Exposure to Disturbance Motion During Practice in an Analog of a Flight Task Influences Flight Control of Naive Participants

Objective: This article examines whether strategies and performance differed depending on whether naive participants were exposed to motion disturbance during practice of a tracking task. Background: Despite several decades of research, there is still debate regarding whether physical motion during flight simulation training improves later performance. Evidence suggests that presence of disturbance affects the utility of motion on transfer of training studies. Therefore, an important question is whether performance with disturbance motion (e.g., wind gusts) at test depends on whether participants practice with disturbance motion. Method: Naïve participants flew through a series of suspended rings in a motion-based simulator. Practice was with or without correlated (joystick control) and random motion (disturbance). The task was an analog of a flight task, modified to accommodate nonpilots. A quasi-transfer design included two practice blocks followed by two test blocks that incorporated both correlated and random motion. Results: No differences were detected in accuracy, but groups who practiced without disturbance made smaller joystick movements during both practice and test phases compared to those who practiced with disturbance. Conclusion: Practice without disturbance resulted in adoption of a different (possibly more efficient) joystick control strategy compared to practice with disturbance. The results suggest that during training, some control elements should be learned under relatively easy conditions, subsequently increasing in difficulty (e.g., add disturbance) at an optimal point in training.