Effect of an audience on performance of a motor task

40 College Ss were placed in 4 groups and tested on a star-tracing task on 2 occasions under the following conditions: spectators-no-spectators; spectators-spectators; no-spectators-no-spectators; no-spectators-spectators. It was found that the presence or absence of spectators had no noticeable effect on the initial learning phase as contrasted to later stages of performance. When conditions remained the same on both testing occasions, less errors were made. Speed was generally quicker under altered task conditions.