Summary
A randomness concept hypothesis of repetition avoidance in socalled ‘randomization’ tasks was studied. The alternative hypothesis proposed is the control hypothesis, which claims that repetition avoidance is caused by the attempts of the subjects to avoid perseveration. Three sequential response production tasks (number randomization, tone randomization, and production of a pleasing tone sequence), one randomness-judgement task, and four perseveration measures were presented to the subjects. Repetition avoidance was found in all three production tasks, including the tone productions in the ‘pleasing’ condition. Correlations of the randomness judgements with repetition avoidance were generally not found. There was only slight evidence of correlations between the perseveration measures and repetition avoidance. The results suggest that randomness concepts do not contribute to repetition avoidance to any great extent. The control hypothesis is proposed to explain the results.
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Wiegersma, S. Can repetition avoidance in randomization be explained by randomness concepts?. Psychol. Res 44, 189–198 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00308450
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00308450