The psychology of learning

Preface To The American Edition

I have gladly consented to the publication of this translation of my "Economy and Technique of Learning," because the monograph will be made accessible to a larger number of readers.

Experimental psychology and the most important field where it finds practical application, — that is, experimental pedagogy, — are based upon the product of the combined efforts of students of psychology and pedagogy in the United States and in Germany; it may indeed be said that these sciences have been created by the two nations. So firmly am I convinced of this community of interest and of endeavor that in all of my writing I constantly keep the American reader in mind. Much wider in scope than the "exchange of professors" between these two countries have been this continuous interchange of scientific ideas and this mutual inspiration which have been going on these many years.

In both coimtries, too, there is a deep-rooted conviction that the most important problems of the science of education can be solved only by an appeal to experimental psychology, and by an application of the methods of psychology to tlie problems of pedagogy.

The more then must one deplore the fact that until recently experimental psychology has devised no means by which the pupil's daily tasks of learning in all its various forms may be accomplished more readily. The efforts which had hitherto been made to facihtate the work of learning were limited either to the old, and harmful, custom of transforming the memorial material into verse and then memorizing the verse vi Preface to the American Edition

mechanically, or to the employment of other mnemonic devices. But mnemonics admits of only a very limited application both in the affairs of daily life and in the work of the school-room; and since it burdens the memory with a mass of artificial auxiliary ideas, it really increases instead of diminishing the work of memory. Moreover, the discovery and employment of mnemonic aids demands a degree of ingenuity which is not possessed by every child.

The increased demands of the present age require children to master a much greater body of knowledge than was deemed necessary in former generations. This condition has given rise to the problem as to the best means of avoiding overburdening the pupil, which is an inevitable result of his increased tasks. This difficult problem can not be solved by eliminating important subjects from the curriculum; it can be solved only by devising improvements in methods of learning and in methods of teaching which shall be psychologically sound.

It is the aim of the present monograph to meet this urgent demand for methods of learning which shall be psychologically most appropriate, and which shall embrace all of the different kinds of learning. It begins with methodical observation as the basis of all memorial work. It seeks to develop rules for systematic observation. It discusses the most favorable subjective and objective conditions for mechanical memorization; and it endeavors to establish at least a few of the cardinal points for the retention of logical associations, — a process whose nature is still imperfectly known. Our present knowledge of the economy and technique of learning is still in need of being supplemented by practical instructions as to how best to master the various concrete tasks with which the pupil is daily concerned.

Such directions dealing with the retention of concrete

Preface to the American Edition vii

material, with the learning of foreign vocabularies, of names and dates, of poems and prose selections, I hope to pubHsh in the near future; and it may be that that may also be made accessible to American readers.

I desire here to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Baird for undertaking the work of translating this monograph.

E. Meumann.

Preface To The Third German Edition

The experimental investigation of memory has made substantial progress since the second edition of this book was published. The pioneer work of Ebbinghaus has been supplemented by several psychologists, who have hoped by this means to extend our knowledge of the general basis of memorial function and to discover its laws. Psychiatrists and pathologists have made an accurate study of pathological disturbances of memory, which furnish a new insight into the functioning of normal memory. Semon, Rignano and others have thrown a wholly new Hght upon the bodily correlates of memorial processes; and certain of the more recent summaries which cover the whole field of memory, such as those of Offner and Schoeneberger, have also contributed to the solution of our problems.

A new edition of this book must, therefore, consist in a complete working over and an extensive supplementation of the text of the first and second editions.

Important changes have been made in the first three chapters. The chief purpose which I have had in view in introducing the supplementations in the present edition was to meet the demands of a wider circle of readers. My readers have repeatedly expressed the desire that I should incorporate a brief summary of the fundamentals of the general psychology of memory. Accordingly, I have presented in the opening chapters an epitome of the essential features of the present psychology of memory; and lest the introductory chapters of the book should become too extended, the dis-

X Preface to the Third German Edition

cussion of the researches in psychiatry, which was presented in detail in the second edition, has been condensed. As a result of this the book now approximates a psychology of memory; but, in order that the original purpose of the book should not be abandoned, the results of psychological experiments have, so far as possible, been considered throughout from the point of view of their significance for practical life and for the work of the school.

The fact that the first and second editions were exhausted within a few years shows that educators are recognizing, more and more, the importance of experimental psychology and pedagogy for the work of the schools. Numerous communications, inquiries, suggestions, and expressions of approval of the discussions of the first and second editions have come to me from teachers; and they have been so numerous that I could not, unfortunately, always reply as I should wish.

May the new edition win new friends for experimental psychology and pedagogy!

