Individual and Team Skill Decay—The Science and Implications for Practice

Most research on skill retention involves simple tasks performed by individuals within a relatively short period of time after learning. In many contexts, particularly in the military, it's crucial to train individuals and teams in complex tasks in a manner that optimizes the possibility that the new skills will be retained even if not used for quite some time. This volume presents contributions structured around empirical studies, along with a few conceptual and review chapters, offering review of what's known and pointing to ongoing research needs. The authors are affiliated as follows: Winfred Arthur, Jr. (Texas A&M U.), Eric Anthony Day (U. of Oklahoma), and Winston Bennett, Jr. and Antoinette M. Portrey (Air Force Research Laboratory). Contributors are psychologists affiliated with universities, training consultancies, and the military, primarily in the US, with a few based elsewhere. Annotation c2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Winfred Arthur, Jr. is Full Professor of Psychology and Management at Texas A&M University. He is a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, the Association of Psychological Science, and the American Psychological Association. He is past Associate Editor of the Journal of Applied Psychology and currently serves on its editorial board along with Personnel Psychology, and Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice as well. His research interests are in human performance; training development, design, implementation, and evaluation; team selection and training; acquisition and retention of complex skills; testing, selection, and validation; models of job performance; personnel psychology; and meta-analysis.

Eric Anthony Day is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Oklahoma where he is part of the Doctoral program in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. His research interests primarily fall in the traditional areas of personnel psychology and human resources management, including personnel assessment, selection, and training and development. Much of his research involves the study of complex skill acquisition with emphases on individual differences, cognitive and social processes, expert–novice differences, decay and adaptability, and team-based training.

Winston "Wink" Bennett, Jr. is a Senior Research Psychologist and Technical Advisor for continuous learning and performance assessment research with the Air Force Research Laboratory Human Effectiveness Directorate in Dayton, Ohio. He is a Fellow of the Air Force Research Laboratory and is also a Fellow of the American Psychological Association. He has published over 90 research articles, textbooks, chapters, and technical reports in the Human Factors, Aviation, Industrial and Organizational Psychology literatures.

Antoinette M. Portrey is a Senior Scientist with L-3 Communications Link Simulation and Training. She leads her team in warfighter training research at the Air Force Research Laboratory Human Effectiveness Directorate, Warfighter Readiness Research Division in Dayton, Ohio. Her team facilitates the research, design, development, and integration of continuous learning training methodologies and technologies to be used with interactive, multi-fidelity, immersive training environments. Specialty areas include: human performance measurement; individual, team, and unit training effectiveness; training systems assessment; and integrated learning management technologies.