Cognitive modeling for understanding interactions between people and decision support tools in complex and uncertain environments: A study protocol

Isaac Molina; Edmundo Molina-Perez; Fernanda Sobrino; Mario Tellez-Rojas; Luis Serra-Barragan; Alejandra Mitzi Castellón-Flores; Yessica Orozco; Adolfo de Unanue; Fatima Rojas-Iturria

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0290683

Cognitive modeling for understanding interactions between people and decision support tools in complex and uncertain environments: A study protocol

PLoS One. 2023 Oct 5;18(10):e0290683. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0290683. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Isaac Molina¹, Edmundo Molina-Perez¹, Fernanda Sobrino¹, Mario Tellez-Rojas^{2

3}, Luis Serra-Barragan¹, Alejandra Mitzi Castellón-Flores¹, Yessica Orozco¹, Adolfo de Unanue¹, Fatima Rojas-Iturria¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Government and Public Transformation, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico City, México.
² Faculty of Higher Studies Iztacala, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico.
³ Instituto Politecnico Nacional, Centro Interdisciplario de Ciencias de Salud, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico.

Abstract

Background: Recent advances in Computational Intelligence Tools and the escalating need for decision-making in the face of complex and uncertain phenomena like pandemics, climate change, and geopolitics necessitate understanding the interaction between these tools and human behavior. It is crucial to efficiently utilize the decision-makers cognitive resources in addressing specific problems.

Methods: The main goal of this present protocol is to describe the effect that CITs (Computational Intelligence Tools) have on decisions made during complex and uncertain situations. It is an exploratory study with a mixed methodology. Solomon's group experiment design includes a narrative analysis of cognitive features such as integrative complexity (IC), cognitive flexibility (CF), and fluid intelligence (FI). Additionally, measures of neural activity (NA), physiological measures (PM), and eye-tracking data (ET) will be collected during the experimental session to examine the marginal impact of these processes on decision outcomes (DO) and their relation to CIT capabilities. To achieve this objective, 120 undergraduate and graduate students involved in decision-making will participate as subjects. The approximate duration of the study will be 2 years. Strict adherence to the relevant ethical considerations will be maintained during the performance of the experimental tasks.

Discussion: The study will provide valuable information on CITs' effect on decision-making under complex and uncertain contexts. This will help to better understand the link between technology and human behavior, which has important implications. CIT designers can use future results and at the same time, it will be possible to understand cognitive, behavioral, physiological processes, and even the subjective assessment of individuals when they use technological tools to solve a problem.

Copyright: © 2023 Molina et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Artificial Intelligence*
Cognition*
Humans
Uncertainty

Grants and funding

All the authors of this study are funded by grant FA9550-22-1-0441 provided by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research BOSTON 495 SUMMER STREET, ROOM 627 BOSTON, MA 02210-2109 617-753-3283, FAX: 617-753-4605 ONR_BOSTON@NAVY.MIL (grant information available at https://apply07.grants.gov/apply/opportunities/instructions/PKG00267672-instructions.pdf). This study is also supported by Tecnologico de Monterrey Challenge-Based Research Funding Program. The funders did not and will not have a role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.