The Effect of Repeated Cue Exposure on Post-Completion Errors
Maartje Ament, Anita Lai, Anna L. Cox · eScholarship (California Digital Library) · 2011
Slip errors in routine procedures are notoriously difficult to eliminate.They are not the result of a lack of knowledge, so retraining or increasing motivation is not effective.Recently, a number of studies have used visual cues in an attempt to reduce post-completion errors.These slip errors occur when the last step in a task is forgotten after the main goal has been completed.Visual cues have been shown to be effective in reducing post-completion errors if sufficiently aggressive.However, concerns have been raised over whether repeated exposure to visual cues may lead people to rely on them, and therefore become more prone to errors should the cue inadvertently be unavailable.Alternatively, people may anticipate the appearance of the cue, which may have a positive effect on error rates.We report on an experiment that tests the effect of repeated exposure to a strong visual cue on the post-completion error rate.Participants were repeatedly exposed to an aggressive visual cue just before the post-completion step, and this cue was withdrawn on a number of target trials.Our results show that error rates on these non-cued target trials are similar to those of non-cued control participants.Moreover, eye-movement patterns are similar for target and non-target trials.These results suggest that participants do not become over-reliant on the cue, while they partially support the hypothesis that participants anticipate the appearance of the cue.As such, visual cues are a safe and effective way to reduce slip errors.