Practice effects in visual reproduction are specific: they transfer to new conditions only in proportion to identical ability-conditioning factors.¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r1 · q1
Currency · newest study 1910 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q1 i? Increased ability depends on the particular material, time, instructions and conditions; tricks gained with dot-figures were valueless with other material, and the observers were not better observers or memorizers in general. → Foster 1910

Evidence¶

Foster 1910¶

Foster, W. S. (1910). The Effect of Practice upon Visualizing and upon the Reproduction of Visual Impressions. The Journal of Educational Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0075685

q1 · i? · causal · r1

Theoretical conclusion drawn from the experiment's results and introspections. The conclusions section argues practice is specific, that dot-figure tricks were valueless elsewhere, and that no general habits of observing closely were furnished.

"Practice, in other words, is specific. Practice with one set of conditions is valuable in a new set, only in proportion as the second set of conditions contain identical ability-conditioning factors."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Individual differences in quick visual apprehension are striking and material-specific, negating the notion of a general ability to apprehend visually — related
• Practise has a very slight effect on the range of attention, explicable by habituation and grouping tricks rather than any expansion of the range itself — related
• Practice increases observers' ability to reproduce briefly exposed visual material, with final-over-initial gains ranging from 6% to 44% (average 22%). — related
• Practice gains are greater for nonsense material (average final gain 28%) than for sense-material (average final gain 10%). — related
• Systematic practise gives little warrant for markedly improving adults' quick visual perception; the slight poetry gain is attributed to familiarity with the poem — related
• Retroactive inhibition fails to appear when memorized syllables are merely recognized rather than actively reproduced — related