End-Spurt in Addition of Numbers

Abstract

End-spurt (performance improvement as the end of a task is approached) has been previously found among those individuals who believed that the task was 90% completed in both vigilance and rotary pursuit tracking. The present experiment was carried out to determine whether this would hold true if the task involved mental activity such as the addition of numbers. The end-spurt did occur when Ss believed that the task was 90% completed. Also, significant performance decrement occurred when it was believed they were only 50% completed.