Effect of Ability Level upon Retention of a Balance Skill after Two Years

The interactive effects of ability level and a 2-yr. layoff upon forgetting of a balance skill were examined. In an earlier study, Carron and Marteniuk (1970) tested 150 male Ss on the stabilometer, ranked them according to their initial ability level and selected 3 groups ( N = 20 in each) which consisted of the best performers (high-ability group), the worst performers (low-ability group) and the performers scoring closest to the median (average-ability group). No differences were evident following a 1- or a 7-day layoff but a significant interaction (resulting from a reminiscence effect for the high-ability group combined with forgetting for the average- and low-ability groups) was present following a 14-day layoff. Ss from the three ability groups were retested (high ability, N = 9; average ability, N = 8; and low ability, N = 13). While all groups showed forgetting and the high-ability Ss had a considerably smaller percentage of forgetting (23.8% for the high-ability versus 41.5% and 46.0% for the average- and low-ability groups), the interaction between ability groups and forgetting just failed to reach significance.