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The harder the task, the more inconsistent the performance: a PPT analysis on task difficulty
Stephen Rice1, Kasha Geels, Holly Raye Hackett
1a New Mexico State University.
The Journal of General Psychology
|May 20, 2014
Summary
As task difficulty increases, performance decreases due to inconsistency, not just systematic factors. Potential Performance Theory explains these task performance decrements.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Human Performance
Background:
- Task difficulty is known to negatively impact task performance.
- Previous explanations focused on systematic factors influencing performance decrements.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test if inconsistency, rather than solely systematic factors, contributes to performance decreases with increased task difficulty.
- To evaluate Potential Performance Theory's (PPT) explanation for task performance changes.
Main Methods:
- Three visual search experiments were conducted.
- Task difficulty was manipulated by altering set size, contrast, and background distracters.
- Potential Performance Theory (PPT) guided the experimental design and analysis.
Main Results:
- Decreased task performance with increased difficulty was primarily linked to reduced consistency.
- Systematic factors played a lesser role in observed performance decrements.
- Findings support the role of inconsistency in performance changes across varying task difficulties.
Conclusions:
- Task difficulty influences performance through a reduction in consistency.
- Potential Performance Theory offers a valuable framework for understanding task performance variations.
- Future research should consider inconsistency as a key factor in cognitive task performance.
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