Effects of Practice and Positional Variables in Acquisition of a Complex Psychomotor Skill

Abstract

40 Navy subjects practiced a three-dimensional tracking task in two positions (the apparatus either in front of, or above, the subject) under distributed and massed practice schedules to determine the effects of these variables on acquisition of skill. Distributed and massed practice were defined in terms of trial (4 1/2 and 9 min.) and session (1 and 2 hr.) lengths with the subjects equally divided into these four groups: distributed trials, distributed sessions; distributed trials, massed sessions; massed trials, distributed sessions; and massed trials, massed sessions. Total training (practice and rest) time was identical for all groups. Results indicated that task position was a relevant variable in acquisition of skill, i.e., different practice schedules were optimal for the two positions studied.