Benefits and costs of self-paced preparation of novel task instructions.

Christina B Reimer,Frederick Verbruggen,Zhang Chen

doi:10.1098/rsos.210762

Abstract

Rapidly executing novel instructions is a critical ability. However, it remains unclear whether longer preparation of novel instructions improves performance, and if so, whether this link is modulated by performance benefits and costs of preparation. Regarding the first question, we reanalysed previous data on novel instruction implementation and ran Experiment 1. Experiment 1 consisted of multiple mini-blocks, in which participants prepared four novel stimulus–response (S-R) mappings in a self-paced instruction phase. After participants indicated they were ready, one of the four stimuli was presented and they responded. The reanalysis and Experiment 1 showed that longer preparation indeed led to better performance. To examine if preparation was modulated when the benefits of preparation were reduced, we presented the correct response with the stimulus on some trials in Experiments 2 and 3. Preparation was shorter when the probability that the correct response was presented with the stimulus increased. In Experiment 4, we manipulated the costs of preparation by changing the S-R mappings between the instruction and execution phases on some trials. This had only limited effects on preparation time. In conclusion, self-paced preparation of novel instructions comes with performance benefits and costs, and participants adjust their preparation strategy to the task context.

Highlights

The ability to rapidly execute novel instructions greatly facilitates flexible and purposeful behaviour in everyday life, for example when trying a new recipe for dinner, when using a new piece of equipment, or when assembling a new piece of furniture
The execution phase consisted of only one trial, as subsequent trials could already be influenced by practice or learning
In Experiments 2a and 2b, self-paced preparation and performance were contrasted between a condition in which it was clearly beneficial to prepare the novel instructions, and a condition in which the benefits of advance preparation were reduced

Summary

Introduction

The ability to rapidly execute novel instructions greatly facilitates flexible and purposeful behaviour in everyday life, for example when trying a new recipe for dinner, when using a new piece of equipment, or when assembling a new piece of furniture. One would assume that people perform better (i.e. fewer errors, faster responses) after preparing the to-beperformed task for a longer period This intuition has been challenged, as evidence for a link between self-paced preparation time and performance is still mixed [2,3]. To preview our own findings, we found that prolonged self-paced preparation did lead to a performance benefit, both in the careful reanalysis of a previous study and in a new experiment. Encouraged by these findings, we investigated in a second series of experiments whether this positive link was modulated by expected costs and benefits of self-paced preparation (Study Aim 2). We will introduce the previous work on costs and benefits of self-paced preparation after discussing the reanalysis and the first experiment

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion