Effects of information sequence and irrelevant distractor information when using a computer-based decision aid

Computer-based decision aids are intended to support and improve human judgments. Frequently, the largest portion of the design effort is devoted to the technical aspects of the system; behavioral aspects are often overlooked. As a result, the decision aid may be ineffective. An experiment was conducted to examine the effects of two information structure variables that theoretically affect judgments: information sequence and irrelevant distractor information. Auditor subjects made continuing existence judgments for client-banks after interacting with one of four alternative decision aids. The decision aids are modifications of a system developed by an international accountancy firm. Judgments were predicted to be more accurate when: (1) diagnostic information is presented late rather than early in the information sequence and (2) when no irrelevant distractor information is presented. Further, judgment confidence was predicted to be unrelated to either information sequence or irrelevant distractor information. The experimental data support all three predictions.