Transfer of Training as a Function of Semantic Relatedness in a Category Search Task

Abstract

It has been demonstrated that highly trained, automatic processes can transfer across certain memory search tasks; the degree to which these processes may be exhibited in visual search tasks has not been established, however. We examined this issue by testing the transfer of highly trained, automatized components of a semantic category, visual search task to stimulus situations of varying degrees of relatedness. We developed an adaptive version of the multiple-frame detection task (Schneider and Shiffrin, 1977) in order to test performance at the limits of visual search capacity. During training, frame-time was the dependent variable and was determined by each participant's performance ability. Each received 6,090 trials on exemplars from a single semantic category. Transfer consisted of two sessions, 330 trials per session. Transfer performance reveals that participants became highly proficient at the task: by Session 3 accuracy stabilized at around 80%. Accuracy increased in direct relation to the degree of semantic relatedness of the transfer category to the previously trained category. Frame times decreased according to a normal power function. These data demonstrate the importance of consistent training for the development of “high performance” skills and effective transfer of these skills to other, related tasks. These results have important implications for training “high performance” skills in which visual search processes a crucial role.