Memory and Formal Training

Experimental S & s A (with school children).1.General pkcn.-Description of tests and method qfmrking.2. Yethod of computing results.-Remmfor not b&ng them upon percentages.-Use of standard deviation as a bat&.Analysis of results.1. Evaluation of results-the probable WOT. 2. A gemral improvement from direct' practice.3. Question aa to whet& t h e is any general iqrozwment f r o m ' indirect' pactice.-Examination of individual ~e s ~l l t s .4. Effect of pact& on wry kindred perfomuvnces.6.Effect of practice upon less kindred p e r f m n c e s .1. General plam-Descripth of tests and methd of marking.2. Results shewlz in Tables V m d VI.W. a. SLEIGHT 387 V. Deductions. 1.As to general improvement.2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. PI.Summary.VII.Appendix.A s to the e x b h c e of a general memory function.As to the development of generd psychical factors.Alternative viep.-Prewiousexplanation by common factors.Elements most efective in ' transfer.'Reciprocal interference through diferences amidst similarities.Reciprocal interference through contrast of feeling--.As to whether the efects of ' tramfer are enduring.E'ect e of ' direct ' and 'indirect ' training compared.I. INTRODUCTION.THE psychological problem of ' transference ' and ' spread of training,' connected as it is with the pedagogical theory of 'formal discipline,' has been for many years a fruitful source of experimentation and scientific discussion.Whether mental abilities, developed by special training in one kind of datal are transferable to any or all other kinds of data is a question which still divides psychologists into two schools.One asserts that special training does, under certain conditions, ensure general training ; another, that it neither does nor can.Between these two extreme views, both of which are based upon experimental research, an almost unlimited number of degrees of compromise is logically possible.Volkmannl has shewn the possibility of transference of touch sensitiveness from the left to the right hand; Coover and Angella, from the sorting of cards to typewriter reactions, and from the discrimination of sound to that of brightness; Thorndike', from many complex functions to many others.I n Scripture's4 Laboratory, surprising degrees of transference of ability from one hand to the other were recorded; and Judd5, by an interesting class experiment of 1