[21] By
electrical connections between the typewriting machine and a system of
levers which registered their movements on the rotating drum of a
kymograph, graph, each striking of a key, each completion of a word,
or of a line, could be recorded in exact time-relations. Each glance
at the copy was also registered. It was found that the process of
learning consisted first of a continuous simplification of the
cumbersome methods with which the beginner commences. A steady
elimination of unfit movements, a selection, a reorganization, and
finally, a combination of psychophysical acts to impulses of higher
order, could be traced exactly. Here, too, the curve of learning at
first rises quickly and then more and more slowly. Of course the usual
fluctuations in the growth of the ability can also be found, and above
all the irregular periods of rest in which the learning itself does
not progress, for some of these so-called plateaus which lie between
the end of one ascent and the beginning of the next may cover a month
and more. At the beginning we have the elementary association between
the single letter and the position of the corresponding key, but soon
an immediate connection between the visual impression of the whole
syllable or the whole word and the total group of movements necessary
to strike the keys for it is developed. The more the ability grows,
the more these psychical impulses of higher order become organized
without conscious intention.
Pages:
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134