Four studies used a simple cranking device with basic trainee airmen Ss to investigate the question of the extent to which the inhibition accrued in a self-paced task varies with work loading. Experiments I and II, holding pre- and postrest loading constant, provided evidence that recovery in rate of responding is independent of work loading across manipulation of duration of prerest work, duration of interpolated rest, and ordinal number of the recovery. The data provided no unambiguous answer to the question of how much, if at all, work loading affects the amount of IR accrued in a self-paced task. In Exp. III and IV the inhibitory effects of two loadings were studied by comparing Ss shifted from the heavier to the lighter loading with control Ss who worked against the lighter loading throughout. In Exp. III the variable was the duration of interpolated rest given after a constant period of preshift cranking, and in Exp. IV the variable was the duration of cranking preceding an instantaneous shift. Usually the postshift performance of control groups was superior to the performance of groups shifted from the heavy to the light loading. The data thus suggest that a greater amount of IR was accrued in work against the heavier loading, though alternative explanations may be offered to account for the postshift differences. Postshift differences, however, were slight, performance depending more upon present than past work loading; the different rates of responding for heavy and light loadings seemed, thus, to some extent to compensate for the difference in the work required per unit response.