SGER: Complex Skill Acquisition and Retention and Minimizing Skill Decay: An Investigation of the Effectiveness of Instructional Design and Post-Training Strategies

Texas A&M Research Foundation, College Station TX

Investigators

Abstract

The PI proposes to explore a range of factors implicated in the maintenance or reacquisition of a set of complex skills. He focuses on those skills that are not used or reinforced for long periods of time after their initial acquisition. The project is designed to test the efficacy of interventions, during initial training and post-training, manipulating such factors as (a) massed versus distributed practice, and (b) observation-based rehearsal. It will also examine cognitive as well as personality individual difference factors. Many professionals, including those central to emergency preparedness, receive little to no follow-up training.