Individual Differences in Strategic Processing in a Dynamic Spatial Reasoning Task

Abstract

A previous study of dynamic spatial reasoning using a two-object arrival time task (Law et. al., 1990) suggested that individual differences in strategic processes might account for a significant portion of overall accuracy on the task. Specifically, some subjects appear to favor a decision strategy that favors distance information while disregarding speed information. Four experiments examining individual differences in subject strategies on the arrival time task are reviewed. The results support the hypothesis that decision strategies are an important individual difference performance factor for the experimental task, and that these strategies are subject to modification and improvement via explicit feedback. The results also show that the ability to benefit from performance feedback is mediated by an individual's ability to make speed judgements like those called for by the arrival time task.