The purposes of this study were (a) to determine whether contextual interference (CI) is viable for acquisition and retention when blocked practice is implemented within a random order, and (b) to determine what amount of repetition needs to be utilized in blocked practice within a random format in order to promote enough interference in acquisition to aid retention. / Eighty-four male volunteer students enrolled in Florida State University during the 1992 summer session served as subjects for this study. They were randomly assigned to six groups. The blocked practice (BP) group practiced the circle target series in blocked order for 150 trials; the random group (RP) practiced the tasks randomly. The blocked practice within a random order groups (BPWRO3, BPWRO4, BPWRO5, and BPWRO6) differed in number of repetitions as indicated by the number for each group (3, 4, 5, and 6 repetitions), with a total of 150 trials for each subject in each group. After 10-minute intervals subjects performed 24 trials in the retention phase in random format in the circle target series. Eight dependent measures were utilized: reaction time (RT), movement time one (MT$\sb1$), movement time two (MT$\sb2$), total movement time (TMT), total performance response time (TP), accuracy for the first movement (AC$\sb1$), accuracy for the second movement (AC$\sb2$), and total accuracy (TAC). / The results of this study provide minimal support for contextual interference. According to the theory, the random practice should help the subjects to recall more than the other groups (the blocked and combined practice), since a deeper level of processing is required when the task is varied from trial to trial. The combined practice groups shared interference effects during acquisition for groups having both random and blocked features. These groups (BPWRO) also produced retention benefits in speeded movements and reactions but not in accuracy. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-11, Section: B, page: 5961. / Major Professor: Tonya Toole. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_76804 |
| Contributors | Al-Ameer, Abdlhameed A., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 202 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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