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This study was designed to examine the effect of three practice models (repetitions, random, and combined) on the acquisition and retention of fundamental motor skills. 54 girls in Grade 4 were randomly assigned to the three different practice groups who practiced three skills of ball rolling, racket striking, and ball kicking. All subjects received pretests, posttests, and a 3-wk. retention test. Performance was significantly improved during practice in the three groups for the three skills. The repetitions group performed better than the other two groups at the end of practice. The contextual interference effect in retention was only shown for the racket-striking skill, in which the random group was significantly better than the repetitions and the combined groups. An attempt was made to attribute that specific result to the special characteristics of the striking skill in this study as an open skill with which subjects had a previous experience.

Aversive conditioning to explicit and contextual cues was examined in Gulf War veterans with and without posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by use of the startle reflex methodology. Veterans participated in a differential aversive conditioning experiment consisting of 2 sessions separated by 4 or 5 days. Each session comprised two startle habituation periods, a preconditioning phase, a conditioning phase, and a postconditioning extinction test. In contrast to the non-PTSD group, the PTSD group showed a lack of differential startle response in the presence of a conditioned stimulus with or without an unconditioned stimulus in Session 1 and an increase in the baseline startle response during Session 2. The PTSD group also exhibited normal differential conditioning following reconditioning in Session 2. These data suggest that individuals with PTSD tend to generalize fear across stimuli and are sensitized by stress.

Two studies tested the assumption that relational contexts affect the way people react to messages that hurt their feelings. In the first, the range of responses people have to hurtful messages was explored, and underlying dimensions reflecting the responses were identified. Participants reactions were characterized by three broad dimensions: active verbal responses (e.g., attacking the other, defending the self asking for an explanation), acquiescent responses (e.g., crying, apologizing), and invulnerable responses (e.g., ignoring the message, laughing). Analyses indicated that people who felt extremely hurt tended to react more often by acquiescing than those who were less hurt. Also, those who felt the impact of hurt on their relationship was relatively low responded more often with invulnerability than those who felt the impact was high. In the second study, the association between people's reactions to hurt and the quality of their relationship with the person who hurt them was examined, as was the influence of particular types of relationships (e.g., those between family members or romantic partners) on individuals' responses to hurt. Among other findings, the results suggested that relational satisfaction was positively associated with active verbal responses and negatively correlated on the with the degree of experienced hurt and the perceived impact of the hurtful message on the relationship. Further, hurtful messages from family members tended to elicit greater feelings of hurt than those from other people-regardless of the closeness, similarity, amount of contact, or level of satisfaction reported by respondents. By comparison, messages from romantic partners had a greater effect on participants relationships than did those from individuals involved in family or non-family/non-romantic relationships. Key words: Appraisal, Emotion, Hurt, Relationships

Experiments with laboratory rats indicate that the context shift effect may change over time. Rats were used in a passive avoidance task, then half of them tested in the same training context and the other half in a different context. Different context testing at 1 and 21 days after learning demonstrated the context shift effect, while testing at 7 and 14 days did not.

In 3 experiments, the authors assessed whether attitude strength moderates the susceptibility of attitudes to item context effects in surveys. In Experiment 1, respondents completed multiple measures of attitude strength. Three weeks later, respondents participated in a context experiment. Results revealed that respondents with weak attitudes exhibited significantly larger context effect for 1 of 2 issues. In Experiment 2, the results of Experiment 1 were conceptually replicated by use of measures of interattitudinal embeddedness to assess attitude strength. In Experiment 3, significant strength-moderated context effects were found when attitude strength was assessed in a multi-item, multidimensional manner but not when it was assessed with a single item. Discussion focuses on measurement and theoretical issues related to the moderation and mediation of context effects in attitude surveys.

Time of conditioning influences long-term retention of contextual but not auditory-cue fear conditioning. Long-Evans rats (Rattus norvegicus) conditioned at 12 noon displayed reduced contextual fear conditioning compared to rats conditioned at 8 a.m. or 4 p.m. This effect was eliminated by exposure to the context 24 hr prior to conditioning and by a post-trial injection of corticosterone (1.0 mg/kg). Time of conditioning did not influence short-term retention of contextual fear. These results suggest that time of conditioning influences the posttrial processes that construct a memory representation of the context. They also support the view that contextual and auditory-cue fear conditioning depend on different processes. These results are discussed in relation to the concept of memory storage modulators.

