Polychronicity and information acquisition in pilot decision making

This study was designed to test an explanation of the individual differences in the preference for heuristic-based information acquisition interfaces that were reported by Wiggins and Bollwerk (2006) in the context of a simulated in-flight decision task. The information acquisition interfaces were developed on the basis of three decision heuristics: elimination by aspects, frequency comparison, and majority of confirming dimensions. Forty-three pilots, with a mean age of 30, interacted with three information acquisition interfaces during familiarization scenarios and were subsequently asked to select their preferred interface to complete a fourth test scenario. The results indicated that the selection of a particular interface in the test scenario was related to factors other than polychronicity. However, polychronicity was associated with perceptions of the information acquisition interfaces and performance during the familiarization scenarios. The outcomes of the study are discussed in terms of their impact on the development of decision support systems.