Transfer of automatic skills: the role of automaticity in skill acquisition and transfer

224 Pages·2017·3.24 MB·English

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Theses: Doctorates and Masters Theses
2017
TTrraannssffeerr ooff aauuttoommaattiicc sskkiillllss:: tthhee rroollee ooff aauuttoommaattiicciittyy iinn sskkiillll
aaccqquuiissiittiioonn aanndd ttrraannssffeerr
Katrina Louise Muller-Townsend
Edith Cowan University
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RReeccoommmmeennddeedd CCiittaattiioonn
Muller-Townsend, K. L. (2017). Transfer of automatic skills: the role of automaticity in skill acquisition and
transfer. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1954
This Thesis is posted at Research Online.
https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1954
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Transfer of Automatic Skills: the Role of Automaticity in Skill Acquisition and
Transfer

Katrina Louise Muller-Townsend, B.A (Psychology) Hons

School of Arts and Humanities
Psychology
Edith Cowan University

2017

This thesis is presented in the fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of
Philosophy at Edith Cowan University

Principal Supervisor: Professor Craig P. Speelman
Associate Supervisor: Dr Guillermo Campitelli
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USE OF THESIS

The Use of Thesis statement is not included in this version of the thesis.
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Abstract
Skill acquisition theories suggest that automaticity of lower-level processes is required before
the acquisition of higher-level skills can be attempted. However, there is a disparity between
the theoretical expectations of skill acquisition and the empirical findings in the transfer of
training research. Research has found that when a change is made to the contextual
conditions in which a skill is acquired, the learned response becomes less skilled. When skill
transfer occurs performance is disrupted so that reaction times are slower than observed prior
to the context change. This observation has been made with several different tasks, however
no research has established whether a transfer disruption is observed with automatic skills.
The discrepancy between the theoretical assumptions and empirical findings suggests that
aiming for automaticity in education may not be best practice. The experiments in the current
thesis were designed to examine whether automaticity disrupts or enhances transfer
performance. The studies were based on Lassaline and Logan’s (1993) visual numerosity task
and Speelman and Parkinson’s (2012) two-step task design. The study has a particular
emphasis on individual differences, and thus individual participant data are explored to
determine the pervasiveness of trends observed in the group data. In experiment one it was
found that experimental design might play a role in the acquisition and probability of transfer,
with the experimental conditions revealing differences in disruption and acquisition of
automaticity. Group results in experiment two suggest that automaticity is unaffected by
context changes, however individual results revealed that some participants failed to
approach automatic performance. In experiment three participants were approaching
automaticity, however a large percentage of participants did not demonstrate a shift from
controlled to automatic processing. Furthermore, group results suggest that performance is
unaffected by context changes in transfer, yet, this observation was not reliably presented
amongst individuals with many individuals demonstrating transferable skills while not
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attaining automaticity. Overall, the results appear to be congruent with Lassaline and Logan’s
(1993) findings. According to the group data, automaticity appears to facilitate transfer, and
performance continues in accordance with the power law of learning; automaticity was
transferred despite novel context changes. However, individual data indicates that not all
participants are behaving this way. The current results question whether automaticity should
be the desired outcome in education settings as many people failed to achieve automaticity.
Further research is required at an individual level that includes factors such as working
memory ability and task approach to determine why some participants deviate way from
group data trends, and why they may be affected differently by context changes.
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COPYRIGHT AND DECLARATION

I certify that this thesis does not, to the best of my knowledge and belief:
(i) incorporate without acknowledgement any material previously submitted for a degree or
diploma in any institution of higher education;
(ii) contain any material previously published or written by another person except where due
reference is made in the text; or
(iii) contain any defamatory material.
I also grant permission for the Library at Edith Cowan University to make duplicate copies of
my thesis as required.

28 / 02 / 17

Katrina Louise Muller-Townsend Date
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