Learning and adaptation are essential for success. However, human effort is inherently finite, which creates a dilemma for employees. Is it better to prioritize capitalizing on existing knowledge structures to maximize immediate performance benefits (exploitation) or develop adaptive capabilities (exploration) at the expense of short-term productivity? Understanding how employees answer this question can inform the design of evidence-based interventions for optimizing and sustaining learning amidst workplace challenges. In this article, we attempt to unpack the composition of on-task effort during performance-based learning by testing the proposition that the information-knowledge gap-a regulatory discrepancy between unknown aspects of a task and a person's perceived competence in dealing with that task-is the psychological mechanism responsible for guiding effort-allocation decisions during performance-based learning. In Study 1, we found that larger information-knowledge gaps resulted in increased subsequent investments of on-task attention within a sample of adults learning to perform a complex task (N = 121). As participants learned, information-knowledge gaps systematically shrank, resulting in a reduced emphasis on learning-oriented effort (i.e., exploration) relative to achievement-oriented effort (i.e., exploitation) over time. In Study 2 (N = 176), a task-change paradigm revealed that introducing novel demands caused information-knowledge gaps to suddenly expand, which prompted participants to increase on-task effort and shift their focus away from achievement and back toward learning as an adaptive response. Collectively, these findings support the notion that information-knowledge gaps shape how (and when) on-task effort is spent and present a framework for understanding how learners strategically structure their limited attentional resources. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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在基于绩效的学习中解开任务努力：信息知识差距指导努力分配决策。

学习和适应对于成功至关重要。然而，人类的努力本质上是有限的，这给员工带来了两难的境地。优先考虑利用现有知识结构以最大化直接绩效收益（利用）还是以牺牲短期生产力为代价发展适应能力（探索）更好？了解员工如何回答这个问题可以为设计基于证据的干预措施提供信息，从而在工作场所面临挑战时优化和维持学习。在本文中，我们试图通过测试以下命题来揭示基于绩效的学习期间任务努力的构成：信息知识差距——任务的未知方面与一个人处理该任务的感知能力之间的监管差异-是在基于绩效的学习过程中负责指导努力分配决策的心理机制。在研究 1 中，我们发现，在学习执行复杂任务的成年人样本中（N = 121），较大的信息知识差距会导致随后对任务注意力的投入增加。随着参与者的学习，信息知识差距系统性地缩小，随着时间的推移，相对于以成就为导向的努力（即利用）而言，对以学习为导向的努力（即探索）的重视程度降低。在研究 2（N = 176）中，任务改变范式表明，引入新的需求会导致信息知识差距突然扩大，从而促使参与者增加任务努力，并将注意力从成就上转移到学习上。适应性反应。总的来说，这些发现支持了这样一种观点，即信息知识差距决定了如何（以及何时）花费任务精力，并提供了一个框架来理解学习者如何战略性地构建他们有限的注意力资源。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2023 APA，保留所有权利）。