Trainability of Abilities: Training and Transfer of Abilities Related to Electronic Fault-Finding

摘要

The feasibility of training selected abilities so as to facilitate transfer among tasks requiring these abilities and therefore reduce training time and increase personnel flexibility was investigated. Sixty undergraduate college students participated in a study of from one to five days duration. Experimental subjects received extensive practice with feedback provided on a set of tasks known to require the abilities of flexibility of closure and spatial scanning. Control subjects received no practice. All subjects were tested on an electronic fault-finding task which was dissimilar to the training tasks but which had earlier been demonstrated to require for successful task performance the abilities being trained. Results indicated that training significantly enhanced spatial scanning but not flexibility of closure as measured by standard ability tests administered before and after training. On the other hand, there was no evidence that performance on the troubleshooting task was affected significantly as a result of training (i.e., there was no transfer of training). The findings were discussed in relation to training regimens and the complexity of the criterion task. (Author)