The attraction effect, or a consumer's decision to prefer one product over another, can be directly influenced by knowledge. Knowledge allows consumers to differentiate between the target product's attribute levels and those of the decoy. Verbal knowledge, such as word of mouth, is highly effective in dictating consumer behavior but may be diluted when integrated with a consumer's own subjective and variable judgments.

Context cueing is a vital process in visual activities. Context cueing refers to the use of past experiences to guide visual attention to targeted aspects of complex scenes. In an array of images, visual context can guide spatial attention directly to targeted items or spaces. Additionally, contextual cueing is acquired through incidental learning processes. It is also facilitated by memory-based mechanisms.

Associations made between unconditioned stimuli and conditioned stimuli are determined by context. Overshadowing and extinction of overshadowing were used in different contexts with male and female rats. Response to stimuli when overshadowing and extinction were in the same context was different from response when overshadowing and extinction were in different contexts.

Associating an illness in an environmental context sometimes depends on fluid consumption and sometimes it does not, according to an experiment conducted on rats. The aversion to fluids may have been conditioned during the experiment. The experiment involved giving lithium chloride to rats as a way to induce nausea under controlled circumstances.

Flashbulb memories (FBMs) are detailed recollections of the context in which people first heard about important events. The present study investigates three models of the formation and maintenance of FBM. Two models have previously been proposed in the literature (Brown & Kulik, 1977; Conway et al., 1994). A third model of FBM that integrates theories of FBM and recent developments in the field of emotions is proposed. The present study compares these three competing models by investigating the FBMs that Belgian citizens developed upon learning of the unexpected death of their king Baudouin. Structural equation modeling revealed that, as compared to the two previously proposed models, the third model, which takes into account emotional processes, better explains FBM.

Data from more than 300 spousal caregivers and their care recipients were analyzed to demonstrate the effects of caregivers' personality attributes - neuroticism and mastery - on their assessment of a contextual stressor (the care recipient's behavioral and functional impairment) and on their experience of distress associated with that stressor. Caregivers who were high in neuroticism and/or low in mastery reported higher levels of behavioral and functional impairment in their disabled spouse and experienced more strain and depressive symptoms associated with caregiving relative to caregivers with lower neuroticism or higher mastery scores. We further showed that the widely reported association between caregiver-assessed impairment of the care recipient and caregiver outcomes can in part be explained by caregivers 'personality attributes, such as neuroticism and mastery. Our findings that caregivers' personality variables are related to their assessment of a given objective stressor and their response to a given level of stress have implications for interventions targeting caregivers and for the use of caregivers as proxy informants.

This study measured effects of context reinforcement on a visual discrimination. Five pigeons responded to 1 key in the presence of 6 shorter wavelengths and to another key for 6 longer wavelengths. Psychometric functions provided measures of discriminative sensitivity (d[prime]) and overall stimulus control. Sensitivity and control were slightly but significantly better when 20% of correct choices yielded reinforcement than when 5% did. Reinforcement of pecks to the sample stimulus reduced control substantially and sensitivity slightly; noncontingent reinforcement during intertrial intervals also reduced control, whether such reinforcement was signaled or not. Accuracy was excellent during an extinction session, but it fell substantially when reinforcement for sample pecks was added during choice extinction. Simulations based on a memory model of the discrimination process reproduced most of the experimental findings.

Research was conducted among black and white male youths who lived in the metropolitan areas of the US in the 1980s to examine the effects of metropolitan location on their activity choices. Results indicate that the disadvantaged white and black males exhibit different responses to metropolitan context while similar males in different metropolitan locations also engage in different activities. Findings suggest the importance of geographic location in the analysis of male youths' behavior.

Three experiments examined processing and recall differences associated with 2 different types of seductive details (i.e., highly interesting, but unimportant, text segments). Experiment I provided evidence of 2 different types of seductive details: those that are less interesting when read in isolation (context dependent) and those that are equally interesting in context or isolation (context independent). Experiment 2 found that context-dependent seductive details took longer to read and were recalled better than main ideas. Context-independent seductive details were recalled as well as context-dependent seductive details, but did not require more reading time than main ideas. Experiment 3 found that including seductive details did not interfere with overall story recall or recall of main ideas. Suggestions are made for future research that would enhance a theory of seductive details.

