Enhancing User Perception of Reliability in Computer Vision: Uncertainty Visualization for Probability Distributions

Abstract

Non-expert users often find it challenging to perceive the reliability of computer vision systems accurately. In human–computer decision-making applications, users’ perceptions of system reliability may deviate from the probabilistic characteristics. Intuitive visualization of system recognition results within probability distributions can serve to enhance interpretability and support cognitive processes. Different visualization formats may impact users’ reliability perceptions and cognitive abilities. This study first compared the mapping relationship between users’ perceived values of system recognition results and the actual probabilistic characteristics of the distribution when using density strips, violin plots, and error bars to visualize normal distributions. The findings indicate that when density strips are used for visualization, users’ perceptions align most closely with the probabilistic integrals, exhibiting the shortest response times and highest cognitive arousal. However, users’ perceptions often exceed the actual probability density, with an average coefficient of 2.53 times, unaffected by the form of uncertainty visualization. Conversely, this perceptual bias did not appear in triangular distributions and remained consistent across symmetric and asymmetric distributions. The results of this study contribute to a better understanding of user reliability perception for interaction designers, helping to improve uncertainty visualization and thereby mitigate perceptual biases and potential trust risks.