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.ti? Silver, Reuben Jllcob, j.94"
1951 Tiie effect; or tne amount; end dis-
oi>$ trib u tio n or v/arming-up a c tiv ity
on re te n tio n in motor learning*
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• school, 1951*
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Xerox University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106
THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED.
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THE EFFECT OF THE AMOUNT AND DISTRIBUTION OF WARMING-UP ACTIVITY ON
RETENTION IN MOTOR LEARNING
y
Reuben J. Silver
A dissertation in the department of psychology submitted in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
at New York University, April, 1951.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I wish to acknowledge iqy great debt to Professor Leland W. Crafts
for his invaluable aid and advice throughout the progress of this
investigation. I am also indebted to Professor Crafts for having
aroused my interest and curiosity in learning theories.
I am also grateful to Doctor Hilton N. Wasserman for his many
valuable suggestions and constant encouragement.
' l O A S M c
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM------------------------ 1
HISTORICAL REVIEW - - ----------- - ----------------------------- 7
I. Introduction — — -------— — — - - — - - - - 7
II. Theoretical Considerations 7
A. B ell's Theory _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ --------7
3. Ammons' T heory----------_ _ _ _ _ ----------- 5
C. Hull's Theory — --------- 9
III Experiments on the Warming-up E ffect ------ 10
A. Warming-up Effect in original learning ------------ - 10
B. Warming-up Effect and Distributed Practice----------- 13
IV. The Interaction of Inhibitions -------_ _ _ _ _ — ]j^
V. Restatement of the Problem - - - ------------— _ _ _ 16
METHOD------------------------------------------------------------------------ 17
A. Subjects 17
B. M aterials---------------------------------------------- 17
C. Procedure — - — ------- - — _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 17
Part I — ------------- 17
Part I I - 20
RESULTS--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22
PART I --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22
A. Performance Following Warming-up Activity - - - 22
B. Reminiscence - _ -------- — --------_ _ _ _ 36
C. The Locus of the Effect of Warming-up Activity- 38
PART I I ____________________________________________ 41
A. Performance Following Massed and Distributed
Warming-up Activity — ------------- _ _ _ _ _ 41
iii
B. Reminiscence Following Warraing-up A ctivity------------- 45
C. The Locus of the Effect of Warming-up Activity - - - 50
DISCUSSION OF RESULTS---------------------------------------------- 53
A. Preliminary Considerations - - - - - ------- _ _ _ _ _ 53
B. Warming-up Activity and Pre-rest Practice - - ------ 56
C. Retention and Amount of Warming-up Activity - - - ------- 57
SUMMARY OF RESULTS ---------------------------------------------------------- 62
BIBLIOGRAPHY--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 64
iv
LIST OF TABLES
Table I The distribution of Ss in each of the experimental
conditions — _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 18
Table II Mean increase in score on the tria l following various amounts
of warming-up activity after 5, 15, and 30 trials of pre
rest practice- - — _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ---------------- 26
Table III Analysis of variance of the mean increase in score on the
tria l following various amounts of warming-up activity
after 5, 15, and 30 trials of pre-rest practice- --------- 29
Table IV Mean differences in increase in score after rest between
the groups having warming-up activity and those having
no warming-up activity, together with the respective
t-values - - — - ----------- - — ------------- 31
Table V Significance tests for the difference between the mean
increases in score on the tria l following various amounts
of warming-up activity after 5 tria ls of pre-rest practice- - 32
Table VI Significance tests for the difference between the mean in
creases in score on the tria l following various amounts
of warming-up activity after 15 tria ls of pre-rest
practice ---------------------------------------------------- -------_ _ _ _ _ 33
Table VII Significance tests for the difference between the mean
increase in score on the tria l following various amounts
of warming-up activity after 30 tria ls of pre-rest
practice ---------------- 34-
Table VIII Mean difference between the increase in score following
various amounts of warming-up activity for the experi
mental groups and the increase for the massed group, and
their respective t-values 40
Table IX Mean increase in score on the tria l following various
amounts of massed and distributed warming-up activity
