An attempt to simulate the closed-loop nature of many kinds of hazardous activities, e.g. driving was made by means or a dart-throwing game in which the score progressively increased towards the right-hand portion of the target. Just to the right of the area yielding the highest score there were a "near-accident" area and still more to the right, an "accident" area. The former yielded no score and was assumed to warn the thrower: a hit in the latter was followed by a punishment session, an extra session to be performed immediately after the session in which the accident occurred. The subject knew in advance that upon reaching a prescribed total score the session would be over. The main result was that the hits had a tendency to move to the right, to the area with higher scores and smaller margins of safety, and that this shift was, every now and then, reset by a hit in the "near-accident" area. These changes apparently reflect corresponding phenomena in the thrower's decision-making, and similar changes presumably take place in decision-making in many kinds of hazardous situations.
Abstract