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Journal of Computer Assisted Learning

Volume 34, Issue 5
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Complex cognitive skill retention: The roles of general mental ability and refresher interventions in a simulated vocational setting

Barbara Frank

Corresponding Author

E-mail address: barbara.frank@rub.de

Business Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr‐University Bochum, , Germany

Correspondence

Barbara Frank, Business Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr‐University Bochum, GAFO 04/986, Universitätsstraße 150, 44780 Bochum, Germany.

Email: barbara.frank@rub.de

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Annette Kluge

Business Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr‐University Bochum, , Germany

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First published: 09 March 2018
https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12251
Cited by: 1

Abstract

In organizations, the assessment of mental abilities is a common way to predict learning success. This paper analyses the effect of general mental ability on skill retention and examines the relationship between refresher interventions and general mental ability in terms of skill retention. Two hundred sixty‐six adult participants were trained to perform a complex cognitive skill in a simulated chemical processing plant (Week 1). After 1 week, 158 participants received intermediate computer‐assisted refresher intervention training in which the skill was applied (Week 2; 108 received no intervention). Finally, participants had to recall (perform) the learned skill after 2 weeks (Week 3). Results show that general mental ability alone affects skill retention with small effect sizes and that refresher interventions affect skill retention positively for low and high general mental ability levels. The findings suggest that persons with low and high general mental abilities benefit equally from refresher interventions in order to maintain complex cognitive skills.

Lay Description

What is already known about this topic:

  • The retention of skills can be supported by refresher interventions.
  • But research on factors that influence the effect of refresher interventions is missing.
  • Those factors might be person‐related factors as general mental ability as past research has shown that general mental ability affects skill acquisition.
  • However, little is known about the impact of general mental ability in combination with refresher interventions on retention of once‐learned skills.

What this paper adds:

  • The present paper contributes to the current research by analyzing general mental ability and refresher interventions in a simulated process control task for vocational learning.

Implications for practice:

  • The findings show that general mental ability and refresher interventions affect skill retention.
  • Additionally, it can be seen that individuals with low and high general mental abilities profit from refresher interventions.
  • It shows that general mental ability can be an important factor in personnel selection and vocational learning in terms of finding personnel with high mental abilities. But more interestingly, it is suggested that refresher interventions have the potential to support skill retention for low‐ and high‐general‐mental‐ability individuals.
  • These findings are relevant for areas with low personnel selection criteria: It indicates that nearly every employee can retain learned job skills over periods of non‐use with help of refresher interventions.

Number of times cited: 1

  • Barbara Frank and Annette Kluge, Can cued recall by means of gaze guiding replace refresher training? An experimental study addressing complex cognitive skill retrieval, International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 10.1016/j.ergon.2018.05.007, 67, (123-134), (2018).
    Crossref