Two experiments were conducted to examine the role of contextual integration in memories of younger and older adults. Forty younger adults and 36 older adults were shown 36 pairs of pictures, one of which was the target and the other a context cue. Results for both experiments reveal that when sentences were generated that integrated the picture pair and when the pairs were already related to each other, recall was better. Regardless of which age group had generated the sentence, the participants' prediction about later recall and recall performance itself were the same.

Byline: Levan Lira (1), Diane M. Browder (2), Jeff Sigafoos (3) Keywords: functional equivalence; task designs; alternatives; response effort; motion study Abstract: We evaluated the effects of functionally equivalent task designs and alternatives, as validated by motion study procedures, on dependent variables (nonadaptive responses, use of alternative, attempts at task, and completed attempts at task) relevant to performing a selected task. First, we evaluated the effects of functionally equivalent task designs on the dependent variables. Second, we evaluated the effects of an efficient functionally equivalent alternative on the variables. Third, we compared the effects of the efficient functionally equivalent alternative with a less efficient functionally equivalent alternative on the same variables. The results showed that the inefficient functionally equivalent task design occasioned higher rates of nonadaptive responses than the efficient functionally equivalent task design. The results also showed that the functionally equivalent task designs and alternatives competed within and across response classes to reduce nonadaptive responses. Mixed results were obtained in comparing the effects of the efficient versus the less efficient functionally equivalent alternatives. We provide evidence for extending the current concept of functional equivalence to include task design responses as well as alternative responses in functional equivalence training. Author Affiliation: (1) Division of Specialised Education, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (2) Department of Education and Human Services, College of Education, Lehigh University, PA, USA (3) Schonell Special Education Research Centre, University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia Article History: Registration Date: 28/09/2004

This paper examines the role of context in the relationship between belief in the paranormal and intellectual ability. It is argued that expressed paranormal belief is dependent upon the context in which it is measured and that such context effects may account for disparities in research findings of earlier investigators. Sixty participants were divided equally into three conditions. All participants completed the Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices, Set 1, a short test used as an indicator of intellectual ability. Participants in one condition were presented with a pro-paranormal context statement that cast paranormal belief in a positive light. Participants in the second condition were presented with an anti-paranormal statement that cast paranormal belief in a negative light. Participants in the third condition acted as a control group and were therefore given no context statement. All participants then completed Tobacyk and Milford's (1983) Paranormal Belief Scale. It was predicted that paranormal belief scores would be highest in the pro-paranormal condition, and lowest in the anti-paranormal condition. This prediction was confirmed. It was further hypothesized that this context effect would be more apparent among participants of high intellectual ability, resulting in a spurious positive correlation between belief scores and intelligence scores in the pro-paranormal condition, and a spurious negative correlation in the anti-paranormal condition. No correlation was expected in the control condition. This hypothesis was not confirmed. Significant negative correlations were obtained in both the pro- and anti-paranormal conditions. A nonsignificant negative correlation was obtained in the control condition. These results do not support the notion that reports of negative correlations between paranormal belief and intellectual ability are accounted for by context effects on paranormal belief scores. Implications and limitations of these findings are discussed., Many researchers have examined psychological differences between people who believe in the paranormal and people who do not believe in the paranormal (see, e.g., French, 1992; Irwin, 1993). For example, [...]

The conditioned stimulus (CS) complex creating the blocking effect in a rabbit's nictating membrane response is made of contextual and discrete components, established by three experiments. The first experiment showed that changing the single stimulus training context before compound training lessened the blocking effect, while the second and third experiments measured levels of response to the blocked stimulus.

In three experiments, students completed sets of three pairwise choices in each of several domains. The first two pairs in each set were contextual pairs, and the third was the target pair. Context was manipulated by widening the range of values on one dimension and narrowing it on the second dimension. Consistent with previous research, participants on target trials more often chose the alternative whose poorer value was on the widened dimension. Four models explained this effect as (a) decreased weighting of the wide dimension, (b) contextual shift in values, (c) a tendency to equalize responses, or (d) a tendency to add value based on dominance relationships. Path models provided evidence against weight change and response equalization, and manipulation of dominance did not reduce the effect. Results supported the value-shift explanation of trade-off contrast.

