Individual differences and workload effects on strategy adoption in a dynamic task

•We investigate factors influencing strategy adoption in a complex task.•Some individuals adopt a new strategy as a prior strategy becomes less successful.•Working-memory load negatively influences adoption of a new strategy.•Individual differences in prior strategy execution predict strategy adoption.

The current study investigated the effects of individual differences and workload on strategy adaptivity in a complex, dynamic task called the Space Fortress game (Donchin, 1989). Participants learned to use a strategy of flying a ship in circles around the fortress in a standard game environment. Once they mastered the strategy, they were assigned to different workload conditions and transferred to a nonstandard environment in which a strong wind was introduced that made it more difficult to achieve a circular orbit. About half of the participants continued with their prior circular strategy while the rest adopted a novel strategy that achieved comparable performance with less effort. With this novel strategy, rather than trying to complete orbits they flew into the wind and then allowed the wind to blow them back to achieve a pendulum-like path. Participants without a working-memory load were more likely to adopt the new strategy. Participants were also more likely to adopt the new strategy if their pattern of behavior exposed them more often to the potential of drifting with the wind. The results indicate that spontaneous changes in strategy occur when people are exposed to the potential of a new strategy and have the cognitive resources to understand its potential.