RWTH Aachen University, Department of Psychology, Jägerstraße 17-19, Aachen, Germany.
Appl Ergon. 2011 Mar;42(3):437-44. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2010.09.001.
The use of interaction devices in modern work often challenges the human motor system, especially when these devices introduce unfamiliar transformations to the user. In this paper we evaluated expert performance and skill differences between experts and novices when using small motion- and force-controlled interaction devices (touchpad and mini-joystick) in an applied text-editing task. Firstly, experts performed better with their familiar input device than with an unfamiliar one. Particularly touchpad experts operating the unfamiliar mini-joystick showed highly asymmetric carryover costs. Results showed that the efficient performance of experts depended on domain-specific skills, which were not transferable. Secondly, with considerable practice (more than observed for simple and short tasks) novices were brought up to higher levels of performance. The motion-transformation between hand and cursor action was easier in understanding and application than the force-transformation. Thus, the touchpad was used more efficiently than the mini-joystick. In conclusion, practice effects found so far are considerably underestimated when it comes to an applied task. The results give reason to develop and implement skill-sensitive training procedures, since the acquisition of domain-specific skills is critical for expert performance. As a consequence, training procedures might be essential for complex applications and/or unfamiliar device transformations.
现代工作中使用交互设备常常挑战人类运动系统，尤其是当这些设备向用户引入不熟悉的变换时。在本文中，我们评估了专家和新手在使用小型运动和力控制交互设备（触摸板和迷你操纵杆）进行应用文本编辑任务时的专家表现和技能差异。首先，专家使用熟悉的输入设备比使用不熟悉的设备表现更好。特别是使用不熟悉的迷你操纵杆的触摸板专家表现出高度不对称的迁移成本。结果表明，专家的高效表现取决于特定于领域的技能，而这些技能是不可转移的。其次，经过相当多的练习（比简单和短任务观察到的要多），新手的表现提高到了更高的水平。与力转换相比，手和光标动作之间的运动转换在理解和应用上更容易。因此，触摸板比迷你操纵杆更有效率。总之，当涉及到应用任务时，迄今为止发现的练习效果被大大低估了。这些结果表明有必要开发和实施技能敏感的培训程序，因为特定于领域的技能的获取对于专家表现至关重要。因此，培训程序对于复杂的应用程序和/或不熟悉的设备转换可能是必不可少的。
