Abstract
Habituated but not practiced Ss were required to count the reversals of the Necker cube under free (passive) and hold (resistive) instructions. Two 30-sec. trials under each instructional set, for 2 testing periods, were administered. Two groups of 15 men each viewed the trials in the orders: free, free, hold, hold and hold, hold, free, free. Stable free and hold scores over these 2 testing periods were sought. For the free scores, successive trials, periods, and the order conditions did not produce significant changes in the number of fluctuations. However, the trials × orders interaction was significant. For the hold-score analysis, trials, and trials × periods × orders interaction was significant. In general, the order interaction for the free scores and the significant effects for the hold scores were interpreted as related to a failure to provide a number of habituation trials in the hold condition equal to those for the free conditions. Suggestions for obtaining stable free and hold fluctuation scores over a short testing period and a possible procedure for studying both free and hold scores as related to personality variables were presented.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.