Acquisition of motor skill: III. Effects of initially distributed practice on rotary pursuit performance.

Abstract

212 undergraduate women college students were given three 12-min. periods of rotary pursuit practice. In Period 1, subjects rested 0 sec., 20 sec., 50 sec., 2 min., 5 min., 12 min., or 24 hours between 20-sec. trials. In Periods 2 and 3, the test periods, all subjects practiced continuously to equalize temporary effects of differential distr. The following results were obtained: (a) During Period 1, groups with 0 sec., 20-sec, 50-sec, 2-min., and 5-min. intertrial rests developed progressively decreasing amts. of temporary work decrement. (b) The best performance was found at intermediate levels of distr. (c) Warm-up decrement at the start of Period 2 was less, the greater the distr. had been during Period 1.