Interpersonal and Human-Automation Trust in an Underwater Mine Detection Task

Abstract

In target detection tasks false alarms (i.e., indicating a target is present when it is absent) decrease trust more than misses. Furthermore, human advisors providing advice at the same time as automation, may impact how users trust and subsequently rely on automated aids. This study aimed to understand whether the false alarm rate (FAR) of an automated target recognition aid impacts trust in the automated aid, trust in a human teammate, or operator self-confidence in a dual-advisor target detection task. Participants completed a mine detection task while receiving advice from a human and an automated advisor. The FAR of the automation was manipulated between groups and trust in each type of advisor was measured. Automation FAR did not influence trust in the automation. Low FAR automation was associated with higher trust in a human teammate and increasing self-confidence over the course of the experiment.