Past automation research has focused primarily on machine-related factors (e.g., automation reliability) and human-related factors (e.g., accountability). Other machine-related factors such as type of automation errors, misses or false alarms, have been noticeably overlooked. These two automation errors correspond to potential operator errors, omission (misses) and commission (false alarms), which have proven to directly affect operators trust in automation. This research examined how automation-error-type affects operator trust and reliance in and perceived reliability of automated decision aids. This present research confirmed that perceived reliability is often lower than actual system reliability and that false alarms significantly reduced operator trust in the automation more so than do misses. In addition, this study found that there does not appear to be an effect on the level of subjective trust within each experimental condition (i.e., type of automation error) based on age. There does, however, appear to be a significant difference in the reliance on automation between older and younger adult participants attributed to differences in perceived workload.

Previous research efforts aimed at understanding the relationship between automation reliability and reliance on the automation have mainly focused on a single dimension of reliability, the automations error rate. Efforts to understand the effects of additional dimensions, such as types of errors, have merely provided suggestions about the effects that automation false alarms and misses can have on human behavior). Furthermore, other dimensions of reliability, such as the distribution of errors in time, have been almost completely ignored. A multi-task simulation of an agricultural vehicle was used in this investigation. The simulator was composed of two main tasks, a collision avoidance task and a tracking task. The collision avoidance task was supported by an imperfect automated collision avoidance system and the tracking task was performed manually. The results of this investigation indicated that there are distinct patterns of reliance that develop as a function of error type, which are dependent on the state of the automation (alarms or non-alarms). The different distributions of errors across time had an effect on the estimates of reliability and subjective trust ratings. The recency of errors was negatively related to perceived reliability and trust. The results of the current investigation also suggest that older adults are able to adjust their behavior according to the characteristics of the automation, although it takes them longer to do so. Furthermore, it appears that older adults are willing to use automated systems, as long as they are reliable enough to reduce workload.

Doctorat en sciences psychologiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Doctorat en Sciences Psychologiques et de l'éducation / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished