This proposal develops and empirically tests a theoretical model of self-regulatory processes as they affect the acquisition of skills needed for performance of complex, high-consequence decision making. Self-monitoring of learning affects both job performance and job training, and this project has general implications for the study of decision making and specific implications for the training and performance of the selected target population of Air Traffic Controllers (ATC). The behavior in question includes establishing realistic performance goals, anticipating the consequences of activities, and monitoring the effects of one's own actions. The proposed study involves three parts: a first phase in which a theoretical model is refined and initial hypotheses tested on ATC trainees, a second phase in which experiments are conducted using a computerized, real-time simulation of an ATC task, and a third phase in which self-regulatory determinants of behavior are tested using advanced ATC trainees. The proposed hypotheses are interesting and complex, including questions about when task-related demands are sufficiently high that self-monitoring may become counter-productive. The empirically-verified research results could have direct implications for the design of job-training programs and for increasing the effectiveness of complex decision making in stressful job situations.
