Carl Westin

5-4 Transparency hypothesis 97 5-4 Transparency hypothesis In conclusion, previous research suggests that transparency is an attribute of au- tomation reflected in its interface that drives operators’ attitudes toward the system and ultimately their decision to adopt it and accept its output. In a similar way, strategic conformance can be considered an attribute of automation, that reflects the system’s problem solving style. 155 This relationship is illustrated in Figure 5-2, influenced by the relationship between transparency and performance in. 200 Manip- ulating transparency entails varying the degree of meta-information provided, usu- ally with more meta-information resulting in increased transparency. Transparency facilitates understanding of the automation’s behavior and intent, with increased understanding facilitating improved calibration of human attitudes toward the au- tomation. For example, if there are large uncertainties in data processed by the system, or it is operating close to its performance envelope, this should be commu- nicated to the operator. 191 With an accurate understanding of the system’s behavior, the operator is in a better position to decide whether to use the system, or not. The left hand side of Figure 5-2 depicts the hypothesized relationship between automation transparency and automation conformance investigated in this paper. Because the increased transparency facilitates understanding of what the automation is suggesting and why, the value of personalized, conformal, advice lessens. While the operator may not agree with a nonconformal advice, the afforded transparency into the system’s reasoning underlying the advisory facilitates trust and usage of the system. As such, it was hypothesized that conformal advisories would benefit ad- visory acceptance and agreement while reducing response time (similar to findings in previous research 101 ), but only in the low transparency condition. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that the TRI SSD, in comparison with the HB SSD, would be perceived as more transparent, accepted more often, and improve performance, ir- respective of advisory conformance. Conformance Transparency System understanding Attitudes toward system Accept Reject F IGURE 5-2: Relationship between transparency, conformance, and automation use.