A LONGITUDINAL ANALYSIS OF THE ROLE OF TASK-SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE IN THE SUBJECTIVE IMPACT AND STRUCTURE OF PERFORMANCE

It is widely accepted that the structure of performance depends on the relationship between task demands and information processing resources. This relationship is affected by many factors including practice. For instance, it is claimed that while use of task-specific knowledge, an information-processing resource, may benefit performance in the long term, the costs of its use in the short term are quite high. It is difficult to find any studies which can be used to test this claim, as those which have been undertaken typically measure gross performance only, lack any measure of the subjective costs of resource investment, and are of relatively short duration. In this paper an experiment is reported which looks at the effects of task-specific knowledge on gross and process performance, and on a number of subjective indices over a longitudinal time frame. The results are discussed in terms of the relationships between the context of performance, the perception of control, and strategies of resource management. Finally, the argument that the data suggest a need for the reconceptualization of demands and resources is mooted and some methodological implications are discussed.