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INTRODUCTION Competition has been saddled with a generally negative reputation in the literature on learning and task performance. Johnson and Johnson (1975) reviewed the literature on competition and concluded, 'Competition […], Employees of temporary agencies practiced Space Fortress, a complex video game task, for 10 sessions, each consisting of 8 practice and 2 test games of 3 min each. Trainees practiced individually, in dyads, or in tetrads, and they were classified as having high or low aptitude based on computer attitude scores and baseline performance. Competition for monetary prizes was introduced early in training, late in training, or not at all. Competition facilitated high-aptitude trainees but not low-aptitude trainees. Group size and the timing of competition instructions had no main effects or interactions. The results are discussed in terms of social facilitation theory, according to which competition facilitates dominant responses, which helps high-skill trainees but not low-skill trainees.

INTRODUCTION Discussion between students during cooperative task performance can facilitate learning of many tasks (Johnson, Johnson, & Stanne, 1985; Sharan, Hertz-Lazarowitz, & Ackerman, 1980; Skon, Johnson, & Johnson, 1981; Webb, […], The study tested whether group discussion facilitates acquisition of Space Fortress (SF), a complex skills task, and if so, what aspects of discussion are responsible for the effect. The experimental group participants who engaged in unguided group discussion about SF performed the task significantly better than did controls. Factor analysis of task-related discussion yielded three general discussion orientations: advice, social comparison, and motivation. The latter two orientations interacted to predict the final performance: Social comparison contributed to performance at the low and average but not at the high levels of the motivation factor. An additional analysis of the advice or information exchange orientation yielded two dimensions recognized as strategy and cognitive overload. They also interacted to predict the final performance: Discussion of strategy was beneficial to performance, but only at the low level of cognitive overload. Implications for the organization of training protocols are discussed.

INTRODUCTION The beneficial effects of spacing practice are well established even when the interval between practice opportunities is filled with other activities (Carlson & Yaure, 1990; Glenberg, 1979). Accordingly, a […], We compared an alternating task modules (ATM) protocol - which alternated sessions on Space Fortress, Phoenix (video-game-like tasks), and algebra word problems - with a massed protocol, which blocked sessions on the tasks. The protocols were isochronal (equal in duration), each entailing one week of training and testing. ATM gave the men and women an advantage in learning and retention on Space Fortress and algebra word problems; it did not change their performance on Phoenix. Arousal, not confidence or motivation, was implicated in the ATM advantage. The practical implication of demonstrating and describing ATM benefits is that real-world training often requires minimal durations. This pragmatic constraint favors ATM over frequently investigated anisochronal schedules, in which spacing practice over long durations is more effective than massing practice in short durations. Evaluations of retention, arousal, motivation, and confidence began the process of testing theories that might be expanded to explain and enhance ATM benefits.

INTRODUCTION The objective of the present study was to investigate the influence of individual differences in interaction anxiety on the effectiveness of a dyadic training protocol in teaching a complex […], The present study focuses on the consequences of the social dynamics that are created whenever two or more individuals are brought together for the purpose of training. An investigation of the role of individual differences in interaction anxiety on training outcomes demonstrated that the comparative effectiveness of dyadic versus individual protocols for computer-based training is moderated by trainees' level of interaction anxiety. Specifically, assignment to a dyadic protocol adversely affected the performance of high-interaction-anxiety participants but appeared to be advantageous for low-interaction-anxiety participants. Implications are discussed for changing the design and implementation of computer-based protocols for training groups and individuals in military and industrial training centers.

Virtual reality presents unique opportunities as an instructional medium for visuo-spatial tasks. Virtual reality has the advantage of having students experience the learning process. An experiment explored the possibilities virtual reality offers. Results indicate that efficient learning in spatial-procedural and spatial-navigational contexts occured in the virtual reality state. Such skills improved since the virtual reality context provided training.

We tested a dyadic training protocol derived from cognitive and social theories of complex skill acquisition. Forty undergraduates practiced Space Fortress, a video game-like research tool, for 10 sessions of eight practice and two test games. Half of them practiced and tested alone; the others had identical tests but dyadic practice, in which they controlled part of each practice while being interlocked with a partner who controlled the rest. Subjects practiced both parts and their connections by alternating roles and by modeling their partners. Trainer time and resources were half for the dyadic group, and performance was equivalent. We discuss applied and basic implications of this 100% increase in training efficiency.

By recording eye movements while subjects fixated a stationary stimulus and reported on its apparent position, four experiments tested whether Hering's laws of visual direction describe monocular perception of egocentric direction. Experiments 1, 2, and 3 alternately covered each eye. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that the stimulus appeared to displace leftward when the left eye was occluded, and vice versa. The apparent displacement was correlated with lateral heterophoria in the occluded eye, and phoria was necessary for the illusory displacement. As a descriptive model, these results expand the range covered by Hering's laws, but they leave open several process models, including ones based on retinal image displacements without reference to extraretinal information. Experiment 4 eliminated retinal image displacements and found apparent target displacements that imply processing of extraretinal information.

Ecological efference mediation (EEM) theory complements the model of motion perception during self-motion. Specifically, motion perception during self-motion is influenced by interactive information derived from light patterns and perception in general. EEM theory believes in special invariant relations between invariant- and efference-based information. The model of motion perception may be classified as one type of special invariant relation.

The calibration theory proposed by Bridgeman et al. to explain visual stability brings together the direct and indirect perspectives of perception. The proposed theory was compared to other models such as the elimination, translation and evaluation approaches, but analysis relative to more similar models would have revealed the potential for calibration theory to reconcile higher-order stimulus theories with the 'taking into account' model.