Augmented Information and the Acquisition of Isometric Tasks

The experiments reported were designed to examine how the interaction of task and organismic constraints influences the effectiveness of augmented information on the acquisition of a given force-time trace in a finger press isometric task. Experiment 1 showed that kinetic information feedback facilitated acquisition of the gaussian force-time task criterion but that the superimposition of the task criterion information on the augmented information feedback did not further improve performance. Experiment 2 revealed that the addition of task criterion information to the kinetic information feedback was beneficial to performance when the force-time curve was unfamiliar and asymmetrical in shape. Collectively, the findings suggest that the interaction of task and organismic constraints dictates the degree to which both kinetic information feedback and criterion information facilitate the acquisition of skill in isometric tasks.