Emphasis,Gender and Interaction Anxiety in Individual and Dyadic Training Protocols

Abstract

Improvements in computer processing capacity make computer-based training systems a more effective and viable option. Yet in the face of perennially diminishing military budgets, creative solutions must be found to reduce costs of such systems. With these two goals in mind, we explored the factorial combination of a dyadic protocol manipulation (individuals versus dyad) and emphasis change manipulation (total score versus component scores) for training a complex task (Space Fortress). In addition, we examined the potential interactions these treatments may have with learner variables such as gender and interaction anxiety. The results suggested that dyads improved more than individuals on ship control. Gender interacted with emphasis indicating that women, but not men, benefited from emphasis change. In addition, individuals high in interaction anxiety were adversely effected by the dyadic protocols especially when combined with variable emphasis on components. The results suggest that dyadic training may be an effective way to increase training resource efficiency while producing modest benefits in training effectiveness and that emphasis change can improve the training effectiveness. However, both effects may be limited by individual differences.