title: Task duration in contextual interference.
abstract: Duration of practice trial on a pursuit rotor task in contextual interference was investigated. Participants practiced at each of 4 angular velocities, with 24 participants completing 28 trials lasting 20 sec., and 24 participants completing 112 trials of 5 sec. Half of the participants in each trial-duration condition practiced in a blocked format and half practiced in a random format. After random practice posttest performance was better than blocked practice when practice-trial duration was 20 sec., but worse when practice-trial duration was 5 sec. This result is not consistent with theoretical explanations of the contextual interference effect and is discussed with reference to the task characteristics and demands of the pursuit rotor.
authors.affiliation: School of Kinesiology and Recreation, Illinois State University, Normal 61790-5121, USA. pjsmit2@ilstu.edu
authors.forename: Peter J K
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004777:Environment; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011897:Random Allocation; D013997:Time Factors