EFFECT OF SEQUENTIAL VERSUS SIMULTANEOUS PRACTICE ON LEARNING A MULTI-COMPONENT VISUAL-MOTOR TASK

Abstract

A visual motor task is compatible if movements of control and display are in the same direction otherwise it is incompatible. In position control, a single unidirectional movement will cause a single unidirectional output motion. In velocity control, bi-directional movement is needed to cause a unidirectional output motion on the screen. PURPOSE To explore the adaptation to two altered task components, compatibility and order of control, in a complex visual motor task. METHODS 36 subjects (23±2.73 yrs) directed a cursor onto a circular target on a monitor as quickly as possible. A joystick directed cursor movements having either position or velocity control order and compatible or incompatible mapping, depending on the test. Four experimental conditions each had three phases, each with 20 blocks of 8 trials. The first phase and the last phase, respectively, required performance of the same task, position control compatible (PC), and velocity control incompatible (VI) tasks for all four groups. The interpolated task in the second phase, requiring another 20 blocks, remained the same, position compatible, for group PC, but was changed to position incompatible for group PI, to velocity compatible for group VC and to velocity incompatible for group VI. RESULTS In velocity control, subjects' hand movements became more repetitive and they moved the cursor first horizontally then vertically toward diagonal targets, rather than straight, as in position control tasks. The difference for mean movement time between the pairs–VI (1032 ms) versus VC (1991 ms) and PI (1862 ms) in block 1 and VI (948 ms) versus VC (1671 ms) in block 2 and block 3–were statistically significant (p= 0.001). Learning was faster when the two task factors were changed simultaneously rather than sequentially. CONCLUSION Practicing each component unnecessarily extends training time, which may not be practical for employee training in an industrial setting.