Social-psychophysiological compliance as a predictor of future team performance

Abstract

Social psychophysiological compliance (SPC) was tested as a predictor of future team performance of two-person teams performing a self-paced projective tracking task under laboratory conditions. Undergraduate students (N=16 teams, aged 17 to 23 yrs) worked in parallel using separate X-Y joysticks to guide a virtual object through a complex path. One team member controlled the horizontal position of the object while the other controlled vertical. Unexpected changes in task control dynamics occurred at a randomly-selected point in the path: either horizontal and vertical (HV) control were swapped between team members, directional control was reversed, or both HV swap plus directional reversal occurred. Higher cardiac SPC (cross correlation, lag=0) scores predicted lower tracking error from path centerline (p>.01) but did not predict collision severity between object and path wall. The results indicate that SPC has some potential for assessing a team's readiness to handle unexpected task demands in the immediate future.