Intention in motor learning.

Abstract

In the experimental study which follows learning is to be regarded as a re-adaptation of the individual to his environment or, more specifically stated, to a series of problems requiring coordinated muscular movements, an adaptation which results in an increase in efficiency and a decrease in the time consumed in solving the problems. Although no entirely inclusive and satisfactory theory of learning has been evolved from the voluminous literature of the last thirty years, much light has been shed upon various aspects of the general problem. When regarded from a pedagogical point of view, the amount, rate and limits of improvement, together with their determining factors and conditions, are of extreme importance.Thorndike 2 has reviewed in considerable detail the experimental researches down to 1913, and since that time J. W. Baird and others 3 have continued the review of the general literature of the subject. Outstanding among the factors governing improvement is the necessity for intense effort in the details of the performance and a real interest in improvement. Book,* for example, has demonstrated that, panicularly in such an act of skill as typewriting, improvement depends upon great effort devoted to the details of the process. Kitson, 5 investigating the daily progress oi compositors 1 The writer wishes to acknowledge the assistance rendered to him during the formulation and course of this problem by Professor S. W. Fernberger and to express his appreciation to those students who cooperated in the actual experimental work.

The experimental psychology of motivation.

“…The most recent studies of the influence of attitude are those of Sanderson (151) and Freeman (57). Sanderson proposed to study the effect on motor learning, of a specific mental set or intention instilled in the learner by specific instructions without his awareness of future applications.…”

Retention of a Skill following Training with and without Instructions to Retain

“…In motor learning, Sanderson (1929) found that Ss who traced a number maze with the intention of learning the pattern, did better on a stylus maze of the same pattern than Ss who were simply asked to trace the number maze without any warning that they might be called upon to reproduce it. N o effect was found when Ss learned the mazes in the reverse order.…”