When less is more: costs and benefits of varied vs. fixed content and structure in short-term task switching training
When less is more: costs and benefits of varied vs. fixed content and structure in short-term task switching training
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DOI：
10.1007/s00426-018-1006-7
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发表时间：
2019-10-01
影响因子：
2.3
通讯作者：
Dreisbach, Gesine
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Sabah, Katrina;Dolk, Thomas;Dreisbach, Gesine
训练变异性被认为是认知训练中大范围迁移效应的一种可能调节因子。然而，很少有人知道任务变异性的哪些方面对优化训练结果很重要。本研究系统地研究了不同任务组成部分的可变性对结果测量的影响，这里操纵内容（任务刺激是否保持固定或块之间的变化）和更深层次的结构任务配置（任务序列：任务序列是否是固定的或随机的）。短期任务切换训练采用固定内容固定结构、固定内容随机结构、变化内容固定结构和变化内容变化结构四种训练变异条件之一。实验包括一个基线块，七个训练块（学习阶段），然后是两个转移块，一个固定的，一个随机的任务结构。在学习阶段，与变化内容相比，在固定内容中观察到更快的训练增益。有趣的是，当转移到一个新的任务切换上下文时，固定内容的培训导致了成本的趋势。与此相反，中度转移增益注意到在不同的内容条件下，特别是在开关试验表现。这些结果表明，任务（内容）可变性是促进正迁移、避免负迁移的手段之一。此外，与广泛的训练文献一致，这一发现表明，阻止训练收益的条件实际上有利于学习泛化。
Training variability has been brought forward as one possible moderator for wider scale transfer effects in cognitive training. However, little is known about which aspects of task variability are important for optimizing training outcomes. This study systematically examined the impact of variability in the different task components on outcome measures, here manipulating content (whether the task stimuli remained fixed or changed between blocks) and the deeper structural task configuration (task sequence: whether the task sequence was fixed or random). Short-term task switching training was implemented with one of four training variability conditions: fixed content\fixed structure; fixed content\ random structure; varied content\fixed structure and varied content\varied structure. The experiment consisted of a baseline block, seven training blocks (learning phase), followed by two transfer blocks, one with fixed and one with random task structure, respectively. In the learning phase, more rapid training gains were observed in the fixed content as compared to varied content. Interestingly, training with fixed content resulted in a trend for costs when transferred to a novel task switching context. In contrast, moderate transfer gains were noted in the varied content condition, manifested specifically on switch trials. These results suggest that task (content) variability is one of the means to improve positive transfer and avoid negative transfer. Additionally, and in agreement with the wide literature on training, this finding suggests that conditions that prevent training gains are in fact beneficial for learning generalization.