"Who Should I Believe?": User Interpretation and Decision-Making When a Family Healthcare Robot Contradicts Human Memory

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Wang, Hong, Calvo-Barajas, Natalia, Winkle, Katie, Castellano, Ginevra
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Wang, Hong
Calvo-Barajas, Natalia
Winkle, Katie
Castellano, Ginevra
author_facet Wang, Hong
Calvo-Barajas, Natalia
Winkle, Katie
Castellano, Ginevra
contents Advancements in robotic capabilities for providing physical assistance, psychological support, and daily health management are making the deployment of intelligent healthcare robots in home environments increasingly feasible in the near future. However, challenges arise when the information provided by these robots contradicts users' memory, raising concerns about user trust and decision-making. This paper presents a study that examines how varying a robot's level of transparency and sociability influences user interpretation, decision-making and perceived trust when faced with conflicting information from a robot. In a 2 x 2 between-subjects online study, 176 participants watched videos of a Furhat robot acting as a family healthcare assistant and suggesting a fictional user to take medication at a different time from that remembered by the user. Results indicate that robot transparency influenced users' interpretation of information discrepancies: with a low transparency robot, the most frequent assumption was that the user had not correctly remembered the time, while with the high transparency robot, participants were more likely to attribute the discrepancy to external factors, such as a partner or another household member modifying the robot's information. Additionally, participants exhibited a tendency toward overtrust, often prioritizing the robot's recommendations over the user's memory, even when suspecting system malfunctions or third-party interference. These findings highlight the impact of transparency mechanisms in robotic systems, the complexity and importance associated with system access control for multi-user robots deployed in home environments, and the potential risks of users' over reliance on robots in sensitive domains such as healthcare.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_21322
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle "Who Should I Believe?": User Interpretation and Decision-Making When a Family Healthcare Robot Contradicts Human Memory
Wang, Hong
Calvo-Barajas, Natalia
Winkle, Katie
Castellano, Ginevra
Human-Computer Interaction
Robotics
Advancements in robotic capabilities for providing physical assistance, psychological support, and daily health management are making the deployment of intelligent healthcare robots in home environments increasingly feasible in the near future. However, challenges arise when the information provided by these robots contradicts users' memory, raising concerns about user trust and decision-making. This paper presents a study that examines how varying a robot's level of transparency and sociability influences user interpretation, decision-making and perceived trust when faced with conflicting information from a robot. In a 2 x 2 between-subjects online study, 176 participants watched videos of a Furhat robot acting as a family healthcare assistant and suggesting a fictional user to take medication at a different time from that remembered by the user. Results indicate that robot transparency influenced users' interpretation of information discrepancies: with a low transparency robot, the most frequent assumption was that the user had not correctly remembered the time, while with the high transparency robot, participants were more likely to attribute the discrepancy to external factors, such as a partner or another household member modifying the robot's information. Additionally, participants exhibited a tendency toward overtrust, often prioritizing the robot's recommendations over the user's memory, even when suspecting system malfunctions or third-party interference. These findings highlight the impact of transparency mechanisms in robotic systems, the complexity and importance associated with system access control for multi-user robots deployed in home environments, and the potential risks of users' over reliance on robots in sensitive domains such as healthcare.
title "Who Should I Believe?": User Interpretation and Decision-Making When a Family Healthcare Robot Contradicts Human Memory
topic Human-Computer Interaction
Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.21322