Thought Bubbles: A Proxy into Players' Mental Model Development

TL;DR

This paper introduces Thought Bubbles, a novel method for eliciting and analyzing players' mental models in complex virtual environments, revealing how disruptions and information sharing influence cognitive development and decision-making.

Contribution

It presents a new approach, Thought Bubbles, for studying mental model development in interactive systems through experimental validation with a supply chain game.

Findings

Disruption location impacts mental model development.

Information sharing influences decision-making.

Thought Bubbles effectively reveal cognitive aspects of behavior.

Abstract

Studying mental models has recently received more attention, aiming to understand the cognitive aspects of human-computer interaction. However, there is not enough research on the elicitation of mental models in complex dynamic systems. We present Thought Bubbles as an approach for eliciting mental models and an avenue for understanding players' mental model development in interactive virtual environments. We demonstrate the use of Thought Bubbles in two experimental studies involving 250 participants playing a supply chain game. In our analyses, we rely on Situation Awareness (SA) levels, including perception, comprehension, and projection, and show how experimental manipulations such as disruptions and information sharing shape players' mental models and drive their decisions depending on their behavioral profile. Our results provide evidence for the use of thought bubbles in uncovering cognitive aspects of behavior by indicating how disruption location and availability of information affect people's mental model development and influence their decisions.