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The Effects of Experience and Disuse on Crossword Solving
Author(s) -
Moxley Jerad H.,
Ericsson K. Anders,
Scheiner Aaron,
Tuffiash Michael
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
applied cognitive psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.719
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1099-0720
pISSN - 0888-4080
DOI - 10.1002/acp.3075
Subject(s) - tournament , psychology , applied psychology , social psychology , mathematics , combinatorics
Abstract At the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, participants filled out a questionnaire about their experience with crossword solving and related activities for every year since they began solving crossword puzzles. This study focused on the role of crossword‐solving disruptions in influencing objective performance at the tournament. The number of breaks (a period of at least a year without crossword solving) predicted decreases in current performance, and the more time since the last break predicted increased performance. The effects of different types of experience on crossword performance are discussed with respect to their influence on performance, such as regular leisure engagement in crossword solving and more focused efforts to improve particular aspects of performance. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.