The purely mental factors
of the will-impulse, especially the consciousness of the task, came
into the foreground. These experiences of the scientists concerning
the influences of training, the mechanization of repetition, and the
automatization of movements have been thoroughly discussed by a
brilliant political economist[19] as an explanation of certain
industrial facts, but they have not yet practically influenced life in
the factory.
The nearest approach from the experimental side to the study of the
effect of training in actual industrial tasks may be found in certain
laboratory investigations which refer to the learning of telegraphing,
typewriting, and so on. For instance, we have a careful study[20] of
the progress made in learning telegraphy, both as to the transmitting
of the telegrams by the key movement and the receiving of the
telegrams by the ear. It was found that the rapidity of transmitting
increases more rapidly and more uniformly than the rapidity of
receiving. But while the curve of the latter rises more slowly and
more irregularly, it finally reaches the greater height. The ability
in transmitting, represented by a graphic record, shows an ascent
which corresponds to the typical, steady curve of training. In the
receiving curve, on the other hand, we find not far from the beginning
a characteristic period during which no progress whatever can be
noticed, and this is also repeated at a later stage.
Pages:
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132