EFFECTS OF DISTRIBUTED AND MASSED LEARNING: VI

This paper mainly dealt with the following problems by using a number-code substitution task: What kind of relation is there between reactive inhibition (IR) and reinforcement? Does reactive inhibition develop, whether reinforcement is given to subjects or not?Eight groups were so constructed that three variables (the intertrial rest, the rest inserted after twenty trials, and the verbal reinforcement) would be operated. The performance in 20 prerest trials and the reminiscence were compared between each group. The subjects in each group had 30sec practice in each trial.The following results were obtained:(1) The performance of the distributed-practice groups was superior to that of the massed-practice groups.(2) The group who had the intertrial rests of 1min was superior in the prerest performance to the group who had 15sec for each intertrial rest.(3) The performance of the 15-second rest group who was rewarded during each interval was not superior to that of the group who had 15sec for each intertrial rest with no reward.(4) The massed-practice group showed the statistically significant reminiscence.(5) The 15-second rest group showed the statistically significant reminiscence after the 10-min rest.(6) Whether reinforcement was given to the subjects or not, the reactive inhibition developed. This suggests that the reactive inhibition process is very similar to that of fatigue, though it is not clear whether this inhibition process is peripheral or central in the nervous system.