TY - JOUR

T1 - Humans share task load with a computer partner if (they believe that) it acts human-like

AU - Wahn, Basil

AU - Kingstone, Alan

N1 - Funding information: We acknowledge the support of a DFG research fellowship ( WA 4153/2-1 ) awarded to BW, and an NSERC Discovery Grant awarded to AK.

PY - 2021/1

Y1 - 2021/1

N2 - In the near future humans will increasingly be required to cooperate and share task load with artificial agents in joint tasks as they will be able to greatly assist humans in various types of tasks and contexts. In the present study, we investigated humans' willingness to share task load with a computer partner in a joint visuospatial task. The partner was described as either behaving in a human-like or machine-like way and followed a pre-defined behaviour that was either human-like or non-human-like. We found that participants successfully shared task load when the partner behaved in a human-like way. Critically, the successful collaboration was sustained throughout the experiment only when the partner was also described as behaving in a human-like way beforehand. These findings suggest that not only the behaviour of a computer partner but also the prior description of the partner is a critical factor influencing humans' willingness to share task load.

AB - In the near future humans will increasingly be required to cooperate and share task load with artificial agents in joint tasks as they will be able to greatly assist humans in various types of tasks and contexts. In the present study, we investigated humans' willingness to share task load with a computer partner in a joint visuospatial task. The partner was described as either behaving in a human-like or machine-like way and followed a pre-defined behaviour that was either human-like or non-human-like. We found that participants successfully shared task load when the partner behaved in a human-like way. Critically, the successful collaboration was sustained throughout the experiment only when the partner was also described as behaving in a human-like way beforehand. These findings suggest that not only the behaviour of a computer partner but also the prior description of the partner is a critical factor influencing humans' willingness to share task load.

KW - Collaboration

KW - Coordination

KW - Human-computer interaction

KW - Joint action

KW - Multiple object tracking

KW - Social cognition

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85095997448&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.actpsy.2020.103205

DO - 10.1016/j.actpsy.2020.103205

M3 - Article

C2 - 33202313

AN - SCOPUS:85095997448

VL - 212

JO - Acta psychologica

JF - Acta psychologica

SN - 0001-6918

M1 - 103205

ER -