Automaticity
This is a response for the weekly discussion posts in Cognition and Learning 6411. This week’s topic is automaticity.
Is drilling worth it? When, how, and why?
Yes. Drilling is worth it! My time spent on drills in Gr. 10 typing class has resulted in proficiency and fluency in using the computer keyboard to fluidly and accurately type messages, assignments and emails. My confidence in getting it done quickly and correctly has increased since those early years of practice. Haith and Krakauer (2018) suggest that practice effects behaviour by “increasing the speed of performance, rendering the practiced behavior habitual, and reducing the cognitive load required to perform the task” (p. 196). This is true for many essential skills, not just keyboarding.
Drilling is important, in spaced but intensive sessions (Willingham, 2009). Willingham (2009) notes that the “building blocks of skills” (p. 124), those essential for competency and mastery in a field of endeavour, that should be drilled. Keyboarding may not be an essential skill in my work as an educator but since most tasks require some form of text messages, typing is something worth practicing. That is until speech-to-text technologies become faster and more accurate than my fingers on the keyboard.
Skills that tend to be on the ‘practice list’ for children, based on perceived importance by parents, include a range of physical and behavioural skills ranging from music to sports, from academics to personal hygiene skills. Skills that are drilled consistently over time are ones that are essential for safety and wellbeing e.g. road, bike, driving safety. Skills are practiced primarily to enhance personal enjoyment, support individual engagement in society at large, and to ensure personal health. Drilling, in some ways, brings all members of a group or society to a common minimum standard level of proficiency, e.g. knowing the rules of the road, knowing how to swim.
Is automaticity good? When, how, for who, and why?
Automaticity tends to be defined by skills that happen without thinking, when the mind is elsewhere, when you’re not paying attention, or when they happen quickly. (Moors, 2016; Moors & De Houwer, 2006). This autonomous behaviour can be mental (Willingham, 2009), physical (Haith & Krakauer, 2018) and social (Hayward, Homer & Sprung, 2018). Automaticity can be a matter of life or death. Automatically knowing how to act or react in situations where personal safety or health are on the line, can make a big difference. In the case of a heart attack, automatically knowing that the Bee Gees song ‘Staying Alive’ is the perfect beat for chest compressions can save a life. Being able to automatically read facial features for social cues in a party or back alley can prevent unnecessary conflict. Knowing how to automatically angle your feet when skating is a skill that is drilled to prevent injury (falling or crashing into the boards) and increases speed and performance. Every field of endeavour tends to have a unique set of skills and concepts that become automatic with practice and instruction, e.g. knowing scientific nomenclature may not be essential to an auto mechanic, but knowing the functional structure of a carburetor should be automatic. So is automaticity a good thing – it’s absolutely essential! It makes life easier to live, relationships easier to support, and work easier to manage. Just my ‘automatic’ response.
References
Haith, A. M., & Krakauer, J. W. (2018). The multiple effects of practice: Skill, habit and reduced cognitive load. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 20, 196-201.
Moors, A. (2016). Automaticity: Componential, causal, and mechanistic explanations. Annual Review of Psychology, 67, 263-287.
Moors, A. & De Houwer, J. (2006). Automaticity: A theoretical and conceptual analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(2), 297-326.
Willingham, D. (2009). Why don’t students like school? San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.
