3 Optimizing Long-Term Retention and Transfer

This chapter considers training conditions that do or do not facilitate posttraining performance. We focus on two aspects of posttraining performance: its durability (long-term retention), that is, the extent to which a training program yields a level of learning that supports performance after long periods of disuse; and its flexibility (transfer), that is, the extent to which a training program prepares a learner to perform under real-world conditions that may differ from those present during training. Our primary concerns are the training of adults rather than children and the training of cognitive-motor procedural skills, such as programming a computer, repairing a mechanical or electronic device, hitting a serve in tennis, parachuting out of an airplane, or receiving and transmitting Morse Code, rather than on classroom learning. Focusing on the training of adults and on procedural tasks helps to limit the scope of this chapter, but covering all aspects of training so defined in one chapter is still prohibitive; a broader view is provided in the recent book by Farr (1987). Among the issues we do not address are individual differences among learners, instructor variables, such as motivating trainees and improving instructor-trainee rapport, and technological innovations, such as computer-based instruction and the use of simulators; those issues are addressed in recent reviews by Montague (1988) and Walberg (1990), as well as in Farr (1987). We also do not focus on how the individual components of complex tasks should be integrated. (Chapter 4 takes a broader view of complex cognitive tasks and includes a discussion of some of the ways computers can assist training.) Even with our mission defined more narrowly, the relevant

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