Search Strategies in Practice: Movement Variability Affords Perception of Task Dynamics

Abstract

Practice has been conceptualized in terms of a search process through an evolving perceptual-motor workspace. The experiment was set up to examine whether the inherent variability of the system would influence perception of the relevant properties of the task space. We reanalyzed the data from Hsieh, Liu, Mayer-Kress, and Newell (2013) in which participants performed a speed-accuracy aiming task and feedback emphasized either temporal or spatial accuracy in different conditions. The maximum variability in spatial error during practice differentiated individual's best performance in the fast speed-accuracy conditions. Additionally, we found that a threshold of variability predicted discontinuities during practice within individuals. The findings support the proposition that inherent variability affords perception of the relevant dimension of the task. The search motion through the perceptual-motor workspace was continuous or discontinuous depending on the constraints of the movement speed-accuracy condition.