The effect of reinforcement on the alternation of guesses.

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Abstract
Two groups of college students guessed the fall of a coin on three tosses. One group was uninformed as to the actual results of the tosses, the 2d group was informed after each toss. Comparisons were made between the two groups as the the amount of alternation of guesses from toss to toss. The informed group showed significantly less variability in their guesses. Within this informed group the number of correct guesses was significantly and positively related to the amount of alternation. Students making no correct guesses tended to fixate their responses and not to alter their subsequent guesses. These results are interpreted as a criticism of current reinforcement theories of human learning.

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