THE PREDICTION AND ACQUISITION OF SEQUENTIAL PATTERNS OF BINARY EVENTS

• Published in: The British journal of psychology Vol. 61; no. 1; pp. 23 - 31
• Main Authors: DERKS, PETER L., HOUSE, JOYCE L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.02.1970; Cambridge University Press
• ISSN: 0007-1269; 2044-8295
• DOI: 10.1111/j.2044-8295.1970.tb02798.x

Patterns of events 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 event runs in length with average run lengths of 2, 3, 4 and 6 events were learned by 16 practised subjects. Increased difficulty was most clearly related to an increase in runs per sequence rather than the sequence length per se, although the generality of the effect is limited. Initial prediction strategies were maintained throughout the acquisition of simple sequences. The more difficult sequences, however, went through several stages of increased prediction accuracy. The elimination of errors on specific events in sequences showed evidence for strategic behaviour (i.e. consistent prediction) only on the relatively short or the relatively difficult sequences. For individual subjects efficient acquisition correlated with consistent response strategies and with a measure of ‘insight’ in acquisition. Response strategy and ‘insight’ did not correlate significantly with each other, however.