Automatic/Control Processing Concepts and Their Implications for the Training of Skills.

Recent research on automatic and controlled processing is reviewed with emphasis on the implications to applied training programs and personnel selection. The research assumes that humans perform mental operations through the interaction between slow, effortful, easy to modify controlled processing and comparatively fast, difficult to train automatic processing. Major conclusions from the work include performance improves as a function of consistent correct executions automatic processes can develop with few training trials massing or distributing practice has little effect reducing control processing resources slows learning automatic processes can become context dependent training operators to respond to classes of events promotes generalization of automatic processing dual task measures are important assessment tools in assessing skill competency and motivational characteristics of training programs greatly influence training success rates. Automatic processes influence performance in complex category search tasks, inconsistent tasks with consistent components, task which are consistent within a context, visual spatial temporal pattern tasks, and conjunction of features tasks. Automatic processing is very reliable and can perform complex functions, such as category search, with no measurable increase in workload.