EFFECTS OF VARIATIONS IN SPECIFICITY OF KNOWLEDGE OF RESULTS ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF A A PERCEPTUAL SKILL

摘要

Ninety male undergraduate subjects estimated individually with respect to 120 stimulus photos how many degrees a 1/4-inch arrow would have to be turned to exactly parallel an adjacent arrowheaded line drawn across a 3-1/2-inch circle. The stimuli were presented for five seconds with ten seconds between and longer rest intervals separating sets of 24. Each set contained examples of the same 24 different stimuli in random order - correct answers ranging from 11 to 44 degrees and never being duplicated. Knowledge of results given orally after each estimation ranged in specificity from simple right-wrong information to amount and direction of error information for five experimental groups. No knowledge was given a sixth control group.nDifferences in mean absolute and algebraic error per stimulus among groups reflect differences in specificity of knowledge given. It is concluded that knowledge of results increases the rate and level of learning to perform an absolute judgment of spatial extent and this effect is generally greater the more specific the knowledge.