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Younger and older adult participants performed a dynamic multiple-task requiring concurrent processing of 4 independent tasks. Component-task performance emphasis (i.e., task priorities) was biased by differential point allocations across task components. After training, the point structure was modified. Older adults exhibited larger multiple-task performance deficits compared with younger adults; however, the age-related gap in multiple-task performance decreased with practice. The age-related performance difference increased again when task emphasis was changed, but not when demands were changed. Consistent with the training data, the age-related differences diminished again with additional experience on this new task-component emphasis. The data suggest that higher-order, strategic processing may be an important source of age-related differences in complex multiple-task performance. Actual or potential applications of this research include the facilitation of techniques for age-related comprehensive usability testing for products of even moderate complexity

The present study focused on the type of information presented during training and its effects on initial and retention performance of older and younger adults interacting with computerized, new technology. The effects of emphasizing concepts versus actions during training on performance immediately after training and after a 1-month retention interval were examined. Younger and older adults completed either action or concept training for operating a virtual automatic teller machine (ATM). Overall, action training was associated with faster and more accurate performance immediately after training and better retention performance for older adults. For older adults, value of type of training interacted with type of task component. These findings are applicable to the development of age-specific training materials for computerized tasks.

We examined the retention of performance in memory, visual, and hybrid memory/visual search after subjects received extensive consistent mapping (CM) practice. In the first two experiments we examined retention of detection performance in memory scanning (Experiment 1) and in visual search (Experiment 2) approximately one month after training. In the third experiment we examined performance 1, 30, 90, 180, and 365 days following training on pure visual and hybrid memory/visual semantic-category search tasks. We examined retention at intervals up to one year after practice as a function of amount of CM practice. In addition, we assessed the degree of category activation (performance on untrained words from the trained categories) at each retention interval. Across experiments, we found no decay in CM trained memory search and minimal decay in pure visual search. Significant decline in CM performance was largely attributable to performance in the hybrid memory/visual search conditions. These data reconcile previously equivocal retention results for CM trained search performance.

This research evaluated the effect of providing advanced left turn information to individuals faced with deciding whether or not it is safe to turn at a signalized intersection. Younger (mean age 37 years) and older (mean age 71 years) drivers were tested in simulations of approaching an intersection with and without advanced cueing. Experiment 1 used a featureless background; Experiment 2 used an animated presentation of traffic control displays. In both experiments the subjects had to determine whether or not they had right-of-way to make a left turn. Exaggerated error rates and increased decision latencies for displays conveying unprotected turn status occurred in both studies. Cueing drivers with advanced notice of the decision rule through a redundant upstream posting of sign elements improved both accuracy and latency of younger and older drivers′ decisions.

This experiment was designed to investigate whether well-learned "automatic" processes remain stable as a function of age, as well as to determine whether the ability to modify these automatic processes is disrupted for older adults. We used an arithmetic Stroop task to measure the stability of an automatic process. Nineteen young (mean age 22) and 19 old (mean age 75) adults participated in three experimental sessions, each of which consisted of 15 blocks of 30 trials. Although the young subjects had faster verification times overall than did The Old Adults, Both Young And Old Subjects Showed Significant Interference Effects. For The Young Adults, There Was A Decrease In The Interference Effect With Practice, Which Suggested That They Were Learning To Inhibit The Automatic Process Of Performing The Arithmetical Operation. However, The Old Adults Showed No Significant Decrease In The Associative Interference Effects. This Implies That The Older Adults Were Impaired In Their Ability To Inhibit Automatic Processes, Even When Those Processes Interfered With Performance. Theoretical And Practical Training Implications Are Discussed.

The effects of context on perceptual learning were examined in a visual search task involving words from semantically distinct categories. Subjects were trained for a total of 8000 trials in five conditions consisting of a variably mapped (VM) condition, a consistently mapped (CM) condition, and three context conditions in which the consistency of the targets and distractors was dependent on the joint occurrence of specific target/distractor sets. The results of the training phase of the experiment showed that performance in the context conditions improved more than in the VM condition, indicating some benefit of context in the absence of total consistency, but there was less improvement than in the CM condition. After training, the subjects completed 3200 trials in five transfer conditions in which the targets and distractors of the original CM and context conditions were reversed and a new CM condition was added. In the transfer phase of the experiment there was a significant increase in RT (200 ms), indicative of negative transfer, when the CM target and distractor set were reversed. The switching of VM items to CM improved performance (50 ms). Little effect of target/distractor reversal in the cycle conditions implied that context was not used to learn or maintain relationships among specific targets and distractors. The data suggest that in the absence of traditional consistency, context plays an important role in facilitating performance. The results from the training and transfer phases of the experiment are interpreted from a hybrid-connectionist model of human information processing. The importance of contextual information in real-world tasks is discussed.

Vigilance decrements are interpreted within a two-process (automatic/control) theory of human information processing, and the theoretical components of the normal vigilance curve are discussed in relation to type of processing and amount of practice. Two experiments were conducted showing significant vigilance decrements when subjects utilized effortful control processing; the normal decrement was not observed when effortless automatic processing was possible. Maximum vigilance decrements occur when subjects must continually and redundantly allocate control-processing resources. Results disconfirm the habituation hypothesis. It is concluded that structuring a task such that there is a consistent relationship between signals and noise will reduce vigilance problems. System design implications suggest that tasks should be structured to minimize continuous and repetitive control processing. Methods for developing vigilance-decrement-resistant automatic processing are discussed.

