The probability of response repetition in a serial perceptual-motor performance was studied as a function of the number of previous occurrences of each particular response. Data from college students performing a letter-maze task showed the function to be a negatively accelerated curve with p increasing from around .50 after one repetition to almost 1.00 after 7 or 8 repetitions. Number of previous occurrences was claimed to be a better determinant of repetition than ordinal trial number for purposes of theory testing. Further study was suggested with a technique to reduce perceptual search demands.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 0031-5125 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.2466/pms.1965.20.2.609 ID - ref1 ER -