{
  "schema": "vedokrok.public-item.v1",
  "release_id": "MHC-RPUB-20260920-75ad787a",
  "url": "/knowledge/keep-difficulty-in-the-diagnosable-zone",
  "id": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-9003",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "title": "Keep difficulty in the diagnosable zone",
  "summary": "The useful edge is hard enough to expose a gap and clear enough to diagnose it.",
  "kind": "heuristic",
  "body": "Adjust one or two task demands so the learner must work, but can still identify why an attempt succeeded or failed. If everything is correct with spare capacity, increase a meaningful demand. If errors become random, restore support or reduce complexity until feedback becomes usable again.",
  "limits": [
    "Difficulty is not a virtue by itself. Safety-critical practice may require a simulator, supervision or a lower-risk decomposition."
  ],
  "topics": [
    "union-skill-acquisition-career-dominant-focus"
  ],
  "intents": [],
  "source_ids": [
    "RS-05CB28C0C7CF56B3"
  ],
  "evidence": [
    {
      "claim": "A meta-analysis of adaptive training found that effects varied by instructional intervention, with adaptive difficulty showing the strongest results among the examined categories.",
      "source_id": "RS-05CB28C0C7CF56B3",
      "role": "supports",
      "note": "The literature was heterogeneous and much of the context was military training; this does not validate every adaptive-learning product.",
      "locator": "Abstract"
    }
  ],
  "use_when": [
    "When practice is either effortless repetition or so difficult that errors become undifferentiated guessing."
  ],
  "avoid_when": [
    "Difficulty is not a virtue by itself. Safety-critical practice may require a simulator, supervision or a lower-risk decomposition."
  ],
  "example": "A language learner who can answer rehearsed interview questions easily moves to unfamiliar follow-ups; if every reply collapses, the next set narrows the variation.",
  "check": "Most attempts generate specific information about what to retain or change, not only a score.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "RS-05CB28C0C7CF56B3",
      "title": "Adaptive training instructional interventions: A meta-analysis",
      "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39083372/"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "from": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-9003",
      "to": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-9004",
      "type": "useful_with",
      "url": "/knowledge/fade-help-when-performance-earns-it"
    }
  ],
  "collections": [
    {
      "id": "RC-EA04F47374E04549",
      "title": "Learn new skills, turn them into career evidence, and protect the main development edge",
      "url": "/collections/learn-new-skills-turn-them-into-career-evidence-and-protect-the-main-development-edge"
    }
  ]
}