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

Abstract

System-wide trust theory (Keller & Rice, 2010) suggests that automated aids associated with multiple independent gauges tend to be treated as one system. Meyer's (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 Meyer's 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.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We wish to thank Joshua Sandry, Gayle Hunt, and David Keller for their helpful comments. Special thanks to Sandra Deming and Laurel Ashley for their help in collecting data and to Chandrasekhar Thotakura for programming the simulator.