Age-Differentiated Analysis of the Influence of Task Descriptions on Learning Sensorimotor Tasks

This paper presents a study into the validity of a self-developed method to predict the learning time of sensorimotor tasks that was originally developed for young adults (age group AG I) for persons aged between 52 and 67 (age group AG II). For this purpose, a laboratory study was conducted with an age-differentiated sample of 60 participants. The participants’ task was to repeatedly assemble a carburetor with the help of one of three task descriptions, which differed in regard to format (textual, text- & figure-based, animated). Execution times and numbers of assembly errors were measured to evaluate human performance. Additionally, the cumulative viewing time of the task description was measured in each trial to analyze participants’ usage of the task description. Data analysis with respect to the age group and the format of the task descriptions indicates significant effects (α = 0.05). Thus, participants who had the support of a textual task description achieved greater performance improvement than participants who used the animated task description. Concerning the age group, participants in AG I show better performance and lower observation times concerning to participants in AG II. Furthermore, nonlinear curve fittings were carry out and root mean square errors calculated in order to investigate the accuracy of the prediction method. The results show that the prediction method is less accurate for older adults.