Skill & expertise
Does being good at using cues help you learn new skills faster?
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
Students who were better at picking up and using meaningful cues in driving scenarios learned to land a simulated aircraft and fly a simulated drone more successfully.
Study at a glance
- Design
- Cross-sectional — Two predictive correlational studies: a driving-based cue-utilization test followed in the same session by novel flight-simulator (Study 1) or UAV-simulator (Study 2) learning tasks.
- N
- Study 1: 51 students recruited, three excluded for missing data (15 higher and 33 lower cue users analysed); Study 2: 50 students.
- Population
- Licensed-driver university psychology students with no flight-simulator or remote-control aircraft experience
- Outcome
- Study 1: distance from runway target on the fourth landing; Study 2: proportion of successful UAV take-offs and landings and trials to criterion
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Key findings
In Study 1, students classified as higher cue users landed closer to the target on the fourth trial than lower cue users, even after controlling for driving experience. In Study 2, higher cue utilization together with lower sensory processing sensitivity explained 30.3% of the variance in successful take-offs and 26.2% in successful landings; cue utilization alone predicted how quickly the take-off criterion was reached and whether the landing criterion was achieved. Video-game use, driving experience and attentional control did not add predictive value.
Methodology
Novice students first completed EXPERTise, a computer test of how well they use driving-related cues (judging how strongly features relate to events, spotting a target in a busy scene, and rating which features matter in a scenario). In Study 1 they then made repeated landings in a light-aircraft simulator; in Study 2 they spent 15 minutes practising take-offs and landings of a simulated unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and also completed scales of sensory processing sensitivity and attentional control.
Limitations
Both studies are correlational and short, measuring only a single session of early learning, so they cannot show that cue utilization causes faster skill acquisition or predicts eventual expertise. The samples were modest groups of young psychology students, and Study 1 grouped people into only two clusters (15 higher vs 33 lower). The authors note that without neurological evidence, the claim that EXPERTise measures cue use remains speculative, and the report is slightly inconsistent about whether four or five landing trials were run.
How this study connects
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