Task parameters affecting individual differences in pursuit and compensatory tracking performance

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Abstract
Two tracking tasks, the Control-Velocity Tester and the Sensory-Motor Apparatus (both of which are currently used as aptitude tests for the selection of candidates for pilot training), provide relatively independent measures of performance. As part of the programme of research related to the production of the Micropat automated testing system, a number of studies were carried out to identify the parameters accounting for the functional dissimilarity of these two tasks. The variables examined were: display mode (pursuit versus compensatory), number of dimensions (one versus two), control law, and assignment of controls to limbs. While varying control law mixture had a relatively small effect on task intercorrelations, both variation in display mode and number of dimensions substantially reduced them. The effects of limb assignment were complex, though in general they showed that for two-dimensional tasks the important factor was whether control was carried out using a single limb rather than using separate limbs for each dimension. After practice, the actual control devices and limbs used were relatively less important.

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