EXPERTISE, SPATIAL ABILITY AND INTUITION IN THE USE OF COMPLEX VISUAL DISPLAYS

摘要

In a naturalistic setting, a large group of U.S. Navy forecasters (N=21) performed a weather forecasting task and saved copies of the visual displays that they consulted to complete the task. On the basis of structured interviews with the forecasters, quantitative analysis of the information content of the displays they used, and psychometric measures of their spatial ability, we found two key results. First, forecasters of lower spatial ability populated their forecasting displays with more extraneous meteorological variables than did forecasters of higher spatial ability. Second, we found quantitative support for the previously qualitatively observed trend for more experienced forecasters to exhibit a different temporal pattern of display use. Experienced forecasters tend to consult observations before models, and less experienced forecasters show the reverse trend. This work implies that forecasters of lower spatial ability may benefit from training that teaches them to display only the variables they need to complete a task, and that it may be beneficial to customize forecasting displays to the spatial ability of their users.