Reduced Fidelity Motor Skill Training

Abstract

The study investigated if training using text and pictures (reduced fidelity) would lead to better performance of a motor skill task. The motor skill was a two-hand tracking task similar to a video game. Task performance was assessed by two measures: accuracy and strategy. Using the generative learning model and the characteristics of the analytic-holistic cognitive style, four instructional treatments and a control condition were developed. Two instructional treatments presented training in a holistic mode and two treatments used an analytic mode. Within each mode, one treatment presented generative instructions. One hundred twenty-four undergraduate college students were randomly assigned to treatments. Results included that generative processing lead to more accurate performance. Strategy was influenced by interactions among treatment, cognitive style, and sex of the learner.