Three experiments were conducted to ask if conditioned emotional responses (CERs) controlled by contextual cues modulate the acquisition of eyelid conditioned responses (CRs) to discrete conditioned stimuli (CSs). Experiment I showed that 30-s auditory stimuli that were paired with aversive shocks to one paraorbital region or the other, controlled discriminated CERs, as measured by potentiation of a startle response. In Experiments 2 and 3, similarly trained 30-s stimuli served as contexts in which 1,050-ms CSs were paired with a paraorbital unconditioned stimulus (US). Reinforced contexts both impaired (Experiments 2A and 2B) and facilitated (Experiment 3B) acquisition of the eyeblink CR, depending on the locus of the USs involved. The data are consistent with the interpretation dug CERs controlled by contextual cues facilitate CR acquisition, but do so in the face of blocking effects of CR tendencies also conditioned to the contextual cues.

The effects of variations in the global task difficulty context on judgmental confidence and confidence calibration were investigated in two experiments requiring perceptual comparisons. In Experiment 1, target judgments of moderate difficulty were embedded in a larger set of more difficult (hard context) or less difficult (easy context) judgments. Decisional response time on the target items was longer in the hard context condition, but there was no effect of difficulty context on target judgment confidence, accuracy, over/underconfidence, calibration, or resolution. In Experiment 2, each subject was exposed to three levels of local judgment difficulty. The global contextual difficulty manipulation involved varying the frequency with which the hard and easy judgments appeared, and the presence or absence of trial-by-trial response feedback was manipulated between subjects. As in Experiment 1, contextual difficulty affected decisional response times but not mean confidence ratings or accuracy. However, we found that providing feedback on a globally difficult task improves calibration, but providing feedback on a globally easy task makes calibration worse. Also, resolution (the ability to differentiate correct from incorrect judgments) was found to be superior for easy judgments in a difficult context and for difficult judgments in an easy context. We discuss the implications of these findings for research on confidence and confidence calibration., Many aspects of human judgment are subject to contextual effects. Although these effects have been especially evident in psychophysics (for reviews of various portions of this literature, see Algom & [...]

This paper examines the orientations, or frames of reference, of participants in five bank training programmes run by three banks in the United Kingdom. Adopting a symbolic interactionist approach and ethnographic methods of investigation, the paper attempts to elucidate the ways in which both learners and tutors thought about their roles in the learning events and the goals and strategies they adopted in order to cope with their situation. It is suggested that in order to understand the participants' behaviour it is necessary to take into account the contexts in which their actions were constructed. In particular it is proposed that the organizational context of the training programmes, which exposed the participants to the gaze of 'hidden audiences' of organizational superiors, inhibited the potential of the programmes as vehicles for learning. It is also argued that interactionist approaches using ethnographic methods, which enable organizational actors to be studied in situ, have an important contribution to make to the wider study of organizational cognition. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

The purpose of this research was to explore the explanatory value of Awareness Context Theory for social interactional issues in early probable Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Glaser and Strauss's Awareness Context Theory [Glaser and Strauss (1965) Awareness of Dying, Aldine, New York] served as the framework for the analysis of interview data from 14 early probable AD clients and 14 family caregivers, a written autobiographical account, a fictionalized account, observations of a family caregiver focus group, and excerpts that focused on early AD from field notes recorded during two years of participant observation at a specialized AD daycare center and a family caregiver support group. Initial open-ended study questions focused on the experience of early AD from the diverse perspectives represented in the data. After preliminary analysis of data suggesting emergent fit with Awareness Context Theory, questions were refocused to address awareness contexts. Data were coded and analyzed for fit with the theory. Awareness Context Theory provided a useful heuristic for thinking about the nuances and complexities of social interaction in early AD. Attention to awareness contexts should enable health care providers to suggest interventions to improve caregiver-client interactions. Key words - Alzheimer's Disease, Awareness Context Theory, social interaction, caregivers, dementia

Activation of gender-related experiences in memory was predicted to enhance self-perceptions of stereotypically feminine and masculine qualities. In two experiments with undergraduate students - approximately 6% African American, 12% Asian American, 74% Caucasian, 6% Latino, and 2% of other backgrounds in each - the effects of recalling either expressive or instrumental experiences are evaluated in relation to subjects' self-ratings on related feminine and masculine traits. Results show consistent increases in ratings of feminine traits in expressive conditions and in ratings of masculine traits in instrumental ones, but these tendencies occur primarily among subjects with initially low self-ratings. Results are interpreted as evidence that context can influence gender-related self-evaluation by activating related experience in memory and enhancing its salience for identity.

