Training Conditions and Strategic Aspects of Skill Transfer in a Simulated Process Control Task

Abstract

In carrying out tasks, operators are at liberty to adopt a variety of strategies both at an operational level and at a more private psychological level, according to the affordances provided in the operational situation. Skill transfer between tasks is likely to be affected not only by common task elements but also by domain-specific strategic knowledge. The implication for training design thus would be to examine training methods that encourage learners to develop strategic knowledge to maximize transfer. Our focus has been on teaching knowledge of goal interactions and side effects as a means of enhancing domain-specific strategies. We describe an experiment to test predictions made through an operational classification of plans and to examine the extent to which transfer is facilitated by strategic knowledge. Participants were required to learn how to carry out the first stage in starting up a simulated distillation column, following instruction that varied in terms of degree of explicit procedural guidance and knowledge of goal interactions. The transfer task involved continuing the start-up process to achieve the final product targets. The results indicated that, although common task elements accounted for the majority of transfer effects, strategic knowledge also played a significant role in transfer.