Individual differences in tapping performance as a function of time on the task.

Abstract

A group of 187 apprentices were given two sessions on a 1-min. finger-tapping task in which output was taken as the criterion measure. Various individual difference variables changed in the degree and direction of their association with tapping performance as a function of time through the session, presumably reflecting a motivational variable such as persistence. Positive correlations between intelligence and tapping performance became progressively greater toward the end of each 1-min. period, and while high n Ach Ss and extraverts began tapping at a faster rate than low n Ach Ss and introverts, this pattern had reversed by the end of the 1-min. practice periods. It is concluded that studies of the relationship between individual difference variables and task performance must take account of changes which occur as a result of “time into the task.”