Anticipatory Rehearsal in Reversed Printing

Abstract

Two experiments were performed in an attempt to control the slope of the initial segment of the prerest curve of reversed alphabet printing under continuous practice. In Exp. 1, Ss began printing with A, I, or P, but in all cases knew in advance what the starting letter was to be. Since all three groups showed a negative slope over the first two 15-sec. scoring periods, Es rejected the hypothesis that an initital decrement in printing rate stemmed from an underlying alphabetical serial position function. In Exp. 2, Ss began printing with either A, F, K, or R, but the data sheet on which the starting letter was printed was kept face-down until the trial began. With opportunity for rehearsing from the correct starting letter thus reduced, only Group A showed the initial dip in prerest performance.