Decision neuroscience for improving data visualization of decision support in the FITradeoff method

Abstract

Multi-criteria decision making/aiding problems are very common in everyday life in society. Nevertheless, some difficulties appear when such problems arise and visualization may facilitate this process. Neuroscience deals with the study of the neural system and has had increasing relevance for several areas of knowledge, including multi-criteria decision making/aiding, as it adds to the understanding of human behavior and the decision process. Using neuroscience tools to aid improving data visualization is becoming increasingly relevant, since this is an important issue for decision-making. Therefore, this study seeks to use neuroscience in order to investigate how decision makers evaluate the graphical visualization in FITradeoff method. In this context, a neuroscience experiment using eye-tracking was developed, the main purpose of which was to improve the FITradeoff decision support system and, moreover, to provide information for the analyst about the application of graphical visualization in multi-criteria decision making/aiding problems. The experiment was applied using graduate and postgraduate management engineering students. This paper presents the main results obtained from the experiments, and also an analysis of these results.