Experimental investigation on the influence of prior knowledge of a decision-support robot for court juries

Abstract

Previous studies in cognitive science have pointed out how the top-down processing of interpersonal cognition plays a role in human interactions, and the same mechanisms are observed in interactions with robots. This study investigates how mental models about the decision-supporting robots used in court will influence jury behavior. A laboratory experiment was conducted using a simple jury decision-making task, where participants play the role of a jury and make decisions regarding the length of the sentence for a particular crime. During the task, a robot with expert knowledge provides suggestions regarding the length of the sentence, based on other similar cases. In one scenario, participants receive a lecture about a case-based reasoning system and proceed to the experiment. Statistical analysis show that there were no significant differences between the conditions however, some participants engaging in the condition with prior knowledge performed with higher conformity.