COMPETITION AND PERFORMANCE ON A COMPUTER-BASED COMPLEX PERCEPTUAL-MOTOR TASK

Employees of temporary agencies practiced Space Fortress, a complex vi deo game task, for 10 sessions, each consisting of 8 practice and 2 te st games of 3 min each. Trainees practiced individually, in dyads, or in tetrads, and they were classified as having high or low aptitude ba sed on computer attitude scores and baseline performance. Competition for monetary prizes was introduced early in training, late in training , or not at all. Competition facilitated high-aptitude trainees but no t low-aptitude trainees. Group size and the timing of competition inst ructions had no main effects or interactions. The results are discusse d in terms of social facilitation theory, according to which competiti on facilitates dominant responses, which helps high-skill trainees but not low-skill trainees.