Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) operators’ accuracy and confidence of decisions: Professional pilots or video game players?

Figures & data

Figure 1. Standard set of screens used to create the vignette videos.

Table 1. Means and standard deviations of psychometric measures across UAS group

Psychometric	UAS group
	Control	VGP	Private pilot	Professional pilot
Ambiguity tolerance A	50.13 (5.22)	49.13 (6.69)	48.60 (9.36)	48.13 (6.65)
Decision style	56.93 (11.42)	54.60 (10.49)	55.40 (7.82)	48.93 (8.62)
Ambiguity tolerance B	35.67 (6.76)	33.87 (5.72)	35.27 (4.65)	31.73 (5.66)
Decisiveness	21.27 (5.39)	20.73 (5.61)	20.13 (4.16)	17.20 (3.71)
Neuroticism	23.20* (8.69)	19.67 (6.47)	20.87 (8.13)	15.40* (4.84)
Extraversion	29.53 (8.23)	33.00 (6.61)	28.47 (5.73)	31.80 (6.34)
Open to experiences	32.80 (6.84)	29.60 (7.04)	28.80 (5.85)	28.73 (5.70)
Agreeableness	30.07 (5.41)	28.13* (4.93)	30.07 (5.01)	33.80* (5.62)
Conscientiousness	32.33 (6.60)	31.00 (4.75)	33.07 (7.05)	36.67 (4.75)

Note: Standard deviations are shown in parenthesis.

* p < .05.

Table 2. Means and standard deviations for overall accuracy and decision danger accuracy

UAS group	Accuracy and decision danger (DD)
	Overall accuracy	Low DD	Medium DD	High DD
Control	13.47 (3.83)	4.27 (1.83)	5.20 (1.15)	4.13 (1.69)
VGP	14.80 (2.15)	5.40 (.83)	5.20 (.862)	4.13 (1.55)
Private pilot	15.20 (3.41)	5.27 (1.44)	5.60 (1.24)	4.33 (1.80)
Professional pilot	15.67 (2.50)	5.47 (1.13)	5.33 (.72)	4.67 (1.40)
Total	14.78 (3.08)	5.10* (1.41)	5.33* (1.00)	4.32* (1.59)

Note: Standard deviations are shown in parenthesis.

* p < .001.

Table 3. Means and standard deviations for overall confidence and decision danger confidence

UAS group	Confidence and decision danger (DD)
	Overall confidence	Low DD	Medium DD	High DD
Control	147.27** (33.66)	48.93 (11.30)	51.33 (11.90)	47.00 (11.74)
VGP	172.53* (24.72)	59.53 (8.24)	58.60 (7.83)	54.40 (9.70)
Private pilot	159.33 (16.35)	54.93 (6.23)	53.60 (5.54)	50.80 (6.13)
Professional pilot	180.47** (18.24)	62.80 (5.80)	60.40 (6.50)	57.27 (8.85)
Total	164.90 (26.83)	56.55*** (9.55)	55.98*** (8.89)	52.37*** (9.88)

Note: Standard deviations are shown in parenthesis.

* p < .05.

** p < .02.

*** p < .001.

Table 4. Means and standard deviations for overall W-S C-A and decision danger W-S C-A

UAS group	W-S C-A and decision danger (DD)
	Overall WS-CA	Low DD	Medium DD	High DD
Control	.23 (.20)	.34 (.38)	.19 (.53)	−.10 (.41)
VGP	.30 (.31)	.21 (.53)	.22 (.46)	.27 (.47)
Private pilot	.34 (.18)	.48 (.40)	.24 (.39)	.09 (.54)
Professional pilot	.26 (.27)	.57 (.40)	.27 (.45)	.04 (.38)
Total	.29 (.24)	.40** (.44)	.23* (.45)	.07** (.46)

Note: Standard deviations are shown in parenthesis.

* p < .05.

** p < .001.

Table 5. Means and standard deviations for decision confidence of decision danger and decision choice

Decision danger (DD)	Decision choice (DC)	Control	VGP	Private	Professional	Total
Low	Manual	14.33 (3.24)	18.47 (2.10)	16.80 (2.88)	19.20 (1.15)	17.20 (3.06)
High	Manual	12.07 (4.82)	15.60 (3.91)	14.40 (2.26)	17.40 (2.79)	14.87 (4.00)
Low	Automatic	34.60 (8.54)	40.40 (7.19)	38.13 (4.42)	43.60 (5.03)	39.18 (7.15)
High	Automatic	34.93 (8.47)	38.80 (7.13)	36.40 (5.12)	39.87 (8.00)	37.50 (7.37)

Note: Standard deviations are shown in parenthesis.

Table 6. Means and standard deviations for decision confidence in decision danger and decision choice

Decision danger (DD)	Decision choice (DC)	Mean (SD)	Decision danger (DD)	Decision choice (DC)	Mean (SD)
High	Manual	14.87 (4.00)	High	Automatic	37.50 (7.37)
Low	Manual	17.20 (3.06)	Low	Automatic	39.18 (7.15)
Total manual		16.34 (3.54)	Total automatic		38.34 (6.74)

Note: Standard deviations are shown in parenthesis.