DIFFERENTIAL APPROACHES TO TRAINING.

Abstract

Abstract : Training tasks were presented under laboratory conditions to newly inducted Army basic trainees who were divided into three groups on the basis of their Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) scores. The high group (N=52) ranged in AFQT score from 90 to 99; the middle group (N=30) from 45 to 55; and the low group (N=61) from 10 to 21. Training tasks were varied in complexity including simple and choice S-R monitoring, motor chaining, verbal chaining, multiple discrimination and principle application tasks. Learning performance was found to be directly and highly related to aptitude level. In some tasks, group differences were in rate of learning only; in others, the groups differed in rate and in final levels of performance. Individual performance was highly consistent across tasks. Performance was found to be related to training method for both high and low aptitude groups. The low aptitude trainees did poorly on all tasks, taking an average of two or three times as long to learn as the higher aptitude trainees. (Author)