Cognitive skill acquisition and transfer in younger and older adults.

The acquisition of cognitive skills often depends on 1 of (or a combination of) 2 processes, the execution of an algorithm, and the retrieval of problem instances. This study examined the effects of age and repetition of problem instances on the production and verification of solutions to 2 serially presented sets of alphabet arithmetic problems. Analyses of the parameters derived from power-function fits for individuals revealed age differences favoring young adults in improvement span, learning rate, and asymptote. For both age groups, the beneficial effects of repetitions on 1st-set response times were attributable to algorithmic speedup and to the retrieval of instances, whereas improvements in the speed of 2nd-set response times were attributable primarily to item retrieval.     

Dual learning processes in interactive skill acquisition

Acquisition of interactive skills involves the use of internal and external cues. Experiment 1 showed that when actions were interdependent, learning was effective with and without external cues in the single-task condition but was effective only with the presence of external cues in the dual-task condition. In the dual-task condition, actions closer to the feedback were learned faster than actions farther away but this difference was reversed in the single-task condition. Experiment 2 tested how knowledge acquired in single and dual-task conditions would transfer to a new reward structure. Results confirmed the two forms of learning mediated by the secondary task: A declarative memory encoding process that simultaneously assigned credits to actions and a reinforcement-learning process that slowly propagated credits backward from the feedback. The results showed that both forms of learning were engaged during training, but only at the response selection stage, one form of knowledge may dominate over the other depending on the availability of attentional resources.     

Temporal tuning in the acquisition of cognitive skill

Thetemporal tuning hypothesis suggests that individuals adjust the timing of cognitive performances to achieve temporal coordination of mental processes and the data on which they operate, and that this adjustment becomes more precise with practice. Participants in two experiments performed self-paced multiple-step arithmetic tasks in which the information needed for each step was briefly displayed at the participants’ request. Timing constraints were manipulated by varying between subjects the delay between requests and displays of information. In Experiment 1, both operators and operands appeared step by step, and participants achieved a modest degree of temporal adjustment that did not change with practice. In Experiment 2, participants could preview operators while operands appeared step by step. In that experiment, participants achieved more precise temporal adjustment, and the amount of adjustment increased with practice. These results demonstrate the phenomenon of temporal tuning in symbolic cognitive skills and suggest some constraints on the ability to anticipate the time course of one’s mental processes.     

Effect of practice procedure on skill acquisition

49 children in Grade 1 in an isolated community were assessed on their form and skill in making a basket for a one-step basketball lay-up following practice using a pseudoshaping, specific, or schema procedure. Analysis gave a significant form effect but no difference in success of making baskets.     

Word acquisition reflects lateralization of hand skill

Right hand preference distinguishes Homo sapiens from our closest primate relative, the chimpanzee. Are differences in degrees of handedness associated with differences in the rate of language development? To answer this question, verbal performance is examined in relation to hand skill in a UK national birth cohort dataset. Using 3-D data plots, we show that increasing dominant-hand skill is associated with increasing verbal ability, and stronger lateralization is associated with earlier acquisition of words. Thus, right-handed bias is relevant to the lateralization of language; variation along this dimension may represent species-specific genetic or ‘epigenetic’ diversity.     

Warm- and fatigue in skill acquisition and performance

Two experiments examined the effects of preliminary exercise on performance and learning of the Fitts' reciprocal tapping task. In the first experiment preliminary exercise was performed with either the preferred or nonpreferred arm. The tapping task was completed with the preferred by both groups. Low levels of preliminary exercise resulted in heightened performance for both groups, but higher levels resulted in a decrement for the group using the preferred arm. An arousal-plus-fatigue hypothesis can explain the results. A subsequent post-test without preliminary exercise showed no difference between the groups, indicating an effect on performance and not learning. In the second experiment preliminary exercise was provided by treadmill running to exhaustion. Again, a facilitatory effect of exercise was demonstrated on tapping performance even after exhaustive levels of running.     

