Effects of Task Variability

It is difficult to determine the correct level of task variability to achieve optimal training results. There is however some evidence-based information that can be used to facilitate the decision-making process: “variability in learning experience will result in less extensive learning during the acquisition phase but larger transfer to new tasks during the retention phase” (Green & Bavelier, 2008, p. 8). Research also indicates that: “low input variability induced learning at levels of representation that are specific to the items being learned, which are too rigid to generalize to new stimuli. High variability is crucial in ensuring that the newly learned informative fragments be at levels of representation that can flexibly recombine” (Green & Bavelier, 2008, p. 11)