Investigating Transfer of Input Device Practice on Psychomotor Performance in an Aviation Selection Test

Objective: We explored transfer of learning from brief practice with different input devices in the Navy’s Performance Based Measures Battery (PBM), a psychomotor subset of the Aviation Selection Test Battery (ASTB). Background: The PBM is a set of computerized tests used as a part of the ASTB to select aviators in the U.S. military. Official practice is not available, leading candidates to practice with unofficial re-creations and with or without access to the stick-and-throttle used on the PBM. Method: Our between-subjects study with 152 cadets from the U.S. Military Academy evaluated the impact of mouse/keyboard or stick/throttle practice on the psychomotor portions of the PBM compared to a control group that was only presented with an informational video. Results: The results showed that practice with either input device resulted in improved performance relative to control on the PBM’s two-dimensional airplane tracking task (ATT). For the simpler vertical tracking task (VTT), the mouse/keyboard group showed significantly worse performance than either stick/throttle practice or control groups, indicating a transfer cost from practicing with an alternative input device. Conclusion: The results suggest that becoming familiar with the unique dynamics of the ATT may be more important than practicing with the appropriate input device. Conversely, device-specific motor learning appears to be a more impactful determinant of performance for the simpler VTT. This shows that transfer effects from alternative input devices depends in part on properties of the task.Application: This research can inform practice policies for psychomotor test selection.