Context has an important influence on performance in a variety of tasks. In the present experiment, the context of interest was the number of consecutive trials under identical search conditions. We were interested in how individuals learn to benefit from one form of contextual cues, the time course of such benefit, and the effects of contextual manipulations on general learning, feature learning, and automatic process development. We investigated these issues using a visual search task in which we could manipulate both consistency and learning context. The results suggest that the manipulation of context influenced feature learning; that is, at least 10 consecutive trials were required before optimal scanning strategies could be developed and/or instituted. However, the training context manipulation did not affect the acquisition of an automatic attention response in a consistent task or the acquisition of a general skill for a varied task. Implications for task and system design and the development of training programs are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Ackerman, P. L. (1986). Individual differences in information processing: An investigation of intellectual abilities and task performance during practice. Intelligence,10, 101–139.
2.
Ackerman, P. L. (1988). Determinants of individual differences during skill acquisition: Cognitive abilities and information processing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,117, 288–318.
3.
Anderson, J. R. (1982). Acquisition of cognitive skill. Psychological Review,89, 369–406.
4.
Battig, W. F., and Montague, W. E. (1969). Category norms for verbal items in 56 categories: A replication and extension of the Connecticut category norms.Journal of Experimental Psychology Monographs,80 (3, Pt. 2).
5.
Collen, A., Wickens, D. D., and Daniele, L. (1975). The interrelationship of taxonomic categories. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory,1, 629–633.
6.
Czerwinski, M., Lightfoot, N., and Shiffrin, R. M. (1992). Automatization and training in visual search. American Journal of Psychology,105, 271–316.
7.
Dumais, S. T. (1979). Perceptual learning in automatic detection: Processes and mechanisms. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.
8.
Duncan, J., and Humphreys, G. W. (1989). Visual search and stimulus similarity. Psychological Review,96, 433–458.
9.
Eggemeier, F. T., and Fisk, A. D. (1992). Automatic information processing and high performance skills: Final report (AL-TR-1992–0134). Wright-Patterson AFB, OH: Armstrong Laboratory, Human Resources Directorate, Logistics Research Division.
10.
Fisher, D. L. (1986). Hierarchical model of visual search.Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Mathematical Psychology, Cambridge, MA.
11.
Fisher, D. L., and Tanner, N. S. (1992). Optimal symbol selection: A semiautomated procedure. Human Factors,34, 79–96.
12.
Fisk, A. D., and Eboch, M. (1989). Application of automatic controlled processing theory to training component map reading skills. Applied Ergonomics,20, 2–8.
13.
Fisk, A. D., and Eggemeier, F. T. (1988). Application of automatic/controlled processing theory to training tactical command and control skills: 1. Background and task analytic methodology. In Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 32nd Annual Meeting (pp. 1227–1231). Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
14.
Fisk, A. D., Lee, M. D., and Rogers, W. A. (1991). Recombination of automatic processing components: The effects of transfer, reversal and conflict situations. Human Factors,33, 267–280.
15.
Fisk, A. D., and Lloyd, S. J. (1988). The role of stimulus-to-rule consistency in learning rapid application of spatial rules. Human Factors,30, 35–49.
16.
Fisk, A. D., and Rogers, W. A. (1988). The role of situational context in the development of high-performance skills. Human Factors,30, 703–712.
17.
Fisk, A. D., and Schneider, W. (1983). Category and word search: Generalizing search principles to complex processing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition,9, 177–195.
18.
Kanfer, R., and Ackerman, P. L. (1989). Motivation and cognitive abilities: An integrative/aptitude-treatment interaction approach to skill acquisition [Monograph]. Journal of Applied Psychology,74, 657–690.
19.
Klein, G. A., Calderwood, R., and Clinton-Cirocco, A. (1986). Rapid decision making on the fire ground. In Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 30th Annual Meeting (pp. 576–580). Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
20.
Kramer, A. F., Strayer, D. L., and Buckley, J. (1990). Development and transfer of automatic processing.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance,16,505–522.
21.
Lee, M. D., Rogers, W. A., and Fisk, A. D. (1991). Contextual change and skill acquisition in visual search: Does the rate of change affect performance. In Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 35th Annual Meeting (pp. 1377–1380). Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
22.
Myers, G. L., and Fisk, A. D. (1987). Training consistent task components: Application of automatic and controlled processing theory to industrial task training. Human Factors,29, 255–268.
23.
Rogers, W, A. (1992). Age differences in visual search: Target and distractor learning. Psychology and Aging,7, 526–535.
24.
Rogers, W. A., Bertus, E. L., and Gilbert, D. K. (1994). A dual task assessment of age differences in automatic process development. Psychology and Aging,9, 398–413.
25.
Rogers, W. A., Fisk, A. D., and Hertzog, C. (1994). Do ability performance relationships differentiate age and practice effects in visual search?. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition,20, 710–738.
26.
Rogers, W. A., and Gilbert, D. K. (1992, November). What do young and old adults learn in consistent category search tasks?Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, St. Louis, MO.
27.
Schneider, W. (1988). Micro Experimental Laboratory: An integrated system for IBM PC compatibles. Behavior Research Methods, Instrumentation and Computers,20, 206–217.
28.
Schneider, W., and Detweiler, M. (1987). A connectionist/control architecture for working memory. In G. H. Bower (Ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 21, pp. 53–118). San Diego, CA: Academic.
29.
Schneider, W., and Shiffrin, R. M. (1977). Controlled and automatic human information processing: 1. Detection, search and attention.Psychological Review,84, 1–6.
30.
Schneider, W., Vidulich, M. A., and Yeh, Y. Y. (1982). Training spatial skills for air-traffic control. In Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 26th Annual Meeting (pp. 10–14). Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
31.
Shiffrin, R. M. (1988). Attention. In R. C. Atkinson, R. J. Herrnstein, and R. D. Luce, (Eds.), Stevens' handbook of experimental psychology: Volume 2. Learning and cognition (2nd ed., pp. 739–811). New York: Wiley.
32.
Shiffrin, R. M., and Czerwinski, M. P. (1988). A model of automatic attention attraction when mapping is partially consistent. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition,14, 562–569.
33.
Shiffrin, R. M., and Dumais, S. (1981). The development of automatism. In J. A. Anderson (Ed.), Cognitive skills and their acquisition (pp. 111–140. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
34.
Shiffrin, R. M., and Schneider, W. (1977). Controlled and automatic human information processing: 2. Perceptual learning, automatic attending, and a general theory. Psychological Review,84, 127–190.
35.
Treisman, A., and Gormican, S. (1988). Feature analysis in early vision: Evidence from search asymmetries. Psychological Review,95, 15–48.
