This study represents the first step in a plan of programmatic research designed to identify the cognitive processes associated with the transition from novice to expert levels of performance with the use of complex software programs. The unique perspective of this research is the investigation of how social influences (such as watching someone using different techniques) contribute to this transition. Furthermore, the PI will investigate how users' judgment of the costs and benefits of utilizing efficient strategies influences the likelihood of their subsequently utilizing the more efficient method. To test the effects of observing others on the subsequent use of efficient strategies as well as the weighing of the costs and benefits, the PI will employ a quasi-experimental correlational design, in which the predictor is the number of times participants observe someone using the efficient technique and the criteria are their subsequent use of the efficient technique and their weighing of the pros and cons of using that technique. To create a situation in the lab where someone is observing another person using an efficient strategy, participants will be assigned to dyads. One participant will be trained on the use of an efficient technique while the other will be trained on an unrelated task. The dyad will work together to complete a task and the participant trained on the efficient strategy will operate the computer. The number of times the trained participant uses the efficient strategy will be recorded through camera observations, keystroke recordings, and experimenter observations. Subsequent to performing the task together, both participants will individually complete a task similar to the previous task. Again, the number of times the efficient technique is used will be recorded. The PI's hypothesis is that the untrained participants' use of the efficient strategy will be related to the number of times they observed the trained participants use the strategy. Both participants will also be asked to weigh the pros and cons of using the more efficient technique. The intellectual merit of this study is primarily associated with its novel approach to an old problem. Although researchers have previously examined how people achieve expert levels of performance with the use of software programs, the results are certainly equivocal. In this project the PI will specifically investigate how the adoption of efficient micro-strategies (hallmarks of the efficient/expert user) is impacted through observing others.
Broader Impacts: The results of this study will indicate whether it is necessary to overtly instruct users regarding how and when to use efficient strategies, or if observing others provides enough information to appropriately adjust users' selection rules to use the more efficient method. If observation alone turns out to be enough to change the selection rules, this will have important implications regarding the cognitive mechanisms associated with selection rule adjustment. Once these cognitive mechanisms are known, this change in selection rule could be modeled with a model of cognitive architecture such as that in ACT-R PM, which is particularly exciting because such a model that accurately predicted the transition from novice to expert levels of performance with complex procedural tasks could be used to test training protocols and interfaces for new devices and software.
