Seeing is believing?: The effects of real-time, image-based feedback on emergency management decision-making

Emergency management personnel often face feedback delays and a lack of reliable information. To address this problem, new information technologies have been developed that can provide real-time, image-based feedback. While potentially useful, this trend represents a fundamental shift in both the timing and format of the information used by incident commanders (ICs). Eight ICs took part in a simulation exercise to determine the potential impact of real-time imaging on their decision-making. Nearly all of the ICs failed to detect important changes in the situation that were not captured in the imaging but that were available via other, more traditional data sources. It appears that the ICs placed an inappropriately high level of trust in the imaging data, resulting in reduced data search activities and hypothesis generation. This research helps practitioners anticipate and guard against undesirable effects of introducing similar technologies on training and operational procedures.