The increasing complexity of jobs and tasks necessitates an evaluation of the skills needed to support task performance, particularly the individual differences among trainees in such skills. Individual differences in ability, motivation, and learning style are likely to impact greatly upon the performance of complex cognitive tasks, which are those increasingly requiring training today. This paper reviews individual differences in the areas of learning styles and cognitive styles, motivation, knowledge and ability, and mood states. The emphasis is upon measuring and accommodating such differences during training and how this can be accomplished through the use of computer-based instruction (CBI).
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