This study investigated the effects of figure context on the apparent length of a line. In Exp. 1, ten participants were asked to adjust the length of a comparison line to match a standard line enclosed within a rectangle. The participants consistently overestimated the length of the standard line, demonstrating the stretching effect of figure context on the apparent length of a line. In Exp. 2 (12 participants), the size of the context figure was varied and it had no significant influence on the magnitude of the context effect. In Exp. 3 (nine participants), the context effect was shown not only for squares and rectangles but also for other shapes of figures such as circles and 5-pointed stars. We discuss the possible mechanism of the figure-context effect within Gregory's (1970, 1978) misapplied constancy theory of visual illusions.

Competition between contextual occasion setting and associative processes was indicated by experiments with rats using appetitive conditioning. The presence of a discrete predictive stimulus interfered with occasion setting by contextual stimuli. The rats were separated into groups that learned to predict nonreinforcement of an auditory target stimulus based on contextual stimuli (CTX), a visual stimulus that was compounded with the target (CI), or both (CTX+CI). A second auditory target was inconsistently reinforced. The visual stimulus controlled behavior in both the CI and CTX+CI groups, while the contextual stimuli controlled behavior of the CTX group.

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of life-span contextual variation on father-child relationships. Sixty families in which both parents were either younger than 26 or older than 29 when they began childbearing and whose child was between the ages of 3 and 5 at the time of the study participated. Videotaped observations of father-child play were collected. Questionnaires were also administered to fathers, assessing their marital satisfaction, work-home compatibility, and social network attributes. Older fathers established stronger connections to extra-familial contexts and displayed greater reliance on verbal mechanisms to engage children during play. Younger fathers maintained a more traditional style of lathering and engaged their children through physical stimulation. The implications of these findings for models of father-child relationships were explored.

When people estimate event frequency, they sometimes retrieve and count event instances. This study demonstrates a direct relation between the use of these enumeration-based strategies and the contents of memory. In 3 experiments, participants studied target-context word pairs, estimated presentation frequency for target words, and recalled context words. Study time, target - context relatedness, and study-phase instructions were manipulated, producing large differences in memory for context words. When context memory was best, estimation time increased sharply with presentation frequency, and the steepness of this estimation time-presentation frequency function decreased with context memory. These results indicate that enumeration was common only when context memory was good, that encoding factors determine how frequency is represented, and that the contents of memory restrict strategy selection.

This study examines the relationship between antecedent organizational characteristics and the pre-succession experience of individuals chosen as chief executive officer (CEO) - relationships that have received limited attention in past research. A sample of 214 CEO selection decisions was used to test hypothesized relationships between the firm characteristics of size, performance, growth, advertising intensity, risk and individual attributes pertaining to the experience of selected CEOs. Results indicate the following relationships: pre-succession profitability, size and advertising intensity are associated with the chosen executives' organizational tenure levels; pre-succession firm size and risk are associated with the age of selected CEOs; and, pre-succession profitability and advertising intensity are associated with type of functional background experience. Findings provide new insights into the relative importance of pre-succession experience associated with different organizational contexts in CEO selection decisions. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

24 7-yr.-old children and 24 university-age adults practiced a ballistic aiming task under either low contextual interference (blocked practice) or high contextual interference (random practice). All subjects performed 90 acquisition trials, followed by 20 transfer trials and 15 retention trials. Similar to previous findings, the adults performed the acquisition trials better under blocked than under random conditions, yet performed the retention and transfer tests better after random than blocked practice. No differences in acquisition were found between blocked and random practice conditions for the children; nevertheless, the random group performed the retention and transfer tests better than the blocked group. The results are discussed in relation to applied and theoretical issues of contextual interference.

