Paper Reading #23 - Automatic Warning Cues

Comments:
Comment 1
Comment 2

References:
Title: Evaluating Automatic Warning Cues for Visual Search in Vascular Images
Authors: Boris van Schooten, Betsy van Dijk, Anton Nijholt, and Johan Reiber
Venue: IUI 2010, Feb. 7-10 2010

Summary:
In this paper, the authors perform a study on automatic warning systems for MRA machines. They find that warning systems that warn more often but produce false positives work better than both the ones that warn less or ones with no warnings at all.

The authors created a warning system for viewing images of the vascular system. In order to test it, they created a series of test vessels for users and the system to find. The vessels were classified by difficulty and type of problem. They then had users attempt to find these errors using a system that warned more, a system that warned less, a system with no warnings, and a "perfect" system that generated no errors.

They found first of all that the perfect system did the best. After that, the warning system with more warnings did next best, even though previous studies have shown the opposite to be true. Following that, the less warning and the no warning systems placed second-t0-last and last, respectively.

Discussion:
I think that this research is of great importance, since proper detection of blood vessels could prevent heart attacks and other vascular issues. Furthermore, I am sure these warning systems have other applications that are just as useful.

One issue I have with the paper, however, is that I do not think that their study was big enough. The results from the small group that they tested show nearly even results between false positives and negatives; they should have done more research to see which one did better.

(Image courtesy of: Imaging Group)