Some conditions determining the resumption of an interrupted task

Abstract

Purpose: Recent studies on the resumption of an interrupted task (8) (9) (10) conclude that the important factors which determine the resumption are subject's expectation as to whether he can succeed in that task or not, and the substitute value of the interpolated task. The purpose of this study is to test how these factors, success-expectation and substitute value work under different situational conditions. Subjects: Middle school girls Procedures: Materials are several formboards constituting some simple geometrical figures (cf. figure. 1) Following two different situations are set up by instructions and the instructor's atmosphere. The two different situations are: A……free play situation B……test situation In each situation, subject's free choice of task is examined after the following conditions: a. after successful experience b. after failure experience c. after interruption with expectation of suecess d. after interruption with expectatien of failure e. after being given similar and difficult interpolated task f. after being given the different and uninteresting task (Kraepelin Test) as the interpolated task g. After being given interesting puzzles as the interpolatad task. Results: Under the condition a, in the free play situation most subjects select the task which is different from the original task while in the. © 1969, The Japanese Association of Educational Psychology. All rights reserved.