Abstract
Experiments in golf putting and darts demonstrated that skilled performance is streaky. The tendency for outcome sequences to form streaks was greatest when the task difficulty was such that about half the trials were successful. Mixtures of the two activities were also streaky, even when periodic interruption made the individual components resemble a random Bernoulli process. Formal models of sequence structure revealed that waves in hit rate are associated with the appearance of streaks.
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We wish to extend special thanks to Kerstin MacDonald for assistance in running the experiments and preparing the data for analysis.
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Gilden, D.L., Wilson, S.G. Streaks in skilled performance. Psychon Bull Rev 2, 260–265 (1995). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03210967
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03210967