Learning to Make Decisions in Dynamic Environments: Effects of Time Constraints and Cognitive Abilities
Abstract
This study investigated the effects of time constraints and cognitive abilities on dynamic decision making (DDM). The learning and performance of individual strained in a DDM task with time constraints were compared with those who were trained without time constraints. Although all participants received the same total amount of time to perform the task, individuals under more stringent time constraints were given 3 times more practice trials on the first 2 days of the study than were people under less _stringent time constraints. Despite the additional practice runs, participants under high time constraints performed worse than did participants under low time constraints on the 3rd day of the study. A subsequent analysis of cognitive abilities and decision heuristics revealed that individuals' actions corresponded with simple heuristic predictions more closely with minimal practice than with extended practice, under high rather than low time constraints, and individuals with low rather than high cognitive abilities. These findings suggest that mere repetition of a task with less time within a trial is counterproductive to learning and that learning depends on cognitive abilities. Potential applications of this research include the design of training procedures for dynamic tasks.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2004
- Accession Number
- AD1142794
Entities
People
- Cleotilde Gonzalez
Organizations
- Carnegie Mellon University