Extent and duration of practice effects on performance with the Farnsworth-Munsell 100-Hue test

The extent and persistence of practice effects on serial performance in the Farnsworth-Munsell 100-Hue test (100-Hue test) were evaluated in an experiment in which six subjects performed the 100-Hue test up to 17 times over six weeks, and then once more after 7 months. A practice effect occurred which was highly statistically significant for the group as a whole (P < 0.001) and for three individual subjects (P < 0.05). A practice effect was still evident 7 months after the last test performance. Error scores were reduced almost to zero after 5-10 retests so that it was unclear whether the effects of practice had disappeared or whether failure to improve further was a 'floor effect'. As a control against a floor effect, a second experiment was performed in which subjects' performance was impaired by placing neutral density filters in front of their eyes (thus artificially raising their 100-Hue error score). Under these conditions, error scores continued to fall and were halved after 17 tests (P < 0.03). It is concluded that practice has a large effect on 100-Hue test performance which continues over many retests and for many months after testing.