The performance effects of graphic and verbal representations of uncertainty were investigated within the context of a spatial problem., Sixteen experienced naval submarine officers acted as decision makers (i.e., submarine commanders) in eight simulated scenarios. Four scenario problems were presented with either a verbal or a graphic representation of uncertainty. The degree of uncertainty was controlled by manipulating oceanic conditions and information modeling. The graphic representation of uncertainty resulted in superior range estimates only when the oceanic noise was high and the environmental information was properly modeled. No reliable differences in confidence were observed. These results suggest that for spatial problems, a graphic/spatial representation of uncertainty may considerably improve the judgments of decision makers.

Decision making and situation understanding are related to information-gathering strategies used by experienced, intermediate, and novice decision makers. Differences according to level of experience were predicted for seven strategies. These predictions were tested in a process-tracing experiment employing a submarine search scenario. The subjects were three groups of naval officers ranging in experience from former commanding officers to students in the first course for potential submarine officers. Differences were found among the groups in use of information-gathering strategies, situation understanding, and decision accuracy. The results are discussed in terms of the influence of experience on the decision process and implications for decision aiding.This article reports on research that brings together two related themes in the recent literature. The first of these is the work on decision-making strategies done by Payne (1982),

Current theories of gesture production all suggest that spatial working memory is a critical component of iconic gesture production. However, none of the models has a selection mechanism for what aspect of spatial working memory is gestured. We explored how expert and journeyman scientists gestured while discussing their work. Participants were most likely to make iconic gestures about change over time (spatial transformations), less likely to gesture about spatial relations and locations (geometric relations), and far less likely to gesture about the magnitude of spatial entities. We also found that experts were especially likely to have a high degree of association between iconic gestures and spatial transformations. These results show that different features of spatial language are gestured about at different rates. We suggest that current gesture production models need to be expanded to include selection mechanisms to account for these differences. Report Documentation PageForm Public reporting burden for the collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to a penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number.

Scaled worlds preserve certain functional relationships of a complex task environment while paring away others. The functional relationships preserved are defined by the questions of interest to the researcher. Different scaled worlds of the same task may preserve and pare away different functional relationships. In this paper we use the example of Ned to discuss the use of scaled worlds in applied cognitive research. Ned is based on a detailed cognitive task analysis of submarine approach officers as they attempt to localize an enemy submarine hiding in deep water. For Ned we attempted to preserve the functional relationships inherent in the approach officer's information environment while paring away other aspects of his task environment. Scaled worlds attempt to maintain the realism inherent in the preserved functional relationship while being tractable for the researcher and engaging to the participant.

No abstract