Time continuously on target as a function of distribution of practice.

Abstract

Five groups of 20 female Ss participated in a rotary pursuit experiment. All Ss had thirty 30-sec. trials on a 54-rpm pursuit rotor. Each group worked under a different condition of practice distribution with 0-, 15-, 30-, 45-, and 60-sec. intertrial rest. After 21 trials, each group received 5 min. of rest followed by nine massed-practice trials. Two response measures were used, total time on target and time continuously on target, i.e., duration of hits. The essential findings were: (a) Distribution of practice facilitated performance. (b) After the 5-min. rest, a significant amount of reminiscence was shown in the 0- and 15-sec. groups. (c) The differences among groups in performance on the first postrest trial were significant. This may be taken as evidence for the existence of a permanent work decrement. However, a more parsimonious explanation requiring but a single inhibitory construct was offered. (d) Under conditions of postrest massed practice, the groups tend to converge so that by Trial 9 the differences among the groups were not significant. (e) Unlike previous studies, a significant warm-up effect was not observed. Evidence that improvement in performance takes the form of more hits initially and shifts to longer hits later in practice was presented and discussed. The results of the present experiment indicate that the skill of staying on target for relatively long durations continuously is less well learned by Ss serving under massed practice as compared to Ss serving under distributed practice. Through the use of a Tracking-time Analyzer a measure of this skill was obtained.