This project investigates whether Artificially Intelligent Assistants (AIAs) may impair cognitive skill acquisition and retention, or may accelerate skill atrophy in clinicians who rely on AIAs to perform various tasks. It is imperative to assess the effects of these tools as their use increases. The project will study the impact of AIAs in the context of radiology, where they are used for decision support. It explores whether technologies such as surgical robots and cognitive assistants for radiological exams will lead doctors to lose skills over time. Project activities have the potential to increase our understanding of the human-machine dynamic of surgical robotics. The project will integrate the perspectives of experts from cognitive psychology, human factors, computer science, and engineering. The objective is to develop training practices aimed at mitigating cognitive atrophy that could result from the introduction of AIAs. Knowledge gleaned from this assessment has implications for AI development, training protocols, and fail-safe protocols in a variety of everyday and professional domains. The project addresses national concern regarding the impact of technology on the future of work.
The project has two phases. First, data will be collected in controlled laboratory environments on acquisition and retention of a set of cognitive skills that are relevant to robotic surgery and radiological image-based diagnosis. Second, a workshop will bring together a group of experts on clinical training; robotic surgery; radiology; human factors, with specialties both within and outside the clinical domain; and psychology, both cognitive psychology and industrial/organizational psychology. Participants will discuss initial results and plan for future research that investigates these issues in real-world environments, informed by the initial studies. Efforts will focus on three skills important in clinical applications where AIAs are present. Two are motivated by robotic surgical applications: reasoning about spatial information and perceptual-motor skills when the visual and motor systems are not aligned, as may happen during robotic surgery. The other is motivated by the radiological diagnosis task: visual search and target identification skill. The pilot study data collection phase will measure success through the amount and quality of data collected, as well as whether statistically significant experimental results are obtained and the sizes of these effects. The workshop's success will be considered successful if the experts demonstrate a high levels of participation and the ability to build a collaborative effort. The overall project aims are three fold. First, the project aims to facilitate convergent research between computer scientists, roboticists, clinicians, human factors researchers. Second, it aims to obtain a deeper basic understanding of the design of AIAs that operate in harmony with human workers. Third, it aims to enable human-appropriate design of AIAs that factors in the way people learn and adapt to technological change. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop the necessary research personnel, research infrastructure, and foundational work to expand the opportunities for studying future technology, future workers, and future work at the level of a FW-HTF full research proposal.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