Two experiments were conducted to examine the effects of part-task training on the acquisition and retention of a memory-dependent skill. Participants received extensive practice on a semantic category, memory/visual search task in one of three training conditions. To assess the effects of part-task training on memory element unitization, subjects trained on one third, one half, or all of the memory set elements during any given training session. Transfer tests requiring whole-task performance provided one index of training effectiveness. The results suggest that consistent memory sets can be unitized even if part-task training is used. Indeed, part-task training was as effective as whole-task training when immediate transfer was assessed. Part-task training produced retention performance equivalent to whole-task training when retention performance was determined by both target and distract or learning. Retention performance was superior for part-task training compared with whole-task training when performance was based on only target learning.

The present experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of varying degrees of task consistency on the performance and maintenance of skill in a semanticcategory visual search task. Four groups of participants first received 6000 trials of consistent mapping (CM) training on two different categories. The participants then performed 4000 trials in which one of the previously trained categories remained 100% consistent, whereas the other previously trained category became either 100%, 67%, 50%, or 33% consistent. This second phase of the experiment allowed for the examination of disruption of the search skill as a function of degree of consistency. Subsequent to the degree of consistency manipulation, 100% consistency was restored and participants performed another 4200 CM trials. Results indicate that performance was disrupted by inconsistency and that disruption increased as consistency decreased. On the return of task consistency, performance improved rapidly to predisruption levels, though some performance disruption was evident. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

We examined the effects of varying degrees of global (higher-order) and local (stimulus specific) consistency on performance and learning in a visual search task. Participants performed a semantic-category, visual search task across 9792 trials of practice. Semantic categories were either completely consistent (all category exemplars served only as targets, never as distractors), completely inconsistent (across trials category exemplars served as both targets and distractors), or partially consistent (25%, 50%, or 75% of the category exemplars served only as targets while the remaining exemplars served as both targets and distractors). Following training, category learning was assessed by examining performance on untrained exemplars of the trained categories. Inconsistency at the category level did not affect detection performance of the consistent exemplars; however, only the completely consistent category-training resulted in statistically significant transfer.

The research evaluated the effectiveness of rule-based versus single-step (non-rule-based) approaches to training skills in a classroom setting. Trainees received three days of either rule-based or single-step instruction on base-5 arithmetic skills. Achievement tests were administered after each instructional unit, and trainees' self-assessment of learning was also measured. The trainees' ability to transfer the classroom instruction to a speed-stressed verification task (determining the correctness of equations) was assessed. After rule-based instruction trainees were better able to assess their readiness for promotion to a higher level of instruction. The rule-based instruction also facilitated transfer to the verification task. The implications of automatic/controlled processing theory for providing theoretical and practical underpinnings for the development of instructional systems design are discussed.

Five experiments addressed the effects of intercomponent consistency on skill acquisition in a class of cognitively demanding tasks requiring rapid integration of information and rapid application of rules. The role of consistency of external stimulus-to-rule linkage in facilitating learning and performing rule-based tasks was examined. After extensive consistent practice, subjects' performance was remarkably similar to performance observed in traditional perceptual learning tasks. This similarity suggests that mechanisms underlying perceptual learning (in visual search) and rule-based spatial learning are similar. Subjects who were trained such that consistent stimulus-to-rule association could be built up and strengthened with practice performed in a manner qualitatively and quantitatively different from subjects trained with inconsistent stimulus-to-rule relationships. This superiority of the consistent stimulus-to-rule-trained subjects over the inconsistent stimulus-to-rule subjects was even more exaggerated in dual-task situations. The data have implications for the understanding and training of skilled problem-solving tasks. When training affords development of subcomponent automatization of the problem-solving activity, the chance of memory overload is reduced. The results suggest one such trainable subcomponent-the perceptual/rule-based components.

The present paper discusses vigilance phenomena in terms of the automatic/control processing theory (Schneider and Shiffrin, 1977) of attention and human information processing. Fisk and Schneider (1981) interpreted vigilance decrements within the automatic/control process framework and discussed system design implications as well as training methods for vigilance environments. Recent results concerning the effects of various stressors on automatic and control processes are presented. Taken as a whole, these results from vigilance, alcohol intoxication, heat stress, and mental workload experiments highlight why, when addressing sustained attention issues, it is critical to understand the mode of information processing (i.e., automatic/control) available to perform the task.

Two experiments were conducted to examine the generality of automatic/controlled processing training principles to rich, complex tasks. In both experiments, subjects' tasks were modeled after a job function performed in the telecommunications industry. These tasks required subjects to process conjunctions of information. Large quantitative and qualitative differences were found between the consistently and variably mapped training conditions. The need for determining trainable consistent components of complex tasks is discussed. The present experiments indicate that theories of automatic and controlled processing can be expanded to include many domains of rich, complex industrial tasks.