Spatial Proximity of Multiple Alarms and the Cry-Wolf Phenomenon

Notes

McDonald, D.P., Gilson, R.D. and Mouloua, M. (1996) 'Spatial Proximity of Multiple Alarms and the Cry-Wolf Phenomenon', *Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting*, 40, pp. 850–854. doi: 10.1177/154193129604001612. Paper-based within-subjects experiment (30 undergraduates) on how the *number* and *spatial proximity* of collateral alarms shift an operator's confidence in a designated alarm with a known 50% validity. Both factors raised confidence (number: F(2,58)=39.87, p<.0001, positive linear; proximity: F(3,87)=6.85, p<.0003, linear with closeness), with no interaction (F(6,174)=1.36). A single alarm shown alone drew far *lower* confidence than its stated 50% validity (mean 17.47%), evidence of the cry-wolf / false-alarm effect. Routed to remote-operations-kb on alarm-management / supervisory-control grounds. RAW PDF carries a proceedings-page offset: PDF p. N = orig. printed p. 849+N (PDF p. 1 = orig. p. 850).

```bibtex
@inproceedings{mcdonald1996spatial,
  author    = {McDonald, Daniel P. and Gilson, Richard D. and Mouloua, Mustapha},
  title     = {Spatial Proximity of Multiple Alarms and the Cry-Wolf Phenomenon},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting},
  year      = {1996},
  volume    = {40},
  pages     = {850--854},
  doi       = {10.1177/154193129604001612}
}
```

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