Nonimposed Overpractice and Skill Retention
Abstract
Three experiments were carried out. To determine the role of 'nonimposed practice' in predicting individual performance at skills reacquisition or retention. In the first, 27 Navy enlisted volunteers practiced each of six video-computer tasks for 15 daily sessions. Practice was resumed after a no-practice interval lasting 4-6 months for two of the tasks, 10-12 months for two others, and 16-18 months for the remaining two tasks. Reacquistion consisted to five sessions of daily practice, with the same number of trials per day as was used in acquisition. Three of these same video-computer tasks were used in Experiment 2. Three groups of 50, 56, and 53 students practiced one of the three tasks for five sessions, each session lasting 16 minutes. After a no-practice interval lasting 4 months, each student was given three reacquistion sessions. The third experiment utilized two of the three tasks in Experiment 2. With one task (N=56) practice conditions were identically the same as in Experiment 2; with the other task (N=95) practice was extended to nine sessions. All other conditions were the same as in Experiment 2. In all three experiments unequivocal evidence was obtained that nonimposed overpractice improves retention.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1986
- Accession Number
- ADA168572
Entities
People
- Marshall B. Jones
Organizations
- Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center