When bored, I play a simple game on my computer matching balls of a similar colour in rows of five. Successful matches are removed from the 9x9 grid adding to the score - there are many variations of such games.

If I start at zero and continue uninterrupted with the game until I lose, my score is much greater than if I start, then take a break and then continue with the game.

What is happening here? Does my brain become 'trained' to the task thus knowing what is going to be expected of it in advance; perhaps 'honing' its assessment of the next task? Conversely, if I take a break, does the brain need to 'warm-up' again before an optimum level of judgement is reached and is this behaviour seen in other repetitive tasks? In driving for example, though we may feel tired on a long journey, the brain may well be functioning better before we take a rest than afterwards.