The effect of practice on individual differences, intra-individual variability, and remoteness was studied in performance during eight minutes of continuous practice on a large muscle motor task. Individual differences (true score variance) revealed a slight increase during the practice session, while the intra-individual variability remained relatively unaffected by massed practice. When the improvement in performance was removed by examining the relative variability, both sources of variance increased. The effects of an increasing number of interpolated trials on the inter-trial correlations revealed that with increasing amounts of remoteness, the inter-trial correlations decreased.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AdamsJ. A.The relationship between certain measures of ability and the acquisition of a psychomotor criterion response. Journal of General Psychology, 1957, 56, 121–134.
2.
AdamsJ. A.Motor skills. Annual Review of Psychology, 1964, 15, 181–202.
3.
GroseJ. E.Inter- and intra-variability of motor performance. Research Quarterly, 1967, 38, 570–575.
4.
FleishmanE. A.Abilities at different stages of practice in rotary pursuit performance. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1960, 60, 162–171.
5.
FleishmanE. A.HimpleW. E.Changes in factor structure of a complex psychomotor test as a function of practice. USAF Human Resources Research Center, Research Bulletin No. 53–68, 1953.
6.
HenryF. M.Reliability, measurement error and intra-individual difference. Research Quarterly, 1959, 30, 21–24.
7.
HenryF. M.CuretenT. K.HewettJ. E.Errors in measurement. In ScottM. G. (Ed.) Research methods applied to health, physical education and recreation.Washington, D.C.: American Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation, Research Station, 1949, 459–477.
8.
JonesM. B.Molar correlation analysis. USN School of Aviation Medicine Monograph, 1960, No. 4.
9.
JonesM. B.Individual differences. In BilodeauE. A. (Ed.) Acquisition of skill.New York: Academic Press, 1965, 109–146.
10.
MorfordW. R.The value of supplementary visual information during practice on dynamic kinesthetic learning. Research Quarterly, 1966, 37, 393–405.
11.
NorrieM. L.Effect of practice on true score and intra-individual variability for reaction and movement times for simple and complex movements. Research Quarterly, 1967, 38, 457–467.
12.
ReynoldsB.Effect of learning on the predictability of psychomotor performance. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1952, 44, 189–198.
13.
RyanE. D., Retention of stabilometer performance over extended period of time. Research Quarterly, 1962, 33, 593–598.
14.
StelmachG. E.Distribution of practice in individual differences and intra-variability. Perceptual Skills, 1968, 26, 727–730.
15.
WelchM.HenryF. M.Individual differences in various parameters of motor learning. Research Quarterly, 1968, 39, in press.
16.
WoodrowH.The effect of practice in groups of different initial ability. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1938, 29, 268–278.
