Tracing the learning path: Revealing skill acquisition phases in a virtual environment through behavioral tracking

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Science
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Virtual Reality Training

Background:

• Skill acquisition is often lengthy and resource-intensive.
• Virtual environments offer a viable alternative for in-situ training and data collection.
• Personalized training requires understanding individual learning needs and stages.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify distinct phases of skill acquisition.
• To develop a behavioral method for real-time learning phase detection.
• To align identified phases with established cognitive theories like ACT-R.

Main Methods:

• Sixty-three participants practiced an assembly task in a virtual environment over two sessions.
• Behavioral data, including instruction consultations and errors, were logged.
• Mental workload was assessed using the NASA-TLX scale.

Main Results:

• Progressive skill acquisition was observed, with evidence of long-term memory retrieval.
• A behavioral method effectively identified distinct learning phases.
• The identified phases correlated with behavioral and cognitive patterns from ACT-R theory.

Conclusions:

• The proposed method offers a non-intrusive, real-time approach to identify learning phases.
• This facilitates the development of adaptive virtual training environments.
• Future validation could include physiological measures and dual-task paradigms.