No abstract

Prediction behavior was studied in a context of complexly patterned binary sequences. Sequences were generated from nonstationary, event-contingent, partially random sources. A variable of major importance was the presence or absence of a displayed history of the last eight events in the sequence. Evidence was found that people seek and find order to some degree in the environment. The process by which order is sought and found is discussed. Briefly, Ss do not attempt to analyze the sequence formally, but they respond to recurrent patterns. Those sources where relations between events were important were much more difficult to learn than were sheer frequency or location, and not relations, were important.