Human - computer interface design can reduce misperceptions of feedback

Abstract

According to the misperceptions of feedback hypothesis, people make poor decisions because they do not heed the feedback dynamics in the environment, despite having perfect information about environmental structure. The thesis of this article is that dynamic decision-making performance can be improved by making the feedback structures of the environment more salient using human – computer interface design principles. An experiment was conducted in the context of Strategem-2, a management decision-making simulation used in previous research in this area. One group of participants used the original interface for Strategem-2, whereas another group used a new interface that was designed according to human – computer interface design principles. All participants were given a pre- and post-test to assess their knowledge of the simulation. The results reveal that the new interface leads to improved performance, and a greater improvement in knowledge of the microworld compared to the original interface. This finding is important because it suggests that misperceptions of feedback can be reduced through improved human – computer interface design. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.