Cue Validity Learning in Threat Classification Judgments
Abstract
This report describes an experiment that investigated probabilistic cue learning in a simulated naval warfare threat classification task. The Fast and Frugal Heuristic approach was employed to develop an heuristic, called the "Take-the-Best-for-Classification" (TTB-C) heuristic, that performs the threat classification task with minimal information and computation. Two variables were manipulated in this experiment. The first, varied between subjects, was the Instruction Set given to participants (Describe vs. Discriminate), which emphasized either the patterns of cue values associated with friend and foe contacts or the differences in typical cue patterns between the two types of contact. The second variable, varied within subjects, was the size of the differences among cue validities (Cue Validity Differences) of the four cues. Four hypotheses were derived from the TTB-C heuristic and tested. Although the results provided support for only one hypothesis, further studies are warranted to explore the potential use of fast and frugal heuristics under conditions of uncertainty, time pressure, and resources costs imposed on data gathering.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2003
- Accession Number
- ADA630717
Entities
People
- David J. Bryant
Organizations
- Defence Research and Development Canada