Operator Reliance on Automation: Theory and Data

This chapter describes the results of a series of studies to investigate these and further relationships. F. Lerch and M. Prietula examined how attributions of qualities to agents affected operator trust in the agent. Victor Riley suggested that an operator's decision to rely on automation may not depend only on the operator's level of trust in the system, but rather on a more complex relationship among trust, self-confidence, and a number of other factors. The reliance factor represents the probability that an operator will use automation and is influenced by the operator's self-confidence and level of trust in the automation. The use of automation has been either dictated by procedures or left to operator discretion without a good understanding of the various factors that can influence these decisions, even though they may be among the most important decisions an operator can make.