It has recently been suggested that a number of experimental findings of context effects in choice settings can be explained by the ability of subjects to draw choice-relevant inferences from the stimuli. We aim to measure the importance of this explanation. To do so, inferences are assessed in an experiment using the basic context-effect design, supplemented by direct measures of inferred locations of available products on the price-quality Hotelling line. We use these measures to estimate a predicted context effect due to inference alone. For our stimuli, we find that the inference effect accounts for two-thirds of the average magnitude of the context effect and for about one-half of the cross-category context-effect variance. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

When consumers learn about a new product, cues in the surrounding context have been found to bias their response to the product in two ways. In some instances, judgments of the product are assimilated toward the affect or descriptive implications associated with the context, whereas in other circumstances, responses a e contrasted with or adjusted away from the context. We examine how cognitive resources influence whether assimilation or contrast occurs and when such context effects are reflected in subsequent judgments. Building on a model developed by Martin and his colleagues, we propose that assimilation will occur spontaneously during encoding. Contrast will occur only when this contextual influence is viewed as inappropriate and efforts to partial out the context result in overcorrection. These encoding effects of context should be evident in later judgments when the nature of either the judgment task or consumers' predisposition toward effortful thought encourage retrieval of the context-encoded information. The results of two experiments support our predictions and lead to a modified version of Martin's model. In this model, the cognitive resources available at encoding determine the type of context effect and the cognitive resources at judgment determine whether the encoding effect of context will be reflected in product evaluations., When consumers learn about a new product, cues in the surrounding context have been found to bias their response to the product in two ways. In some instances, judgments of the product are assimilated toward the affect or descriptive implications associated with the context, whereas in other circumstances, responses are contrasted with or adjusted away from the context. We examine how cognitive resources influence whether assimilation or contrast occurs and when such context effects are reflected in subsequent judgments. Building on a model developed by Martin and his colleagues, we propose that assimilation will occur spontaneously during encoding. Contrast will occur only when this contextual influence is viewed as inappropriate and efforts to partial out the context result in overreaction. These encoding effects of context should be evident in later judgments when the nature of either the judgment task or consumers' predisposition toward effortful thought encourage retrieval of the context-encoded information. The results of two experiments support our predictions and lead to a modified version of Martin's model. In this model, the cognitive resources available at encoding determine the type of context effect and the cognitive resources at judgement determine whether the encoding effect of context will be reflected in product evaluations. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

The magnitude of the Ebbinghaus illusion has been reported to be greater when test element and context elements are figurally similar as opposed to figurally dissimilar. In the current investigation with 16 observers, illusion magnitude was greater for a figurally similar configuration even though the context elements of the figurally similar configuration were perceived as smaller than the context elements of a figurally dissimilar configuration. Hence, figural similarity appears to have a pre-potent effect in the Ebbinghaus illusion.

Two experiments demonstrated the occurrence of a renewal effect in conditioned taste aversion of rats, as in other forms of conditioning. The renewal effect occurs when the conditioned taste aversion is extinguished in a context different from the conditioning context, followed by partial renewal of aversion on return to the original conditioning context. The effect is not observed when the context change occurs without prior conditioning and extinction of the flavor-illness association.

Rats acquired conditioned aversion to the context in which they received injections of lithium chloride (LiCl). This context conditioning blocked acquisition of an aversion to sucrose, when sucrose was injected in the home cage, then LiCl was administered after the rats were transferred to the context. Blocking was associated with cues related to the particular place, not to cues such as transportation or time of day. This series of experiments confirms and extends the results of Best et al (1984), and additional implications are also discussed.

A study is conducted to examine the impact of sparse versus real context on people's comprehension of abstract mathematical concepts associated with the interpretation of linear graphs. Four experiments on isomorphic problems with linear graphs all suggest that understanding of abstract mathematical concepts is better facilitated by sparse contexts than real contexts. It is indicated that even the slightest change in the surface structure of a mathematical problem can significantly influence people's approach to problems.

This study was designed to examine the contextual interference effect on teaching golf skills in a naturalistic setting to 2 groups of 18 novice golfers who as undergraduate students practiced four foundational skills under conditions of low and high contextual interference, respectively. A t test for independent samples indicated no significant differences between groups. Findings are discussed and recommendations for research are made.

This experiment was designed to investigate varying conditions of contextual interference within two different conditions of movement tasks during acquisition on the acquisition and retention of a computerized task and transfer to a functional skill. Performance of head movements was conducted under open- or closed-task conditions and with random or blocked schedules of practice. Analysis indicated that learning under the open-task condition resulted in better retention and transfer than the closed-task condition. It is suggested that increasing the within-trial variability in the open-task condition produced a contextual interference effect. In this regard, support for Battig's predictions is provided by the current findings in that the high variability present during the open-task condition was more beneficial for retention and transfer than the low variability present during the closed-task condition. Differences between random and blocked schedules of practice on the retention and transfer data were not statistically significant.