Reactive Inhibition and Postrest Performance in Continuous Inverted-Reversed Printing

Abstract

Subjects were given continuous practice printing upside down and backward the letters of the alphabet for 4 min, followed by a variable rest interval (0, .5, 1, 2, 4, or 8 min), and then a final 2 min of practice. The amount of reminiscence was found to be a monotonically increasing function of the length of rest, and the initial negative slope of the postrest performance curve was nonmonotonically related to the length of rest. The results were interpreted in terms of a reactive inhibition model.