Time-related changes in the speeded performance of complex cognitive tasks are
considered to arise from the combined effects of practice and mental fatigue.
Here we explored the differential contributions of practice and fatigue to
performance changes in a self-paced speeded mental addition and comparison task
of about 50 min duration, administered twice within one week’s time. Performance
measures included average response speed, accuracy, and response speed
variability. The results revealed differential effects of prolonged work on
different performance indices: Practice effects, being more pronounced in the
first session, were reflected in an improvement of average response speed,
whereas mental fatigue, occurring in both sessions, was reflected in an increase
of response speed variability. This demonstrates that effects of mental fatigue
on average speed of performance may be masked by practice effects but still be
detectable in the variability of performance. Therefore, besides experimental
factors such as the length and complexity of tasks, indices of response speed
variability should be taken into consideration when interpreting different
aspects of performance in self-paced speed tests.
Summary: Current existing or proposed standards and guidelines in the field of psychological assessment are confined to psychological tests and psychological testing. But tests constitute only one category of psychological assessment procedures, and testing is only one of many available strategies or classes of actions in the course of the assessment process. Tests and testing are closely linked to a certain approach to psychological assessment, i. e., the psychometric one. This is one reason why it is relatively easy to formulate and establish standards or guidelines in the case of psychological tests and testing. The much more comprehensive assessment process is an indispensable part of any approach to psychological assessment, even of those that do not use psychometric tests. This makes the formulation of guidelines for the assessment process an ambitious and very difficult enterprise. But it can be done, at least at the level of recommendations that could help the assessor to cope with the complexities and demands of assessment processes in various contexts of psychological assessment. The European Association of Psychological Assessment (EAPA) decided to sponsor the development of Guidelines for the Assessment Process (GAP), setting up a Task Force for this specific purpose. The GAP introduced in this paper are intended as a first proposal to initiate a broad discussion about how to improve the practice of psychological assessment and the education and training of psychological assessors.
Previous research suggests a relationship between neuroticism (N) and the speed-accuracy tradeoff in speeded performance: High-N individuals were observed performing less efficiently than low-N individuals and compensatorily overemphasizing response speed at the expense of accuracy. This study examined N-related performance differences in the serial mental addition and comparison task (SMACT) in 99 individuals, comparing several performance measures (i.e., response speed, accuracy, and variability), retest reliability, and practice effects. N was negatively correlated with mean reaction time but positively correlated with error percentage, indicating that high-N individuals tended to be faster but less accurate in their performance than low-N individuals. The strengthening of the relationship after practice demonstrated the reliability of the findings. There was, however, no relationship between N and distractibility (assessed via measures of reaction time variability). Our main findings are in line with the processing efficiency theory, extending the relationship between N and working style to sustained self-paced speeded mental addition.
NE: Kluck, Marie-Luise:Dieses Werk ist urheberrechtlich geschOtzt. Die dadurch begrOndeten Rechte, insbesondere die der Obersetzung, des Nachdrucks, des Vortrags, der Entnahme von Abbildungen und Tabellen, der Funksendung, der Mikroverfilmung oder der VervielfaItigung auf anderen Wegen und der Speicherung in Datenverarbeitungsan}agen, bleiben, auch bei nur auszugsweiser Verwertung, vorbehalten. Eine VervielfaItigung dieses Werkes oder von Teilen dieses Werkes ist auch im Einzelfall nur in den Grenzen der gesetzlichen Bestimmungen des Urheberrechtsgesetzes der BundesrepubIik Deutsch1and vom 9. September 1965 in der jeweils geltenden Fassung zuUlssig. Sie ist grundsltzlich vergUtungspflichtig. Zuwiderhandlungen unterliegen den Strafbestimmungen des Urheberrechtsgesetzes.
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