title: The application of reduced-processing decision support systems to facilitate the acquisition of decision-making skills.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The study was designed to examine whether the availability of reduced-processing decision support system interfaces could improve the decision making of inexperienced personnel in the context of
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Although research into reduced-processing decision support systems has demonstrated benefits in minimizing cognitive load, these benefits have not typically translated into direct improvements in decision accuracy because of the tendency for inexperienced personnel to focus on less-critical information. The authors investigated whether reduced-processing interfaces that direct users' attention toward the most critical cues for decision making can produce improvements in decision-making performance.
  
  
  METHODS
  Novice participants made incident command-related decisions in experimental conditions that differed according to the amount of information that was available within the interface, the level of control that they could exert over the presentation of information, and whether they had received decision training.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results revealed that despite receiving training, participants improved in decision accuracy only when they were provided with an interface that restricted information access to the most critical cues.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It was concluded that an interface that restricts information access to only the most critical cues in the scenario can facilitate improvements in decision performance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Decision support system interfaces that encourage the processing of the most critical cues have the potential to improve the accuracy and timeliness of decisions made by inexperienced personnel.
authors.affiliation: School of Social Sciences and Psychology, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith South NSW 2751, Australia. n.perry@uws.edu.au
authors.forename: Nathan C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Perry
authors.forename: Mark W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Wiggins
authors.forename: Merilyn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Childs
authors.forename: Gerard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fogarty
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D003463:Cues; D003657:Decision Making; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D001330:Electronic Data Processing; D005260:Female; D061388:Firefighters / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D055815:Young Adult