Abstract
Four experiments were conducted to determine the relative effectiveness of meter and digital displays currently used for checking the status of a missile's hydraulic control system. In all experiments, information was provided either on a configuration of four digital displays or on a similar configuration of four panel meters. The subjects' task was to determine the class of information being displayed (attitude response) and the condition of the hydraulic system with respect to established tolerance limits (tolerance response).
The main conclusions were:
The tolerance response was performed significantly faster with the digital displays. Error rates for the two display panels were essentially equivalent on both the attitude and tolerance responses. Subjects made significantly more errors in reporting an “in tolerance” condition when the display was “out-of-tolerance” than they made in reporting an “out-of-tolerance” condition when the display was “in tolerance.” This bias was independent of the subjects' previous level of experience on similar tasks.
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