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Abstract
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The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between training device fidelity and transfer of training for a perceptual-motor maintenance task. The task was truing a bicycle wheel. Fidelity was operationally defined in terms of the physical and functional similarity (PS and FS, respectively) of each device to the actual equipment. Five experimental conditions were employed, each using one of the following devices:
1. Actual equipment (High PS/High FS) 2. Facsimile equipment (Medium PS/Medium FS) 3. Line drawings (Low PS/Low FS) 4. Inoperative actual equipment (High PS/Low FS) 5. Computer graphics model (Low PS/High FS)
One hundred non-college bound high school students served as subjects, with 20 randomly assigned to each condition. The training method consisted of the following:
(1) A demonstration of the task on the device appropriate to the experimental condition; (2) practice on the device (subjects in Condition 1 had one 15-minute practice trial); and (3) two 15-minute performance trials on the actual equipment. For example, in Condition 3 the subjects were first shown pictures of the various equipment components and the process of truing the wheel was explained; this was followed by problems in which the subjects had to state what they would do to correct the depicted deviation and point out how they would do it. Feedback was provided in all conditions.
Performance accuracy in terms of millimeters of lateral rim deviation was measured automatically at 3-minute intervals during trials of 15-minutes duration.
The results indicate that there is no effect of overall fidelity on task performance. However, the results show that physical similarity is a significantly more important determinant of skill acquisition for this task than functional similarity.
The results support the idea that training device fidelity can be usefully defined along at least two dimensions; and it can be systematically varied and its effects on learning studied. The results have implications for the kind of guidance to provide to training program managers who must make cost-effective decisions regarding device features. Future research will investigate the potentially interactive effects of variables like task complexity and subject aptitude.
Language: en |