Processes of Skill Performance: A Foundation for the Design and Use of Training Equipment

Abstract

The purpose was to lay a foundation for the design of low-cost training devices through an analysis of skill performance. Cognitive motor skills are analyzed in terms of the processing of information. Cognitive processes involved in both types of skills include task recognition; task comprehension; goal setting; planning performance; initiating, monitoring, and regulating performance; stimulus encoding and elaboration; attentional processes; retention and retrieval of information; hierarchical schemata for discrimination and generalization; motivation; and skill integration and automatization. For motor skills, special attention is given to structural characteristics of movements; temporal characteristics of movements; signal discrimination and generalization; roles of sensory modes and their interactions; and patterns of skill integration. Empirically based concepts are used throughout to provide an operational means of manipulating variables during training, and examples are given of methods for empirically assessing the roles of various processes. It is concluded that the analyses could be readily extrapolated to a training technology in general and to the design of training devices in particular. Selected research topics illustrate what could be involved in the extrapolation.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 1983
Accession Number
ADA136879

Entities

People

  • W. D. Spears

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Applied Psychology
  • Closed Loop Systems
  • Cognition
  • Cognitive Science
  • Computational Science
  • Control Systems
  • Flight Simulators
  • Flight Training
  • Human Factors Engineering
  • Information Processing
  • Information Science
  • Mental Processes
  • Psychological Theory
  • Psychology
  • Servomechanisms
  • Students
  • Task Performance And Analysis

Fields of Study

  • Education

Readers

  • Brain and Cognitive Science; Experimental Psychology; Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Instructional Design and Training Evaluation.
  • Theoretical Analysis.