after 15 trials of pre-rest p ractice------------------ 43
Table X Analysis of variance of the mean increase in score on
the tria l following various amounts of massed and dis
tributed warming-up activity after 15 pre-rest trials - - - 46
Table XI Significance tests of the amount by which the mean in
crease in score on the tria l following various amounts
of distributed warming-up activity after 15 pre-rest
trials exceeds that after corresponding amounts of
massed warming-up activity after 15 pre-rest practice
trials - - - - — --------------------------------- _ _ ----------------------- 47
ir
Table XII The mean difference between the increases in
score on the tria l following various amounts
of distributed warming-up activity after 15
trials of pre-rest practice, together with
respective t-values ----- - ---------------
Table XIII The amount by which the increase in score follow
ing rest after 15 pre-rest trials in the groups
having either massed or distributed vaiming-up
activity exceeds that in the groups having rest
but no warming-up activity, together with the
respective t-values ------------------- - - - - - -
Table XIV Amount by which the increase in score following
various amounts of massed and distributed warming-
up activity after 15 pre-rest trials exceeds that
in the massed control group after 15 tria ls, to
gether with the respective tevalues ------
LIST OF FIGURES
Fig. 1 Mean score on the first six post-rest trials follow
ing various amounts of warming-up activity after 5
trials of pre-rest practice-------------------------- 23
Fig. 2 Mean score on the first six post-rest trials following
various amounts of warming-up activity after 15 trials
of pre-rest practice 24
Fig. 3 Mean score on the firs t six post-rest trials follow
ing various amounts of warming-up activity after 30
trials of pre-rest practice ------ — 25
Fig. 4 Mean increase in score on the tria l following various
amounts of warming-up activity after 5, 15, and 30
trials of pre-rest practice -------------------------- 27
Fig. 5 The amount by which the groups having warming-up activity
exceed the group having rest but no warming-up activity - - 30
Fig. 6 The amount of warming-up activity which produces the
maximum relearning score after 5, 15, and 30 pre
rest trials ----------------------------- 37
Fig. 7 The amount of reminiscence following various amounts
of warming-up activity after 5, 15 and 30 trials of
pre-rest practice - - _ -----------— 39
Fig. 8 Mean score on the first six post-rest trials following
various amounts of massed and distributed warming-up
activity after 15 trials of pre-rest practice ------------------ 42
Fig. 9 The mean increase in score on the tria l following various
amounts of massed and distributed warming-up activity
after 15 trials of pre-rest practice------------------------------ 44-
Fig. 10 The amount of reminiscence following various amounts
of massed and distributed warming-up activity after
15 trials of pre-rest practice ---------- 51
v ii
-1-
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
It has been found by Ammons (1) and several other investigators that
in itial learning in certain activities is impeded by the lack of a proper
set, or as Ammons puts it, learning is impeded by the lack of certain per
ceptual-motor adjustments. Learning is then facilitated by the acquisition
of this set during the first few practice tria ls. Similarly, when practice
ceases for a period of time, e.g., when a rest interval is introduced, there
occurs a loss of the perceptual-motor adjustments which had been acquired dur
ing the performance of the task. This set must then be reinstated when
practice is resumed.
The decrement in learning which is brought about by the lack of proper
set and which is overcome during the in itial learning or relearning trials
is generally referred to as warm-up decrement. While investigating the
characteristics of the motor learning curve following the introduction of a
rest interval, Ammons hypothesized that warm-up decrement should be a nega
tively accelerated function, both of the amount of pre-rest practice and of
the length of the interpolated rest. Using the pursuit rotor (2) he was able
to substantiate these two predictions, and further, found that warm-up decre
ment reached its maximum after about eight minutes of work and after about
twenty minutes of rest.*
A different approach to the problem has been initiated by Irion (10). He
reasoned that fillin g the r 3st interval with a set-maintaining activity should
prevent S from losing the perceptual-motor adjustments acquired during the
performance of the task, and consequently, retantion should be improved.
One of his experiments (13) suggests that this is true. Using nonsense
* Inspection of Ammons' Fig.SB (2,p.409) seems to indicate that warm-up
decrement reached its maximum after 10 minutes of rest. The amount given
above is that which Anmons presents on page 408.
