The Effect of Remoteness on Intertrial Correlations in Pursuit Rotor Performance

Abstract

120 male university students were tested on a Koerth pursuit rotor. One group of 60 Ss was tested on each of 6 days spaced throughout a 3-wk. period. Another group of 60 Ss performed the same task in an identical manner for test-retest days only, with the retest day following by 3 wk. One group had a large amount of practice while the other did not within a comparable time period. Each practice session consisted of 60 15-sec. trials. The effects of both practice and layoff on intertrial correlations separated by increasing remoteness was investigated. The findings indicated, as others have found, that correlations decrease in size as remoteness increases. Adjacent trial correlations were found to increase as practice increased.