Addition efficiency drops sharply from the first to the second two-minute period, indicating initial spurt¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r1 · q3
Currency · newest study 1914 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? In continuous addition work, aggregate output in the first two-minute period exceeds later two-minute periods, with a much greater drop from the first to the second period than from the second to the fifth, which the author attributes to initial spurt. → Chapman 1914

Evidence¶

Chapman 1914¶

Chapman, J. C. (1914). A Study of Initial Spurt in the Case of Addition. The Journal of Educational Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0070019

q3 · i? · causal · r1

Experiment with 46 male college students adding columns of ten one-place numbers over ten ten-minute periods, each divided into five two-minute periods marked by a spoken signal. Scores indexed to the first period were 100, 92.5, 89.4, 88.0, and 87.1, showing "a much greater drop in efficiency from the first to the second period".

"From this table, it will be seen that there is a much greater drop in efficiency from the first to the second period, than from the second to the fifth period, which seems to indicate the presence of a factor which can only be called initial spurt."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• The data cannot be used to investigate end spurt because subjects were not told when each test would end — related
• Initial spurt takes place as a general rule in addition, which the author argues chance variation cannot explain — related
• Prior initial-spurt experiments failed because test periods were too lengthy and subjects too few — related
• Efficiency in the work curve is conditioned by factors beyond fatigue proper: practice, adaptation, preparedness, warming up, spurts, voluntary effort, ennui, and diurnal rhythms (Offner) — a broader claim this one bears on