The Comparison of Physiological Patterning in Advanced and Novice Performance of a Continuous Skill

The present study، investigated the effect of arousal (Skin Conductance Level، SCL) and vigilance (Heart Rate، HR) on novice and advanced performance in a laboratory continuous performance task and presented patterns for physiological changes related to these types of performances. Twenty subjects participated in the acquisition phase consisting of ten sessions of thirty- second attempts. Retention test was given to them after 48hours. The instruments of research was ProComp Infinity، rotary pursuit 30014A، Spielberger State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI Form Y-2) and The Brunel Mood Scale (BRUMS). The mean SCL and HR during 10 seconds preceding، 30 seconds throughout، and 10 seconds following performance were recorded in The second session (novice performance) and retention test (advanced performance) and then analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA. The results indicated that arousal increased gradually during the first four seconds of advanced performance، then continuously decreased gradually; this was true for the novice performance، except the level of SCL and the linear decrease was higher. Two seconds following advanced performance، there was a significant compensatory increase in this pattern; however did not reach the baseline level. This was not evident in novice performance. Neither HR showed a systematic pattern of variations during performance، nor reflected vigilance alleged characteristics. Results are discussed in relation to psycho physiological theories explaining performance.