Effects of Cognitive Style and Information Acquisition Method on Diagnosis Task Performance

Recently, conventional main control rooms are being gradually replaced by digital main control rooms in nuclear power plants, which results in changes of factors that have effects on diagnosis task performance. The experiment was conducted under four interfaces with different information acquisition methods (Query, Filter, Query-Filter combined, and Visual Search) to explore the influence of cognitive style on diagnosis task performance and possible interaction effects with information acquisition methods. Cognitive style was measured by Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire from four dimensions (Reflective/Active, Intuitive/Sensing, Verbal/Visual, and Global/Sequential). The results showed that cognitive style significantly affected diagnosis task performance, and had interaction effects with information acquisition method. Reflective/Active dimension had significant effect on diagnosis performance under Filter and Query-Filter combined interfaces (active participants performed better). Intuitive/Sensing dimension had significant effect on diagnosis performance under Query and Filter interfaces (intuitive participants performed better). Verbal/Visual dimension had significant effect on diagnosis performance under conventional Visual Search interface (visual participants performed better) and Query interface (verbal participants performed better). The results could be useful for human-machine interface design and the selection of operators in complex industrial systems.