[ghubbard]

While a nice story, I have been unable to find any citations that would indicate that this was ever an actual study.

[TheBiv]

it looks like it was a class https://blog.codinghorror.com/quantity-always-trumps-quality...

[draw_down]

It appears in the book "Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking" by David Bayles and Ted Orland.

PROTIP: Google will often tell you these things!

[ghubbard]

And where in that book are the references to an actual study?

PROTIP: Books are often filled with creative writing.

[draw_down]

Fine, OK. I checked it out and there are no citations in the book at all (1993 edition), so yes it's a just-so story.

[ThrustVectoring]

I may be mis-remembering the level of rigor, it may have just been a thing a professor tried because they were curious.