The Effect of Gestalt Psychology on the System-Wide Trust Strategy in Automation

Recent research has indicated that operators may utilize the system-wide trust strategy when presented with two automation aids of unknown reliability (Keller, Bean, & Rice, 2009; Keller & Rice, 2010; Keller & Rice, 2009). This is undesirable as operators may under-utilize reliable aids when they are paired with unreliable aids. Two variables derived from Gestalt psychology’s law of similarity were employed in an attempt to overcome this effect: gauge shape congruence and operator knowledge of the aids’ reliability. Results indicated that altering the gauge shapes had no effect on operator performance. However, providing aid reliability information to the operator did have a positive effect on operator performance. More specifically, operators reacted to alarms more quickly and reduced their false alarm rates; however, they did not improve their hit rates. Future work should be conducted to assess more fully the role of aid reliability information and Gestalt psychology as they relate to the system-wide trust strategy.