EXP: Teaching Bias Mitigation through Training Games with Application in Credibility Attribution

网络学习和未来学习技术计划资助的努力将有助于展望下一代学习技术，并促进我们对人们在技术丰富的环境中如何学习的了解。网络学习探索(EXP)项目通过设计和构建新的学习技术，并研究它们促进学习的可能性和有效使用它们的挑战，来探索新类型的学习技术的可行性。这个项目将开发和研究一款名为Veritas的互动游戏，让玩家意识到他们在决策时的认知偏见，并试图减轻其影响。这款游戏的重点是检测欺骗行为，许多研究参与者来自执法部门。启发式是从现有的信念和过去的经验中获得的认知捷径。启发式和认知偏差几乎影响着日常生活中做出的每一个判断。在试图区分真相和欺骗时，人类往往表现得并不比偶然更好，而且往往对自己发现欺骗的能力过于自信。他们很少意识到自己的偏见，并抵制旨在改变决策过程的传统培训努力。几乎没有研究证实我们有能力缓解认知偏差。这个项目将探索使用基于游戏的学习来让人们意识到认知偏差，并减少他们对简单启发式的依赖。该项目认为，以游戏为基础的学习提供的体验环境应特别有效地促进学习者积极尝试更系统的决策技巧所需的内省。它将在实验中测试针对执法官员的基于游戏的培训计划的有效性。本研究整合了以理论为导向的设计，使用了多种研究方法，包括游戏过程中的行为观察、调查、访谈和实验。这个项目将有助于理解认知偏差在欺骗检测的背景下是如何发挥作用的，并将促进人们对游戏如何比传统学习方法更适合于减轻认知偏差的理解。结果将通过会议展览和期刊出版物传播，该团队计划在与游戏开发商、执法官员和普通公众举行的专业会议上展示这款游戏。

The Cyberlearning and Future Learning Technologies Program funds efforts that will help envision the next generation of learning technologies and advance what we know about how people learn in technology-rich environments. Cyberlearning Exploration (EXP) Projects explore the viability of new kinds of learning technologies by designing and building new kinds of learning technologies and studying their possibilities for fostering learning and challenges to using them effectively. This project will develop and study an interactive game entitled VERITAS for making players aware of their cognitive bias in decision making and attempting to mitigate its effects. The game focuses on detecting deception and many of the research participants are from law enforcement. Heuristics are cognitive shortcuts acquired from existing beliefs and past experiences. Heuristics and cognitive biases affect virtually every judgment being made in daily life. Humans often perform no better than chance when attempting to distinguish truths from deception and tend to be over-confident in their ability to detect deception. They are rarely aware of their own biases and are resistant to traditional training efforts aimed at changing decision-making processes. There are few studies verifying our ability to mitigate cognitive biases. This project will explore using game-based learning to make people aware of cognitive biases and reduce their reliance on simple heuristics. The project asserts that the experiential environment afforded by game-based learning should be particularly effective at facilitating the introspection necessary for learners to actively experiment with more systematic decision-making techniques. It will experimentally test the effectiveness of a game-based training program targeting law enforcement officials. This research integrates a theory-driven design using multiple research methods, including observation of behavior during game play, surveys, interviewing, and experimentation. This project will contribute to the understanding of how cognitive biases function within the context of deception detection and will advance understanding of how a game may be better suited than traditional learning methods at mitigating cognitive biases. Results will be disseminated through convention exhibitions and journal publications and the team plans to showcase this game at professional conferences with game developers, law enforcement officials, and the general public.