Predictors of fault-finding skill

Abstract

In modern-day, complex industrial systems, the role of human operators has become ever more vital in the safe running and diagnosis of system failures. Previous research has, however, failed to identify consistent predictors of novel fault-finding skill. It is argued that this failure has arisen because researchers have adopted an atheoretical approach to identifying predictors of diagnostic skill. In this paper, a study is reported which examines the development of diagnostic skill from the perspective of Ackerman's (1988) theory of the ability determinants of skill acquisition (TADSA). Forty-two subjects completed 600 fault-diagnosis problems, and their performance was predicted by measures of ability that tapped aspects of cognitive performance which included cognitive capacity, perceptual speed, and psychomotor speed. As predicted by TADSA, fault-diagnosis performance is predictable by different measures cognitive performance at different stages of practice.