Transfer of trained skill was investigated from the viewpoint of mental resources. Participants alternated between a simple training task and a complex task, the video game Everyday Shooter. The training tasks, occlusions and visual words (Boles, 1991, 1992, 1996), shared many critical resources, or few resources, respectively, with the video game. Also, participants received standard task-specific instructions or standard instructions along with additional metacognitive instructions on similarities between the training task and video game. Bidirectional transfer was noted for those training the occlusions task and receiving standard instructions, demonstrating the value of resource training with an alternating design, even when the target task is a complex one.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BarnettS.CeciS. (2002). When and where do we apply what we learn?: A taxonomy for far transfer. Psychological Bulletin, 128(4), 612-637.
2.
BolesD. B. (1991). Factor analysis and the cerebral hemispheres: Pilot study and parietal functions. Neuropsychologia, 29, 59-91.
3.
BolesD. B. (1992). Factor analysis and the cerebral hemispheres: Temporal, occipital and frontal functions. Neuropsychologia, 30, 963-988.
4.
BolesD. B. (1996). Factor analysis and the cerebral hemispheres: “Unlocalized” functions. Neuropsychologia, 34, 723-736.
5.
BolesD. B. (1997). Multiple resource contributions to training. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 41, 1176-1179.
6.
BolesD. B. (2002). Lateralized spatial processes and their lexical implications. Neuropsychologia, 40, 2125-2135.
7.
BolesD. B. (2009). Ups and downs in resource training. Paper presented to the Experimental Psychology program, University of Alabama, 29 January 2010.
8.
BolesD. B.AdairL. P. (2001a). The Multiple Resources Questionnaire (MRQ). Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 45, 1790-1794.
9.
BolesD. B.AdairL. P. (2001b). Validity of the Multiple Resources Questionnaire (MRQ). Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergo-nomics Society, 45, 1795-1799.
10.
BolesD. B.PennC. E. (2010). Resource training using alternating tasks. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 54, 2357-2360.
11.
BrandS.ReimerT.OpwisK. (2003). Effects of metacognitive thinking and knowledge acquisition in dyads on individual problem and transfer performance. Swiss Journal of Psychology, 62(4), 251-261.
12.
BriggsG.BrogdenW. (1954). The effect of component practice on performance of a lever-positioning skill. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 48(5), 375-380.
13.
BrownA. (1987). Metacognition, executive control, self-regulation and other more mysterious mechanisms. In WeinertF. E.KluweR. H. (Eds.), Metacognition, motivation and understanding (pp. 65-116). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
14.
BrownA. (1989). Analogical learning and transfer: What develops? In VosniadouS.OrtonyA. (Eds.), Similarity and analogical reasoning (pp. 369-412). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
15.
CarlsonR.KhooB.ElliottR. (1990). Component practice and exposure to a problem-solving context. Human Factors, 32(3), 267-286.
16.
EricssonK. A.KrampeR. T.Tesch-RömerC. (1993). The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychological Review, 100, 363-406.
17.
GickM. L.HolyoakK. J. (1983). Schema induction and analogical transfer. Cognitive Psychology, 15, 1-38.
18.
GopherD.WeilM.BareketT. (1994). Transfer of skill from a computer game trainer to flight. Human Factors, 36(3), 387-405.
19.
HalpernD. F. (1998). Teaching critical thinking for transfer across domains. American Psychologist, 53(4), 449-455.
20.
HawkinsF. H.OrladyH. W. (1993). Human Factors in flight. Brookfield, VT: Gower.
21.
PhillipsJ. B. (2007). Perceptual resources: Transfer of training and individual differences. Dissertation Abstract International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering, 68 (2-B), 1332.
22.
Queasy Games (2007). Everyday Shooter [Playstation3 game]. Foster City, CA: Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC.
23.
RobinsonA.ManiaK. (2007). Technological research challenges of flight simulation and flight instructor assessments of perceived fidelity. Simulation & Gaming, 38(1), 112-135.
24.
SpratlingM.JohnsonM. (2006). A feedback model of perceptual learning and categorization. Visual Cognition, 13(2), 129-165.
25.
ThorndikeE. L.WoodworthR. S. (1901b). The influence of improvement in one mental function upon the efficiency of other functions: II. The estimation of magnitudes. Psychological Review, 8, 384–395.
26.
UnsworthN.HeitzR. P.SchrockJ. C.EngleR. W. (2005). An automated version of the operation span task. Behavior Research Methods, 37, 498-505.
27.
WhaleyC. J.FiskA. D. (1993). Effects of part-task training on unitization and retention of memory-dependent skill search. Human Factors, 35(4), 639-652.
28.
WickensC. D.HollandsJ. G. (2001). Engineering psychology and human performance (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
29.
WightmanD. C.LinternG. (1985). Part-task training for tracking and manual control. Human Factors, 27, 267-283.
