H. Haider et Pa. Frensch, Eye movement during skill acquisition: More evidence for the information-reduction hypothesis, J EXP PSY L, 25(1), 1999, pp. 172-190
Citations number
56
Categorie Soggetti
Psycology
Journal title
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY-LEARNING MEMORY AND COGNITION
Two experiments tested H. Haider and P. A. Frensch's (1996) information-red
uction hypothesis that people learn, with practice, to distinguish between
task-relevant and task-redundant information and to limit their processing
to task-relevant information. Participants verified alphabetic strings (e.g
., "E [4] J K L") containing task-relevant and task-redundant information.
In Experiment 1, the positioning of task-relevant information within the st
rings and the consistency of positioning were manipulated. Degree of inform
ation reduction as reflected in reduced reaction times was not affected by
the positioning of the relevant information and was only slightly affected
by consistency of the positioning. In Experiment 2, eye movements were reco
rded. Results suggest that task-redundant information is ignored at a perce
ptual rather than a conceptual level of processing. Thus, existing theories
of skill acquisition should include mechanisms that capture the practice-r
elated increase in the selective use of information.