A Comparison of Verbal and Graphical Information Presentation in a Complex Information Integration Decision Task

Abstract : This report describes an experiment conducted to evaluate the relative merits of verbal as opposed to spatial-graphical display formats in presenting sequential information to subjects in a tactical decision making task. The task required subjects to integrate a series of information messages bearing on the likelihood that one of two hypotheses pertaining to tactical maneuvers was in effect. Each information source could vary in its diagnosticity and its reliability. These variables contribute independently to the total valence or information valence of the cue. Subjects integrated information in problems of either 6, 8, or 10 cues, presented at a slow or fast speed, in either a verbal (numerical) or spatial (graphical) format. After each problem, subjects made a choice of the most likely hypothesis accompanied by an analog judgment of their confidence in that choice. The results were examined from two perspective: (1) from the perspective of human engineering guidelines, the data indicated that subjects' decisions were more accurate using the spatial display. (2) The data for both displays were analyzed from the perspective of different models of probablistic information integration.

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