Learning simple and complex patterns in a diagnostic task
Mats Lind, Else Nygren, Alexander Allard · 1995
In two experiments we have studied how users performing a diagnostic task learned to recognize figural patterns in the displayed information. The average decision time was significantly shorter if symptoms presented on the screen formed a figural pattern compared to a control condition where no pattern was formed. When learning simple patterns, performance levelled out after about 1000 trials. When learning difficult patterns, performance levelled out at after about 5 500 trials. The final values of the decision times were about the same for simple and complex patterns.