Gaze behaviour: a window into quantifying task difficulty and performance using the Tower of London Task

A recent series of experiments suggests that fostering superstitions can substantially improve performance on a variety of motor and cognitive tasks ( Damisch, Stoberock, & Mussweiler, 2010 ). We conducted two high-powered and precise replications of one of these experiments, examining if telling participants they had a lucky golf ball could improve their performance on a 10-shot golf task relative to controls. We found that the effect of superstition on performance is elusive: Participants told they had a lucky ball performed almost identically to controls. Our failure to replicate the target study was not due to lack of impact, lack of statistical power, differences in task difficulty, nor differences in participant belief in luck. A meta-analysis indicates significant heterogeneity in the effect of superstition on performance. This could be due to an unknown moderator, but no effect was observed among the studies with the strongest research designs (e.g., high power, a priori sampling plan).

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Faculty Opinions recommendation of Task difficulty and performance induce diverse adaptive patterns in gain and shape of primary auditory cortical receptive fields.

Faculty Opinions – Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature ◽

10.3410/f.1159938.620195 ◽

2009 ◽

Author(s):

Alan Palmer ◽

Christian John Sumner

Keyword(s):

Task Difficulty ◽

Receptive Fields ◽

And Performance ◽

Cortical Receptive Fields

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Facilitation on a Response-Loaded Task by Changes in Task Difficulty

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.1973.36.1.123 ◽

1973 ◽

Vol 36 (1) ◽

pp. 123-129 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Richard B. May ◽

Pam Duncan

Keyword(s):

Task Difficulty ◽

Problem Difficulty ◽

Optimal Amount ◽

And Performance

The relation between changes in problem difficulty and performance was extended from discrimination studies to a speeded skill task. Children were given repeated trials with easy and hard puzzle blocks. An intermediate number of changes in difficulty facilitated performance more than trial-to-trial change or no change. It was suggested that an optimal amount of change may vary with the type of task considered and that further work with various difficulty sequences and tasks seems warranted.

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Maintaining a Sense of Control in the Context of Cognitive Challenge

GeroPsych ◽

10.1024/1662-9647/a000078 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 26 (1) ◽

pp. 49-59 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Stefan Agrigoroaei ◽

Shevaun D. Neupert ◽

Margie E. Lachman

Keyword(s):

Task Difficulty ◽

Control Beliefs ◽

Sense Of Control ◽

Protective Function ◽

Challenging Tasks ◽

Multiple Trials ◽

Cognitive Challenge ◽

And Performance ◽

Stable Control

We considered the functional role of control beliefs for cognitive performance by focusing on patterns of stability across multiple trials increasing in level of difficulty. We assessed 56 adults aged 18–88 on working memory tasks. We examined stability vs. lability (intraindividual variability, IIV) in control beliefs and the relationships with anxiety, distraction, and performance. Age was positively associated with IIV in control and performance, and IIV increased with task difficulty. Those maintaining stable control beliefs had better performance and showed less anxiety and distraction. Those with lower stability and less control showed steeper declines in performance and increases in distraction. The findings suggest that stability of control beliefs may serve a protective function in the context of cognitively challenging tasks.

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Technology Policy, Task Uncertainty and Organisational Performance

Journal of Management & Organization ◽

10.1017/s1833367200005770 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 1-13 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Alan S. Dunk ◽

Saeed J. Roohani

Keyword(s):

Task Difficulty ◽

Technology Policy ◽

Market Competition ◽

Well Being ◽

Organisational Performance ◽

Task Uncertainty ◽

And Performance ◽

The Relationship ◽

Task Variability ◽

Economic Well Being

AbstractFactors influencing organisational performance have attracted attention, both in the literature and in practice, as a means of responding to increasing market competition. One factor that may enhance performance is a technology policy and a number of organisations have implemented such policies. Technology policy proponents argue that a society's capacity for sustained technological innovation is crucial to its economic well being. The primary purpose of the present paper is to investigate the extent to which organisational performance is influenced by the use of a technology policy. Since the literature suggests that task difficulty and task variability may influence this relationship, the paper also examines these relationships. The results suggest there is an association between technology policy and performance and that this relation is influenced by task difficulty, but not task variability. The relationship between technology policy and performance seems to greater when task difficulty is high than it is when task difficulty is low.

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A Comparison of Teacher and Student Perspectives of Tasks and Feedback

Journal of Teaching in Physical Education ◽

10.1123/jtpe.16.4.388 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 16 (4) ◽

pp. 388-400 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Bonnie L. Tjeerdsma

Keyword(s):

Student Performance ◽

Task Difficulty ◽

Sixth Grade ◽

Sources Of Information ◽

Stimulated Recall ◽

Expected Performance ◽

Sixth Grade Students ◽

And Performance ◽

Performance Perceptions ◽

Stimulated Recall Interviews

The purpose of this study was to directly compare teacher and student expectations for task difficulty and performance, perceptions of actual task difficulty, perceptions of student performance and effort, and perceptions of teacher feedback. Stimulated recall interviews following a 14-lesson volleyball unit were conducted with 8 sixth-grade students and their physical education teacher. The results revealed little congruency between student and teacher perspectives of task difficulty or perceptions of student performance and effort. The students and the teacher agreed the most on expected performance level and the least on perceptions of effort. Such differences in perspectives may be partially explained by the sources of information used by the teacher and students to form their expectations and perceptions. There was somewhat higher agreement between the teacher and students on the purpose of and affective reactions to skill-related feedback.

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The effects of arithmetic task difficulty and performance level on EEG alpha asymmetry

Neuropsychologia ◽

10.1016/0028-3932(85)90107-1 ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 23 (2) ◽

pp. 233-242 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Jonathan B.B. Earle

Keyword(s):

Task Difficulty ◽

Performance Level ◽

Arithmetic Task ◽

Alpha Asymmetry ◽

And Performance ◽

Eeg Alpha

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Use of Criterial Measures in Animal Discrimination Learning Experiments

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.1968.23.3f.1335 ◽

1968 ◽

Vol 23 (3_suppl) ◽

pp. 1335-1338 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

A. H. Winefield ◽

M. A. Jeeves

Keyword(s):

Discrimination Learning ◽

Task Difficulty ◽

Conditional Discriminations ◽

Animal Discrimination Learning ◽

And Performance ◽

High Level ◽

And Task

Findings from 2 experiments are described in which rats were overtrained on black/white and conditional discriminations. on the former, performance improved up to criterion and thereafter was maintained at a high level. on the latter, more difficult task, behaviour was less consistent and performance deteriorated with overtraining. A relation between elimination of position responses and task difficulty is suggested, and implications for the use of learning criteria are discussed.

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