Factors That Influence Skill Decay and Retention¶
Arthur Jr., W., Bennett Jr., W., Stanush, P. L., & McNelly, T. L. (1998). Factors That Influence Skill Decay and Retention: A Quantitative Review and Analysis. Human Performance, 11(1), 57-101.
Cited by¶
4 citations across 4 artifacts.
Each citation links to the sentence it supports in the citing article.
Primes¶
- Maintenance Rehearsal
- In skill maintenance, recurrent training, daily practice, and language drill hold a once-installed skill against decay.
This sourceMeta-analysis finding substantial skill loss with nonuse (up to d = -1.4 after a year), motivating recurrent training and practice to hold a once-acquired skill against decay.
Supported in partVerified against the publisher's abstract
The meta-analysis measures substantial skill loss under nonuse (d to -1.4 past a year), supporting the decay half of the claim but not testing the training or drill that would hold skill.
“Results indicate that there is substantial skill loss with nonpractice or nonuse, with the amount of skill loss ranging from an effect size (d) of -0.01 immediately after training to a d of -1.4 after more than 365 days of nonuse.”
- In skill maintenance, recurrent training, daily practice, and language drill hold a once-installed skill against decay.
- Temporal Decay and Degradation
- Organizational knowledge and institutional memory: Expert staff retire or leave, taking specialized knowledge that was never fully documented; documented procedures become outdated as practices evolve and new tools are introduced without corresponding updates to documentation; organizational routines calcify and become misaligned with current market or regulatory conditions; informal communication networks that hold institutional memory atrophy as people leave or organizational structures change, with the underlying skill loss after periods of nonuse meta-analytically quantified by Arthur, Bennett, Stanush, and McNelly (1998).
This sourceMeta-analysis of 189 data points across 53 studies showing substantial skill loss with nonuse (effect size d = -1.4 after one year); quantitative basis for organizational knowledge degradation.
Supported in partVerified against the publisher's abstract
Abstract states substantial skill loss with nonuse (189 data points, 53 studies; d = -1.4 after >365 days), backing only the sentence's final clause, not its organizational-memory claims.
“Meta-analytic techniques were applied to a total of 189 independent data points extracted from 53 articles. Results indicate that there is substantial skill loss with nonpractice or nonuse, with the amount of skill loss ranging from an effect size (d) of -0.01 immediately after training to a d of -1.4 after more than 365 days of nonuse.”
- Organizational knowledge and institutional memory: Expert staff retire or leave, taking specialized knowledge that was never fully documented; documented procedures become outdated as practices evolve and new tools are introduced without corresponding updates to documentation; organizational routines calcify and become misaligned with current market or regulatory conditions; informal communication networks that hold institutional memory atrophy as people leave or organizational structures change, with the underlying skill loss after periods of nonuse meta-analytically quantified by Arthur, Bennett, Stanush, and McNelly (1998).
Mechanisms¶
- Backup Staffing Pool
- A pool that rarely deploys loses currency — the reserve preparers forget the workflow, the new forms, the systems — so the surge arrives and the "trained" hands are slow.
This sourceFinds that nonuse intervals degrade retained skills and later task performance, with decay depending on the task and retention interval.
- A pool that rarely deploys loses currency — the reserve preparers forget the workflow, the new forms, the systems — so the surge arrives and the "trained" hands are slow.
- Scenario Rehearsal Protocol
- Skills that are not practiced decay measurably, which is exactly why recency-of-practice requirements exist wherever the cost of a rusty decision is high.
This sourceFinds substantial measurable loss of trained skill over periods of nonpractice or nonuse.
- Skills that are not practiced decay measurably, which is exactly why recency-of-practice requirements exist wherever the cost of a rusty decision is high.
Verification¶
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