BENDING THE POWER-LAW - A CMPL THEORY OF STRATEGY SHIFTS AND THE AUTOMATIZATION OF COGNITIVE SKILLS

The shift with practice from use of generic, multistep problem-solving strategies to fast and relatively effortless memory-based strategies, was explored in 2 experiments using pseudoarithmetic tasks. A complet e transition to the memory strategy occurred by about the 60th exposur e to each problem. The power law of practice did not hold in the overa ll data for either the mean or the standard deviation of response late ncy, but it did hold within each strategy (algorithm or retrieval). Le arning was highly specific to the practiced problems. These results co nstitute the Ist clear demonstration of a skill for which the power la w does not apply overall. The results do not support the instance theo ry of automatization (G. D. Logan, 1988) but are consistent with an al ternative component power laws (CMPL) theory that assumes that because of intrinsic attentional limitations, only 1 strategy can be executed at a time.