Amsterdam
Airport Schiphol
Cognitive Flexibility
Fred Zijlstra
Maastricht University
26 juni 2009
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• Interruptions) during work
• Changes of work strategy
Amsterdam
Airport Schiphol
Require people to be able to
change quickly (in other words
to be flexible)
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Amsterdam
Airport Schiphol
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This project will focus on
questions like:
which factors influence ‘cognitive
flexibility’ and
How can we help people to
improve their cognitive
flexibility?
Amsterdam
Airport Schiphol
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The plan includes several
experiments; Using two
paradigms:
• Task-switching paradigm
• Performance adaptability
paradigm
Discontinuous Growth Modeling
Framework for Adaptability Research
(Lang & Bliese, in press)
Amsterdam
Airport Schiphol
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Basic performance (overall performance)
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Initial skill acquisition
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Transition adaptation (Response to transition)
Reacquisition adaptation (Reacquisition slope)
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Lang,
B., & Bliese, 16
P. D.
4 J. W. 25
(in press). General mental
ability
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25 types of 25
adaptation to unforeseen
change: Applying discontinuous
growth models to the taskchange paradigm. Journal of
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Applied Psychology.
Differences in
basic task
performance
Differences in
initial skill
acquisition
Amsterdam
Airport Schiphol
Differences in
reacquisition
adaptation
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Differences in
transition
adaptation
Illustration of
need to
separate
transition and
reacquisiton
adaptation
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Potential results
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Airport Schiphol
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1. role of personality
2. role of training procedures (e.g.,
error management training)
3. role of task modifications/design
(e.g., display redesign, target
injection in
monitoring/supervision tasks to
remedy decrements in vigilance)
Further (future) aims:
• Application of the framework to
explore
Amsterdam
Airport Schiphol
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– team-level adaptability
– transfer/aptitude-treatment
interaction research (remember
counterintuitive nature of the GMA
finding)
Thank you for listening
Amsterdam
Airport Schiphol
Contact info:
[email protected]
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