Sex as a moderator variable in the selection and training of persons for a skilled task

We gave 51 male and 52 female Air Force Academy Cadets a battery of five cognitive and three perceptual motor tests before they were taught four basic flight maneuvers followed by a complex chandelle maneuver. The results showed that the males were much faster in attaining the criterion level of performance on the flight tasks, and that some of the sex differences in the acquisition of task skills can be reduced by means of pretraining on specific cognitive and motor skills. In the prediction of trials to criterion (acquisition rate) of both the basic and the complex flight maneuvers, individually tailoring the regression equations by sex--as opposed to utilizing general overall regression equations--greatly enhanced the predictive capability.