Abstract
This study was designed to examine whether differences in cue utilization were associated with differences in performance during a novel, simulated rail control task, and whether these differences reflected a reduction in cognitive load. Two experiments were conducted, the first of which involved the completion of a 20-min rail control simulation that required participants to re-route trains that periodically required a diversion. Participants with a greater level of cue utilization recorded a consistently greater response latency, consistent with a strategy that maintained accuracy, but reduced the demands on cognitive resources. In the second experiment, participants completed the rail task, during which a concurrent, secondary task was introduced. The results revealed an interaction, whereby participants with lesser levels of cue utilization recorded an increase in response latency that exceeded the response latency recorded for participants with greater levels of cue utilization. The relative consistency of response latencies for participants with greater levels of cue utilization, across all blocks, despite the imposition of a secondary task, suggested that those participants with greater levels of cue utilization had adopted a strategy that was effectively minimizing the impact of additional sources of cognitive load on their performance.
Highlights
Skilled performance across a range of domains of practice is characterized by accurate and rapid responses, often in dynamic and complex situations (Salthouse, 1991; Ericsson and Lehmann, 1996; Beilock et al, 2004)
Since there were no differences in the accuracy of responses amongst the two groups, the results suggest that participants with greater levels of cue utilization recognized that time was available in which to initiate a response to reroute misrouted trains, and adopted a strategy of least cognitive effort
The aim of the research presented in this paper was to examine whether differences in cue utilization were associated with differences in performance during a novel, simulated rail control task, and whether these differences in performance reflected a reduction in cognitive load
Summary
Skilled performance across a range of domains of practice is characterized by accurate and rapid responses, often in dynamic and complex situations (Salthouse, 1991; Ericsson and Lehmann, 1996; Beilock et al, 2004). This is attributed to specialized routines or associations that have been established through repeated application across a variety of settings (Klein, 2011). In some environments, the acquisition of skilled performance is characterized by the capacity to rapidly and accurately extract and utilize meaningful information from features in the environment (Abernethy, 1987, 1990; Bellenkes et al, 1997), thereby enabling the discrimination of relevant from less relevant cues (Weiss and Shanteau, 2003).
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