Only occasional attempts have been made to determine the influence of practice on the correlation of abilities, and those that have been reported have been based on so few practice trials that no review of them need be given. In the present chapter I shall present the results of an experiment in which a group of observers were repeatedly tested until in each test a practice limit was approximated, a limit which, in most cases, one hundred further trials failed to improve. The results have a real interest for vocational psychology.
The experiment consisted in putting each of thirteen individuals through 205 repetitions of seven different mental tests. The trials were controlled as thoroughly as possible with respect to such factors as _interim_ occupation, exercise, food, rotation of tests, temperature, illumination, and incentive and interest. The subjects, four women and nine men, ranging from eighteen to thirty-nine years in age, were mature, zealous, and faithful. Competition was stimulated by the award of desirable prizes, and each worker received a daily wage. Records were announced to the subjects only after each thirty-five trials. So far as previous practice in these particular tests is concerned, all the subjects were naïve. Five trials were made daily, these trials being distributed through the day at about two-hour intervals. The tests themselves occupied about forty minutes at each sitting.
The tests used were the following familiar laboratory forms:
1. Adding. Adding seventeen mentally to each of fifty two-place numbers and reciting aloud the correct answer. Order of numbers random at each trial. Record with stop watch, time required for perfect score.
2. Naming Opposites. Correctly naming opposites of each of fifty adjectives which occurred each time in random order. Record, time required for a perfect score.
3. Color Naming. The Columbia laboratory form of this test, with ten repetitions of each of twelve colors. Position of card changed at each trial. Record, time required for perfect score.
4. Discrimination Reaction. Discriminating between red and blue, and reacting correctly with appropriate hand. Record, average time, in _sigma_, and number of false reactions.