Influence of meta-information on decision-making: Lessons learned from four case studies

This paper discusses the results of four empirical evaluations that assess the effects that visualizing system meta-information have on decision-making, particularly on confidence, trust, workload, time and performance. These four case studies correspond to the analysis of (1) the effects that visualizing uncertainty associated with sensor values (position, speed, altitude, etc. and track quality) have on decision-making on a ground to air defense scenario; (2) the effects that the visualization of the car´s certainty on its own capability of driving autonomously have on drivers´ trust and performance; (3) the influence that the visualization of various qualifiers associated with the proposals given by the support system has on air traffic operators carrying out identification tasks and (4) the effects that the presentation of different abstraction levels of information have on classification tasks carried out by fighter pilots. We summarize the results of these four case studies and discuss lessons learned for the design of future computerized support systems regarding the visualization of meta-information.