DEVELOPMENT OF A BEHAVIOR TAXONOMY FOR DESCRIBING HUMAN TASKS: A CORRELATIONAL-EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH.

DISCUSSES THE NEED FOR IDENTIFYING A SET OF UNIFYING DIMENSIONS UNDERLYING SKILLED BEHAVIOR. THE ISSUES BEAR ON PROBLEMS OF GENERALIZING PRINCIPLES FROM LABORATORY TO OPERATIONAL TASKS AND FROM 1 TASK TO ANOTHER. COMBINATIONS OF EXPERIMENTAL AND CORRELATIONAL APPROACHES APPEAR TO BE REQUIRED. THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND RESEARCH STRATEGY UTILIZED IN RESEARCH ON PERCEPTUAL-MOTOR ABILITIES IS DESCRIBED AND ITS RELEVANCE TO TAXONOMY QUESTIONS DISCUSSED. THE INTEGRATIVE NATURE OF THE FRAMEWORK DEVELOPED IS ILLUSTRATED BY A WIDE VARIETY OF STUDIES, IN LABORATORY AND OPERATIONAL SITUATIONS, RANGING FROM THOSE OF SKILL LEARNING AND RETENTION TO THE EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS ON HUMAN PERFORMANCE, AND IN THE STANDARDIZATION OF LABORATORY TASKS FOR PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT. (40 REF.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)