40 subjects were required to perform the task of stroking out the letters ‘e’ in a type-written passage for nine minutes under conditions of no noise or continuous 95-dB “white” noise or 95-dB “white” noise presented in a regular time pattern or 95-dB “white” noise presented in an irregular time pattern. The noise conditions made no difference to the performance of the task except during the second 3-min. interval of the 9-min. period when patterned noise had an inhibitory effect on the volume of material scanned but a facilitatory effect on accuracy of performance.
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