Task variety during training was manipulated to assess residual effects on skill acquisition during subsequent transfer to a novel perceptual motor task. The task involved tracing a four-point star pattern displayed on a personal computer with a "mouse," while receiving variation in visual feedback from the CRT display. Variety during training involved two cases of abnormal visual feedback (left-right reversal and 90 degree tilt) Task variety (i.e., visual feedback) was manipulated and counterbalanced in four levels: alternated variety (trial by trial), blocked variety (in five trial sets), no variety (i.e., one type of feedback), and a control condition that trained with no displacement (normal feedback). All groups were tested with inverted feedback (up-down reversal) as the novel transfer task. The number of trials was fixed as 10 trials each for the training and transfer phases. Dependent measures were RMS error and time to completion.
During training, significant differences revealed that the alternated variety condition was the most difficult to learn, followed by blocked variety, no variety, and the control condition. The two variety groups did not differ in performance on the first transfer trial. The alternated group traced faster on transfer trials two through five, however, the blocked group was more accurate. The no variety group performed superior to the two variety conditions combined, on all of the first five transfer trials. Although the control group performed with significantly fewer errors than the treatment conditions on the first transfer trial, the treatment groups performed significantly faster than the control group on transfer trials two through five.
These results indicate that task variety under these circumstances was generally no advantage to transfer performance. It is speculated that variation may indeed improve transfer with longer training periods.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:rtd-5846 |
| Date | 01 January 1986 |
| Creators | Jones, Sherrie Ann |
| Publisher | University of Central Florida |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Retrospective Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | Public Domain |
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