Data Processing in Typing: Typing Rate as a Function of Kind of Material and Amount Exposed

Abstract

The effects on performance of kind of material (text, random words, or random characters) and amount of material exposed (1, 2, 3, 6, or an “unlimited” number of characters) were jointly studied in a typewriting task. For the random characters, only a small increase in typing rate was observed beyond three characters exposed. For the words and text, rates were generally higher and continued to increase substantially up to the unlimited exposure condition. The results are discussed in terms of a parallel processor which employs unitary “higher-order responses”.