反馈类型和反馈时间对动作技能获得的影响

基于简单直线运动任务和复杂曲线追踪任务,在运动技能获得阶段考察不同反馈类型和反馈时间对操作绩效的影响。结果发现,在复杂曲线轨迹追踪任务中,接受运动轨迹反馈的被试组比接受偏差数值反馈组的成绩更好;即时反馈和延迟反馈组的操作绩效间没有显著差异。在简单直线运动任务中,提供落点偏差的图形反馈组成绩始终优于提供“近/远”信息的文本反馈组;在练习初期,即时反馈组成绩更好。说明,反馈信息的具体-抽象程度影响被试运动技能获得,提供具体直观的轨迹/图形反馈利于运动技能获得;反馈时间对运动技能的影响因任务难度而异。     

Predicting individual differences in complex skill acquisition: dynamics of ability determinants.

Substantial controversy exists about ability determinants of individual differences in performance during and subsequent to skill acquisition. This investigation addresses the controversy. An information-processing examination of ability-performance relations during complex task acquisition is described. Included are ability testing (including general, reasoning, spatial, perceptual speed, and perceptual/psychomotor abilities) and skill acquisition over practice on the terminal radar approach controller simulation. Results validate and extend Ackerman's (1988) theory of cognitive ability determinants of individual differences in skill acquisition. Benefits of ability component and task component analyses over global analyses of ability-skill relations are demonstrated. Implications are discussed for selection instruments to predict air traffic controller success and for other tasks with inconsistent information-processing demands.     

H-reflexes during a motor skill acquisition task

H-reflex amplitudes were studied during the acquisition of a motor skill involving coordinated isometric plantarflexion at the ankle joints as subjects learned to trace a triangular pattern on an oscilloscope screen by controlling plantarflexion torque applied against load cells. Torque feedback was presented on a subject oscilloscope with the right foot controlling a vertical cursor and the left foot a horizontal cursor. Eleven subjects reached criterion performance. H-reflexes were recorded from the right soleus and timed to the initiation of soleus muscle activity to plantarflex the foot. Average time to complete one trial decreased from 9 sec. in the prelearning block to 4 sec. postlearning. No single learning strategy was evident as subjects varied widely in their levels of H-reflex amplitude, but during postlearning, H-reflex amplitude became consistent within subjects as tracing performance became faster and accurate.     

Training of efficient oculomotor strategies enhances skill acquisition

The present study investigated the hypothesis that efficient oculomotor behaviours can be acquired through practice on a series of simple tasks and can be transferred subsequently to a complex visuomotor task, such as a video game. Each of two groups of subjects were exposed to a different set of simple tasks, or drills. One group, the efficient eye movement experimental group, received training designed to minimize eye movements and optimize scan path behaviours, whereas a second group of subjects, the inefficient eye movement experimental group, received training designed to increase the frequency of eye movements. Oculomotor training was interspersed with practice on the video game. Performance of these two experimental groups in the video game was compared to a control group playing the video game but receiving no specific training and matched for total time in the experiment. The group receiving efficient oculomotor training exhibited significantly superior performance in the video game and fewer foveations than either the inefficient or control groups, which did not differ from each other. Overall there was a significant inverse correlation between the number of foveations in the game and game score. The results of this study are discussed in terms of their implications for the importance of oculomotor training in the acquisition of any complex perceptual motor task.     

On the whats and hows of retrieval in the acquisition of a simple skill.

Two general views on the role of memory in cognitive skills--an instance-based theory and an associative perspective--were compared with respect to their general assumptions about the information involved and the processes that operate on that information. Characteristics of memory information were examined in terms of predictions for transfer to various stimulus forms as a function of 2 types of learning conditions. Characteristics of memory processes were examined using a set of general process models. Results of 4 experiments indicate that (a) neither theoretical perspective was capable of accounting for all the observed transfer effects, indicating needed refinements to informational assumptions, and that (b) 1 class of process assumptions was consistently supported, whereas other classes were consistently contradicted, indicating a general set of process characteristics that can be used in further model development.     

