Boot Walter R, Sumner Anna, Towne Tyler J, Rodriguez Paola, Anders Ericsson K
Department of Psychology, Florida State University.
Top Cogn Sci. 2017 Apr;9(2):413-436. doi: 10.1111/tops.12230. Epub 2016 Nov 20.
Video games are ideal platforms for the study of skill acquisition for a variety of reasons. However, our understanding of the development of skill and the cognitive representations that support skilled performance can be limited by a focus on game scores. We present an alternative approach to the study of skill acquisition in video games based on the tools of the Expert Performance Approach. Our investigation was motivated by a detailed analysis of the behaviors responsible for the superior performance of one of the highest scoring players of the video game Space Fortress (Towne, Boot, & Ericsson, ). This analysis revealed how certain behaviors contributed to his exceptional performance. In this study, we recruited a participant for a similar training regimen, but we collected concurrent and retrospective verbal protocol data throughout training. Protocol analysis revealed insights into strategies, errors, mental representations, and shifting game priorities. We argue that these insights into the developing representations that guided skilled performance could only easily have been derived from the tools of the Expert Performance Approach. We propose that the described approach could be applied to understand performance and skill acquisition in many different video games (and other short- to medium-term skill acquisition paradigms) and help reveal mechanisms of transfer from gameplay to other measures of laboratory and real-world performance.
出于多种原因，电子游戏是研究技能习得的理想平台。然而，我们对技能发展以及支持熟练表现的认知表征的理解可能会因专注于游戏分数而受到限制。我们基于专家表现法的工具，提出了一种研究电子游戏中技能习得的替代方法。我们的研究是由对电子游戏《太空堡垒》中得分最高的玩家之一的卓越表现所负责的行为进行详细分析所推动的（Towne、Boot和Ericsson， ）。该分析揭示了某些行为是如何促成他的非凡表现的。在本研究中，我们招募了一名参与者进行类似的训练方案，但在整个训练过程中收集了同步和回顾性的口头报告数据。协议分析揭示了对策略、错误、心理表征和游戏优先级变化的见解。我们认为，这些对指导熟练表现的发展表征的见解只能很容易地从专家表现法的工具中得出。我们建议，所描述的方法可以应用于理解许多不同电子游戏（以及其他短期至中期技能习得范式）中的表现和技能习得，并有助于揭示从游戏玩法到实验室和现实世界表现的其他衡量标准的迁移机制。
