Literature Review on Skill Fade
Abstract
The following report has four main components. The first component is a summary of three papers written in 1998 on the area of skill fade. The first paper, written by Arthur et al., is a meta-analysis of all research pertaining to skill fade. The meta-analysis aimed to categorically state how training variables positively or negatively affect skill retention. The second paper, written by Healy et al., briefly reviews the skill fade literature, describes several experiments they conducted and then makes recommendations of how training programmes should be designed. The third paper, written by Summers et al., introduces the research on skill fade and divides it between five main psychological areas. Summers et al. then unsuccessfully attempt to validate a model aimed at predicting team skill fade and recommend a now widely accepted process for the whole training procurement and implementation process. The three papers are presented in sections three to five respectively.
The second component of this report is a summary of the research, post 1998, relating to the field of skill fade (see section six). Included in the summary is an explanation of whether the research is new or contradictory to previous research and a recommendation stating how the research should be used when training service personnel.
The third component uses the stable pre 1998 research and the updated research findings to update Healy et al.’s three class model to optimise training. The first class has had seven new points added aimed at optimising the conditions of training and now includes: encourage mental practice and rehearsal outside the class room; fear of erroneous mental practice is unnecessary during training providing feedback is provided on those errors at some point. The second class aimed at optimising the learning strategy has had two new points added and now includes: successfully tested material can be dropped from further study but should be continually tested for to increase long term retention. The third class aimed to automate the trained material, however, no additional literature was found that could be used to update this class. The nine additions to the first class and second class are explained in more detail in section seven.
The fourth and final component includes recommendations of further work aimed at progressing the research to a point where the area of skill fade is comprehensively understood. A comprehensive understanding will facilitate optimisation of all military training programmes, minimising costs for maximum results. Recommendations for further work include reviewing the types of tasks performed in the different areas of the military. Identifying the predominant tasks will facilitate the focus of our efforts towards training recommendations. Four booklets aimed at the key areas of procuring and designing efficient training programmes are recommended for the use of Project Managers, Human Factors Engineers and Trainers. Finally, further research into developing automaticity in tasks is recommended. With this knowledge we will be able to optimise the efficient use of training time and trainee ability to handle extreme situations in the field.
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