CHECKLIST PROCEDURES AND THE COST OF AUTOMATICITY

Automaticity is usually discussed in terms of its benefits. Automatici ty has, however, a cost that manifests itself in procedures that are h ighly routinized but require close attention, such as verbal checklist procedures. In such procedures, errors occur because the routine lead s to automaticity. In three paper-and-pen experiments, we tested this manifestation and investigated ways to decrease automaticity in verbal checklist procedures. In the experiments, subjects proofread sets of multiplication problems to detect erroneous operations, simulating the checklist procedure. In Experiments 1 and 2, two conditions were comp ared: a fixed-order condition (in which each set contained operations in the same order) and a varied-order condition (in which the operatio ns were in a different order in each set). In Experiment 1, proofreadi ng times were measured to establish the role of fixed sequential order as a consistent environment promoting the emergence of automaticity. In Experiment 2, we introduced errors into the material, and in Experi ment 3 we introduced ''alerting'' conditions to interfere with the dev elopment of automaticity. The results indicated that the subjects in t he varied-order and alert conditions detected significantly more error s than did those in the fixed-order condition. The implications of the findings for current theories of automaticity are discussed as well a s those for the design of checklist procedures.