Knowledge structures and the acquisition of a complex skill

The purpose of this study was to examine the viability of knowledge structures as an operationalization of learning in the context of a task that required a high degree of skill. Over the course of 3 days, 86 men participated in 9 training sessions and learned a complex video game. At the end of acquisition, participants' knowledge structures were assessed. After a 4-day nonpractice interval, trainees completed tests of skill retention and skill transfer. Findings indicated that the similarity of trainees' knowledge structures to an expert structure was correlated with skill acquisition and was predictive of skill retention and skill transfer. However, the magnitude of these effects was dependent on the method used to derive the expert referent structure. Moreover, knowledge structures mediated the relationship between general cognitive ability and skill-based performance.     

Identification of typographically transformed words: instance-based skill acquisition

Two hypotheses concerning the development of skill at identifying typographically transformed words were tested. One claim is that a general skill independent of specific training instances is involved, and the other is that skill is based on memory for the analysis of specific instances encountered during training. Contrary to the general skill view, a series of experiments demonstrated that transfer of word identification skill was highly specific and occurred only when training and test instances shared common letters printed in the same case (i.e., uppercase or lowercase). Transfer of skill also depended on the visual patterns formed by adjacent letters and word shape. Presentation of a word in training and test phases significantly improved test phase identification of that word even when a unique visual pattern was used. These results are compatible with an instance-based view of word identification skill in which it is assumed that subjects develop skilled analysis of the visual and conceptual characteristics of specific words, and that this skill can be used to identify repeatedly presented words as well as predictable sets of novel words.     

High levels of contextual interference enhance handwriting skill acquisition

The authors conducted 3 experiments to examine whether introducing high levels of contextual interference is useful in handwriting skill acquisition. For all experiments, elementary school students (Ns = 44, 50, and 78, respectively) were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 practice schedules-blocked or random practice-in the acquisition phase. In the blocked condition, each of 3 letters (h, a, and y) or (in Experiment 1) symbols was handwritten 24 times consecutively. In the random condition, each letter (or symbol) was practiced 24 times, but in an intermixed, unsystematic sequence. Overall, the results showed that the random practice schedule leads to enhanced retention and transfer performance of handwriting skill acquisition.     

Role of the striatum and the cerebellum in motor skill acquisition

Motor skill acquisition was investigated in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) or cerebellar dysfunction using two sensory-guided tracking tasks. The subjects had to learn to track a visual target (a square) on a computer screen by moving a joystick under two different conditions. In the unreversed task, the horizontal target movements were semi-predictable and could be anticipated. In the reversed task, the horizontal movements of a pointer which had to be kept within the target square were mirror-reversed to the joystick movements. PD patients showed intact learning of the semi-predictable task and reduced learning of the mirror-reversed task; patients with cerebellar dysfunction showed the opposite pattern. These findings are discussed in relation to the differential contribution of the cerebellum and the striatum to motor skill acquisition: the cerebellum appears to participate in the implementation of anticipatory movements, whereas the striatum may be critically involved in types of motor learning which require a high degree of internal elaboration.     

Role of the striatum and the cerebellum in motor skill acquisition

Motor skill acquisition was investigated in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) or cerebellar dysfunction using two sensory-guided tracking tasks. The subjects had to learn to track a visual target (a square) on a computer screen by moving a joystick under two different conditions. In the unreversed task, the horizontal target movements were semi-predictable and could be anticipated. In the reversed task, the horizontal movements of a pointer which had to be kept within the target square were mirror-reversed to the joystick movements. PD patients showed intact learning of the semi-predictable task and reduced learning of the mirror-reversed task; patients with cerebellar dysfunction showed the opposite pattern. These findings are discussed in relation to the differential contribution of the cerebellum and the striatum to motor skill acquisition: the cerebellum appears to participate in the implementation of anticipatory movements, whereas the striatum may be critically involved in types of motor learning which require a high degree of internal elaboration.