social outcomes, cooperative game play ameliorates its anti-social impact in future formal instances of cooperation. The present study examined the influence of cooperative and competitive game play on subsequent spontaneous helping in a pair of experiments. The mitigating role of playing with a customized or generic avatar was also evaluated. In Experiment 1, participants played doubles tennis in Wii Sports either cooperatively or competitively with a confederate. Results revealed that participants who cooperated picked up significantly more pens spilled by the confederate after gameplay than those that competed, but only when they customized their avatars. In Experiment 2, cooperative game play in Wii Sports Resort canoeing engendered significantly more spontaneous helping regardless of avatar customization. These findings are generally consistent with recent gaming research and suggest that in-game cooperation and competition have more bearing on social outcomes than game content.

Prevalence-based decisions undermine visual search

In visual search, observers make decisions about the presence or absence of a target based on their perception of a target during search. The present study investigated whether decisions can be based on observers’ expectation rather than perception of a target. In Experiment 1, participants were allowed to make target-present responses by clicking on the target or, if the target was not perceived, a target-present button. Participants used the target-present button option more frequently in difficult search trials and when target prevalence was high. Experiment 2 and 3 employed a difficult search task that encouraged the use of prevalence-based decisions. Target presence was reported faster when target prevalence was high, indicating that decisions were, in part, cognitive, and not strictly perceptual. A similar pattern of responses were made even when no targets appeared in the search (Experiment 3). The implication of these prevalence-based decisions for visual search models is discussed.

The Harder the Task, the More Inconsistent the Performance: A PPT Analysis on Task Difficulty

ABSTRACT Previous research has demonstrated that as task difficulty increases, task performance subsequently decreases. These decrements in task performance as difficulty increases have been attributed to the processes individuals use to complete tasks. Over a series of three experiments, Potential Performance Theory (PPT; Trafimow & Rice, 2008; 2009), was used to test the hypothesis that decreases in task performance are, in part, due to inconsistency rather than only systematic factors. Task difficulty was manipulated in three visual search tasks by increasing set size (Experiment 1), decreasing contrast (Experiment 2), and increasing background distracters (Experiment 3). Findings over the three studies indicated that decreases in observed task performance as task difficulty increases are primarily due to a decrease of consistency rather than systematic factors. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.

Evidence for a positive relationship between working-memory capacity and detection of low-prevalence targets in visual search.

Our ability to detect a target in visual search relates to the prevalence of the target, whereby rare targets are missed more than common targets. The current study sought to identify operator characteristics that could account for the higher miss rates associated with rare targets. The results found that working-memory capacity, which is strongly related to attentional control and inhibition of irrelevant information, was significantly correlated with the ability to detect low-prevalence targets. High-capacity observers also exhibited lengthened target-absent responses with rare targets, suggesting that the high-capacity observers were more persistent in their searches than others.

Gender and Personality Trait Measures Impact Degree of Affect Change in a Hedonic Computing Paradigm

To date, affective computing research has acknowledged individual differences with regard to detecting affect, yet little research has explored how these individual differences may determine the degree to which affective computing is successful in manipulating the affect of specific computer users. The current study used individual difference measures to predict how much an individual can be influenced by a hedonic computing paradigm: a simple trivia game. Female participants responded in a greater way to positive affective feedback about their performance than did men. Moreover, several personality traits, including neuroticism, narcissism, self-esteem, and extraversion, augmented the degree to which affect changed as a result of playing the game. The results are consistent with the gender differences hypothesis, and the authors conclude that individual differences, particularly gender and personality traits, play a large role in the potential impact of computing platforms and would be useful in personalizing the affective nature of the human–computer interaction.

Flexibility within working memory and the focus of attention for sequential verbal information does not depend on active maintenance

The focus of attention seems to be a static element within working memory when verbal information is serially presented, unless additional time is available for processing or active maintenance. Experiment 1 manipulated the reward associated with early and medial list positions in a probe recognition paradigm and found evidence that these nonterminal list positions could be retrieved faster and more accurately if participants were appropriately motivated—without additional time for processing or active maintenance. Experiment 2 used articulatory suppression and demonstrated that the underlying maintenance mechanism cannot be attributed to rehearsal, leaving attentional refreshing as the more likely mechanism. These findings suggest that the focus of attention within working memory can flexibly maintain nonterminal early and medial list representations at the expense of other list representations even when there is not additional time for processing or active maintenance. Maintenance seems to be accomplished through an attentional refreshing mechanism.

Simultaneous attentional guidance by working-memory and selection history reveals two distinct sources of attention.

Recent theories of attention have proposed that selection history is a separate, dissociable source of information that influences attention. The current study sought to investigate the simultaneous involvement of selection history and working-memory on attention during visual search. Experiments 1 and 2 used target feature probability to manipulate selection history and found significant effects of both working-memory and selection history, although working-memory dominated selection history when they cued different locations. Experiment 3 eliminated the contribution of voluntary refreshing of working-memory and replicated the main effects, although selection history became dominant. Using the same methodology, but with reduced probability cue validity, both effects were present in Experiment 4 and did not significantly differ in their contribution to attention. Effects of selection history and working-memory never interacted. These results suggest that selection history and working-memory are separate influences on attention and have little impact on each other. Theoretical implications for models of attention are discussed.

Superior Visual Search Accuracy after Exposure to Natural Relative to Urban Environments

Recent studies have demonstrated a performance benefit when interacting in natural compared to urban environments. Presently, we are interested in testing whether visual search performance would differ depending on environmental exposure. We exposed participants to images of either natural scenes or urban scenes and asked them to complete a visual conjunction search (identifying the letter O embedded in an array of Q’s). Consistent with existing literature, findings revealed that participants were more accurate at identifying targets when they were exposed to images of nature relative to participants exposed to images of urban environments.

The influence of spatial and feature probability cuing in visual search.

Certain aspects of a visual search task, such as the location where a target often appears, are learned over time and can serve as a source of attentional guidance. An example of this implicit learning, spatial probability cuing speeds detection of targets that appear in probable locations. The current study investigated target feature probability learning and its relation to implicit spatial probability learning. Results reveal that individuals are sensitive to small changes in the spatial probability of targets, even incidentally learning moderate probabilities. However, feature-based probability differences impacted visual search times much less. Implications for these findings are discussed.