Objective

The ability of people to infer intentions from movement of other vessels was investigated. Across three levels of variability in movements in the path of computer-controlled ships, participants attempted to determine which entity was hostile.

Background

Detection of hostile intentions through spatial movements of vessels is important in an array of real-world scenarios. This experiment sought to determine baseline abilities of humans to do so.

Methods

Participants selected a discrete movement direction of their ship. Six other ships’ locations then updated. A single entity displayed one of two hostile behaviors: shadowing, which involved mirroring the participant’s vessel’s movements; and hunting, which involved closing in on the participant’s vessel. Trials allowed up to 35 moves before identifying the hostile ship and its behavior. Uncertainty was introduced through adding variability to ships’ movements such that their path was 0%, 25%, or 50% random.

Results

Even with no variability in the ships’ movements, accurate detection was low, identifying the hostile entity about 60% of the time. Variability in the paths decreased detection. Detection of hunting was strongly degraded by distance between ownship and the hostile ship, but shadowing was not. Strategies employing different directions of movement across the trial, but also featuring some runs of consecutive movements, facilitated detection.

Conclusions

Early identification of threats based on movement characteristics alone is likely to be difficult, but particularly so when adversaries employ some level of uncertainty to mask their intentions. These findings highlight the need to develop decision aids to support human performance.

中文翻译：

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通过空间运动检测敌意

客观的

研究了人们从其他船只的运动中推断意图的能力。在计算机控制的船只路径运动的三个层次变化中，参与者试图确定哪个实体是敌对的。

背景

通过船只的空间运动来检测敌对意图在一系列现实场景中很重要。该实验旨在确定人类这样做的基线能力。

方法

参与者选择了他们的船的离散运动方向。然后更新了其他六艘船的位置。单个实体表现出两种敌对行为之一： 跟踪，涉及镜像参与者的船只运动；和狩猎，其中涉及关闭参与者的船只。在识别敌方船只及其行为之前，试验最多允许进行 35 次移动。不确定性是通过增加船舶运动的可变性来引入的，这样它们的路径是 0%、25% 或 50% 随机的。

结果

即使船只的运动没有变化，准确检测也很低，大约 60% 的时间识别敌对实体。路径的可变性减少了检测。本舰和敌舰之间的距离会大大降低对狩猎的探测，但阴影不会。在整个试验中采用不同运动方向的策略，但也以一些连续运动为特色，促进了检测。

结论

仅根据运动特征早期识别威胁可能很困难，尤其是当对手利用某种程度的不确定性来掩盖他们的意图时。这些发现强调了开发决策辅助工具以支持人类绩效的必要性。