Acquisition & Retention of Basic Components of Skill Robert W. Proctor and Motonori Yamaguchi Army Research Office Grant W9112NF Training Knowledge and Skills for the Networked Battlefield

Acquisition & Retention of Basic Components of Skill Use basic tasks that isolate the perceptual, cognitive, and motor components of skill. Examine factors that influence acquisition and retention of these skill components. Goal: To obtain evidence for basic principles of skill acquisition that can be applied to more complex task environments.

Acquisition & Retention of Basic Components of Skill Initial focus on response selection  This is our area of primary expertise  Response selection is the aspect of information processing that benefits most from training (Welford, 1976) Emphasis on stimulus-response compatibility because it is a pure measure of response- selection efficiency  S-R compatibility proper  Simon effect

Transfer of Newly Acquired Associations The new procedures acquired from training can affect performance when transferred to a different task or environment. Important to determine how specific this transfer is. Can get not only quantitative but also qualitative changes  Focusing on the wrong aspect of training will not help  Generalization can occur if people understand the deep structure of the task

Influence of a Prior Incompatible Location Mapping on the Simon Effect Practice with an incompatible mapping and transfer to a pure Simon task Practice SessionTransfer Session GreenRed

Influence of a Prior Incompatible Location Mapping on the Simon Effect Proctor and Lu (1999)  Practiced with an incompatible mapping (310 trials per day) for 3 days and transferred to a Simon task (600 trials) The Simon effect reversed to -24 ms Vu, Proctor, & Urcuioli (2003)  Practiced 72 trials with an incompatible mapping and transferred to a Simon task with a delay of: 5 minutes—The Simon effect reversed (-9 ms) One week—The Simon effect reversed (-21 ms)

What is Learned? Associations between specific stimuli and responses? More abstract, “rule-like” procedures? Evaluated by crossing practice and transfer dimensions  Practice: vertical or horizontal  Transfer: horizontal

Design Practice Dimension Transfer Dimension  HorizontalHorizontal  Vertical Green Red

Results- Transfer to Horizontal Simon Task Practice Dimension Practice Trials HorizontalVertical Control 18* * * 2 * denotes that the effect was significant at the.05 level

Generalization Across Stimulus Modalities Transfer session: Auditory Simon task Practice session: Incompatible mapping of left-right auditory or visual stimuli to left- right keypresses  A prior study with 72 practice trials suggested no transfer effect to auditory task  Varied amount of practice: 0 (control), 72, 300, or 600 trials

Results- Transfer to Auditory Simon Task Practice Dimension Practice Trials Auditory Visual Control 47* 72 41* 42* * 45* * 37* * denotes that the effect was significant at the.05 level

Training with Mixed Mappings and Tasks Effects of having to maintain multiple associations concurrently Mixed compatible and incompatible mappings:  Longer RT overall  Benefit for compatible mapping largely eliminated Does this finding generalize to a simulated environment?

Mixed Mappings and Tasks Task:  Fly simulated aircraft, maintaining altitude  While flying, squares appear on the top right or top left of the screen Green square: Turn yoke in that direction Red square: Turn yoke in opposite direction  Four trial blocks Pure compatible Pure incompatible Mixed compatible and incompatible (2 blocks)

Mixed Mappings and Tasks 85 56

Research Plans Basic Components of Skill  Transfer of newly acquired associations  Training with mixed mappings and tasks  Performance of multiple tasks Integration with Other Work  Training Principles (e.g., specificity of training; procedural reinstatement)  Predictive Modeling using ACT-R and other models