Self-Organization of Behavior: The Basic Picture (Chapter 2 of Dynamic Patterns: The Self-Organization of Brain and Behavior)

Kelso, J. A. Scott · 1995 · MIT Press (book chapter)

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Summary

HFES conference proceedings report (Aspire Conference) documenting N-back temporal instability findings. Two-experiment study showing N-back performance improvement and workload decrease over 26+ on-road driving sessions. Experiment 1: 10 participants with 26+ exposures show systematic accuracy increases and cognitive demand decreases. Experiment 2: Old vs New digit sequences tested with 20 participants; equivalent performance confirms strategy-based improvement.

Key finding

N-back accuracy and DRT-based workload measures show systematic drift over repeated on-road sessions, with improvements attributable to general strategy acquisition (subvocal rehearsal, automatization) rather than sequence-specific learning.

Methodology

Exp 1: 10 participants, repeated measures across 6 sessions from 26 total. Exp 2: 20 participants, Old/New sequence comparison. On-road driving paradigm with DRT and NASA-TLX measures.

Sample size: Exp 1: N=10; Exp 2: N=20

Quality score: 5 / 5

Topics