Perceptual and motor skills
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Anxiety reduction associated with meditation: home study.
The effects of a new meditation technique were investigated; 159 A. R. ⋯ Unlike the control group, the treatment group reported highly significant reduction on the IPAT Anxiety Scale scores after 28 days of meditating with the new approach but no significant differences were found on the check list variables for either the treatment or control group. Implications of the findings for mental health professionals (psychiatrists, clinical and counseling psychologists) are briefly discussed.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Distribution of practice effects on learning retention and relearning by retarded boys.
The stabilometer task was used to study the difference between massed practice and distributed practice on initial acquisition, retention, and relearning of a gross motor skill by mentally retarded boys. 72 subjects were randomly assigned to either one massed practice group or one of three distributed practice groups with varying interrial rest intervals. All subjects were retested for retention and relearning after 8 wk. of no practice. The results indicated that distributed practice was superior to massed practice for initial skill acquisition. Retention was superior, favoring the group given distributed practice, but no significant differences were found between groups for relearning, indicating that the advantage of distributed practice may be temporary and that it is a performance rather than a learning factor.