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Explorations of individual differences relevant to high level skill.

S W Keele¹, H L Hawkins

¹Psychology Department, University of Oregon, OR, USA.

Journal of Motor Behavior

|March 1, 1982

Summary

This study found no general time-sharing ability but identified attentional flexibility and correlated repetitive activity rates as key factors for predicting high skill performance in various tasks.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Human Factors
Motor Control

Background:

Identifying underlying abilities for high skill acquisition remains a challenge.
Previous research has yielded limited broad abilities common across diverse skilled domains.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate three distinct abilities potentially contributing to high skill.
To determine the presence and relevance of general time-sharing, attentional flexibility, and repetitive activity rates.

Main Methods:

Experimental investigation of time-sharing across tasks.
Assessment of attentional flexibility.
Measurement of repetitive motor activity rates (e.g., finger tapping, foot tapping).

Main Results:

No evidence supported a general time-sharing ability.
Modest evidence indicated attentional flexibility is a relevant trait.
Repetitive activity rates were correlated across muscle groups and predicted handwriting and typing speeds.

Conclusions:

Attentional flexibility may predict success in skills demanding rapid attention shifts.
Correlated rates of repetitive activity suggest a common underlying factor influencing motor speed.
These findings offer insights into the cognitive and motor components of expertise.

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