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Repeating virtual assembly training facilitates memory for coarse but not fine assembly steps
Author(s) -
Sebastian Katharina,
Ghose Tandra,
Huff Markus
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of computer assisted learning
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.583
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1365-2729
pISSN - 0266-4909
DOI - 10.1111/jcal.12285
Subject(s) - task (project management) , computer science , similarity (geometry) , event (particle physics) , human–computer interaction , artificial intelligence , physics , management , quantum mechanics , economics , image (mathematics)
Humans segment naturalistic actions into meaningful units. These are hierarchically organized: multiple fine events are part of a coarse event. We investigated how repeated practice of a virtual sequential assembly task influences learning of coarse and fine assembly steps. In Experiment 1, participants ( N = 10) parsed the task into coarse and fine events. This determined the task's hierarchical structure. In Experiment 2, domain experts ( N = 18) and novices ( N = 19) practiced the task in a virtual environment three times with intermittent memory testing. We found a hierarchical level effect: memory improved with repeated virtual training for coarse but not for fine steps. Further, experts' memory for fine assembly steps was higher compared with novices' memory. The hierarchical level effect could be explained by higher saliency (and lower similarity, respectively) of the coarse compared with the fine steps. We discuss implications for virtual training, which compose of hierarchical structure into task presentation.