Ajnmons (1), in his theoretical analysis of motor learning, has suggested that much of the decrement in proficiency following a rest after practice on a motor learning task is due to a loss of "set." This loss, which he feels consists principally of favorable -postural adjustments, he symbolizes £>«," and defines as "the decrement on any trial due to the necessity for the subject to 'warm-up' after rest" (1, p. 270).

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Reminiscence has been denned as "an improvement in performance, as shown by some measure of ability to recall at some time after the original practice, without (any) intervening practice" (7, p. 314). In conventional studies of reminiscence employing pursuit-rotor learning, Ss use the same hand for both pre-and postrest practice, and, commonly, the performance of a no-rest control group is the base line from which the improvement over rest is calculated.Recently a phenomenon similar to conventional reminiscence in pursuitrotor learning has been reported by Ammons and Ammons (4), Kimble (19), and Irion and Gustafson (16). In both the Kimble and the Irion and Gustafson experiments two groups of Ss were given 5 min. of massed practice on the pursuit rotor. Following this, Ss in one group immediately received an additional 5 min. of practice with the other hand, while Ss in the second group rested for 5 min. before changing hands. The experimental data revealed that during other-hand practice the performance of the group that rested was significantly superior to that of the no-rest group.1 This report is a portion of a dissertation submitted to the Department of Psychology of Northwestern University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree. The author wishes to express his appreciation to Dr. Carl P. Duncan for his assistance in the conduct of this research.

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