Effects of Automation Failure in a Luggage Screening Task: A Comparison between Direct and Indirect Cueing

Abstract

The present study investigated the use of two automated aids of different reliabilities in a luggage screening task. A Direct Cue consisting of a green circle around a potential target directs attention to a specific part of the luggage image, while an Indirect Cue, consisting of a green border around an image determined to have a target, does not. Direct Cues offer an advantage in visual inspection tasks because they guide attention to specific areas of the visual image but this can also cause attentional tunneling. Furthermore, the reliance on automation may negatively impact manual performance after the aid is removed or is no longer available. Thus, two issues were investigated in the current study: (1) how do failures in Direct and Indirect Cues affect reliance and (2) how does a complete failure affect performance after operators had the use of an automated aid? Results suggest that reliance patterns were more optimal with the Direct Cue than with the Indirect Cue and performance with a more reliable Indirect Cue was not much better than a less reliable one. The results also suggest that manual performance, when the aid was removed, was better for participants who had used the automated aids compared to control participants who did not have any use of the aid previously. The advantage of previously aided performance on subsequent manual performance was greatest for those who had used the more reliable Direct Cue. Explanations and implications are discussed.