Ability Determinants of Complex Skill Acquisition

Abstract

Definition ▶ Skill is the level of proficiency on specific tasks. It is the learned capability of an individual to achieve desired performance outcomes (Fleishman 1972). Thus, skills can be improved via practice and instruction. Although skills differ in many ways, important distinctions can be made in terms of complexity. Task complexity is described via differences in component, coordinative, and dynamic complexity (Wood 1986). Component complexity concerns the number of distinct acts and processing of distinct information cues involved in the creation of task products. Much of the empirical literature on complex skill acquisition involves tasks comprised of both cognitive and percep-tual-motor components. Coordinative complexity concerns how different acts, information cues, and task products are interrelated. Dynamic complexity concerns how acts, information cues, and task products or their relationships change across time. Dynamic complexity can also be thought of as the degree of inconsistency in information-processing demands. Thus, a ▶ Complex action learning can be defined in terms of the proficiency required for task performance that contains an amalgamation of strong component, coordinative, and dynamic complexity. ▶ Acquisition is a process, internal to an individual,