Integration of Naturalistic Decision Making and Subjective Information Assessment with Quantitative Decision Analysis

Perceptronics Solutions and the MIT Humans & Automation Laboratory propose to develop a decision support system that creates cognitive bridges among subjective information assessment, naturalistic decision-making, and a collaborative net-centric decision analysis infrastructure. The objective is to provide an improved method by which a distributed group of decision makers can evaluate, share, and integrate decision-relevant information for the purpose of evaluating options by decision analytical methods. Our proposed system is based on two innovative technology products contributed by our team members; these are: (1) MIT’s Decision Making Constructs in the Distributed Environment (DCODE) concept for knowledge elicitation, which originated at SPAWAR, San Diego; and (2) Perceptronics Solutions’ Tactical Group Decision Analysis System (TGDAS), the product of a DARPA-sponsored SBIR Phase II project, oriented toward SOCOM and other tactical users. We will direct our R&D work toward immediate insertion of a prototype system into the distributed decision making C2 environment of the Special Operations Command (SOCOM). Emphasis will be given to the user interface and enhancement of the usability of the integrated system. Toward this goal we will conduct human factors and usability analysis of the iconic representation schema and the user interface. BENEFITS: Both DCODE and TGDAS have shown strong promise as a means of enhancing the performance of teams and individuals in distributed decisions. Our effort will focus on the integration of the two systems and the establishment of a cognitively efficient workflow. Our proposed system will provide a unique collaborative environment by integrating an improved DCODE system functionality with the TGDA infrastructure, resulting in a system fully capable of rapid transition to operational users. Both DCODE and TGDAS have shown strong promise as a means of enhancing the performance of teams and individuals in distributed decisions. Our effort will focus on the integration of the two systems and the establishment of a cognitively efficient workflow.