SpotLight on Dynamics of Individual Learning

Averaging performance over a group of individuals implicitly assumes that there is only one set of methods for accomplishing the task and that all learners acquire those methods in the same sequence. We maintain that the average subject is a mythical beast and, rather than profiling a mythical beast, we ask “how do different people each learn the same complex task?” To answer our question, we use SpotLight—a tool for analyzing changes in individual performance as skill is acquired. Specifically, in this report, we use the SpotLight on 40 scores and measures of performance (some collected at millisecond level, others collected once per game), to investigate the skill acquisition of nine individuals each of whom devoted 31 h to becoming skilled players of the classic cognitive psychology game of Space Fortress (Mané & Donchin, 1989). Turning the SpotLight on our best and worst players reveals patterns of performance plateaus, dips, and leaps. Examining these patterns reveals differences as well as commonalities in the evolution of methods discovered and used by each individual across 31 hours of skill acquisition.