Performance on difficult mental multiplication improves during a continuous work period of about two hours¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r1 · q2
Currency · newest study 1911 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Seventy-two undergraduates multiplied three-place by three-place numbers mentally for about two hours; product per unit of time improved in amount and quality during the work period. → Edward L. Thorndike 1911

Evidence¶

Edward L. Thorndike 1911¶

Edward L. Thorndike. (1911). Repetition versus recall in memorizing vocabularies; The effect of continuous exercise and of rest upon difficult mental multiplication. Journal of Educational Psychology, Communications and Discussions. https://archive.org/search?query=Journal+of+Educational+Psychology+Thorndike

q2 · i? · causal · r1

Unsupervised home experiment with 72 undergraduate students doing continuous mental multiplication of three-place numbers for 100 to 140 minutes, grouped by initial ability. The first group rose from .61 to .68 examples per minute and right figures from .86 to .87; the second rose from .36 to .38 examples with 80% to 83% right figures.

"The first group averaging .61 of an example per minute in the first row did .68 examples per minute in the last row of the work period. The percentage of right figures in the answers rose from .86 to .87."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Time and Continuity — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes

Related Claims¶

• 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
• A 30-minute rest and a full night's sleep each add small further gains in mental multiplication output, with accuracy unchanged — related