Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Part-task training is a technique which involves separating the target task into parts and presenting them during training.This approach has been used to train users to perform optimally in dynamic task environments. The present study investi-gated the effects of fractionation, a part-task training approach, versus whole-task training to improve performance in thevideo game Tetris by focusing on an important sub-task element of the game. Seventy-eight young adults were trained onTetris with one of three training regimens: 1) Part-task training with feedback, 2) Part-task training with no feedback, and3) Whole-task training in which participants practiced the whole game to obtain the highest overall score. Results showthat baseline performance influences training gains and feedback may not be helpful for learning. Training gains fromthe different training regimens show that tasks with highly interdependent components may benefit most from whole-tasktraining.