Relationship of Motivation and Method of Testing to Distribution of Practice Phenomena in Rotary Pursuit

Abstract

Women college students (N = 120) practised 60 r.p.m. rotary pursuit for 12 minutes, rested for approximately 25 minutes and then practised for 12 minutes more. During the initial period, thirty-six 20-second trials were given, 20 subjects each practising with intertrial rests of o seconds, 20 seconds, 50 seconds, 2 minutes and 5 minutes. In the 12-minute post-rest or testing period, 10 subjects in each of these groups practised continuously, and 10 were given 20-second trials separated by 5-minute rests. Greater distribution was found to lead to better performance in the initial period, except that the 5-minute inter-trial-rest group did not perform as well as the 2-minute group. The warm-up decrement was dependent on the degree of distribution of practice in the initial period, being greater with greater massing of trials. As measured by the backward-extrapolation method, less was shown when testing practice was continuous than when it was distributed. The temporary work decrement was far greater in magnitude than the permanent work decrement. If permanent work decrement was present at all, it was small in magnitude; approximately one-half was due to the conditions under which it was tested for, rather than to the degree of distribution in the initial stages of practice.