E. Meumann.

Hamburg, February, 191 2.

Contents

PAGE

Introduction: The Meaning of the Economy and

Technique of Learning xiii

Introduction

THE MEANING OF THE ECONOMY AND TECHNIQUE OF LEARNING

The experimental treatment of the problems of psychology and pedagogy has furnished the modern student with a wealth of information which remained unknown during the non-experimental stages of these sciences. And this knowl- * edge proves to be of profound practical significance in directing the efiforts of both the teacher and the pupil. Psychological and pedagogical experimentation has given us an insight into the complex conditions of mental activity; and we are beginning to lay a secure foundation for the technique and economy of mental work. The mental processes which constitute the basis of the school-work of pupils are opened up to exact analysis; a great part of the mental work of children which was formerly left to accidental success and to the instincts of the child can now be directed in a manner which is psychologically most appropriate. All of these are problems of which the older pedagogy had scarcely an inkling; and the pedagogy of the future will be enriched by a new sub-division of "method" because, in addition to methods of teaching, methods of learning must also be considered. Many of the investigations which are now being devoted to an analysis of the mental life of the child have not yet extended beyond the four walls of the psychological laboratory. Indeed, the subject-matter of the present volume is drawn from investigations in experimental pedagogy which are still far from being completed in all of their details; and xiv Introduction

this circumstance may explain why many of our inferences bearing upon the work of the school-room are still hypothetical in character. The reader will find, however, that we have drawn a distinction throughout between statement of established fact and statement of mere conjecture.

The questions which will be discussed in this volume are concerned, in the first place, with the general principles of our modern doctrine of memory, and with the technique and economy of "mental noting," — by which is meant the imprinting upon memory of any sort of material as a result of attentive perception and observation where no special effort to learn is present; next in order come the technique and economy of verbatim learning; then the economy of memory in general in school-children; the fundamental differences of memory- types among individuals; and, finally, a number of interesting miscellaneous results which have been obtained as a by-product of the experimental investigation of memory.

In the traditional pedagogy we read a great deal about methods of teaching; but, in most cases, the pedagogical text-books can tell us nothing about methods of learning. And yet we find ourselves confronted by the very serious question as to whether the efficiency of school-room management may not be increased by systematically improving the pupil's procedure in the act of learning in such a fashion that his learning may be perfected in its technical aspects and accomplished more economically. This question becomes the more pressing in modern times because our courses of study, in their attempt to comply with the increasing requirements of practical life, are becoming more and more exacting in the demands which they make upon the memory tasks of school-children.

In order to make this clear to the reader, we must first of all develop the meaning of the economy and technique of

Introduction xv

learning. Ignoring for the present the fact that we may speak of learning or imprinting upon memory in very different senses, we find that in every kind of memorial acquisition of every sort of material, in practical Hfe or in the school-room, the learner must always fulfil the following conditions:

1. In the act of learning, he must endeavor to proceed in the most suitable manner and in accordance with psychological conditions of learning, i.e., he must fulfil those conditions of learning under which the particular, present purpose of his learning can best be attained. For instance, if the aim of his learning be, in one case, a literal memorization of a poem, in a second case, a permanent retention of a concrete material, and in yet a third case, the association of foreign words with their equivalents or synonyms in his own language, this diversity of purpose brings with it a diversity in the conditions of learning under which his goal can best be attained. We must attempt to investigate these conditions and to make the learner familiar with them/

2. All the varieties of memorial acquisition have, however, certain characteristics in common because they are all memorial work in the broadest sense of that term ; and all memorial work, in turn, is subject to certain general conditions and laws, which must be fulfilled if anything is to be imprinted permanently upon memory. These general conditions of all learning must also be investigated; and the learner must become familiar with them if he is to be able to fulfil them in his act of learning.

3. Every learner has his own peculiar individuality, and

* It is really self-evident but since other views of the matter are held it must be mentioned that upon the point of view of the purpose which the learner seeks to attain depend all other points of view concerning the economy of learning, even that of economy of time and of energy.

xvi Introduction

his own individual endowment; and in consequence of these the general conditions of learning and the means of attaining a special goal in learning are often modified to a considerable degree. From this it follows that individual variations in memorial work must be investigated; and each individual must be trained to employ his own procedure correctly.

4. Besides these general conditions of learning, and these individual conditions, and these conditions which depend upon the purpose which the learner has in view, we must consider certain artifices or artificial devices which may facihtate the act of learning. Every technique involves certain artifices or tricks of skill, certain artificial aids and modes of procedure by means of which an end may more readily be attained; and the technique of mental work is no exception to this general rule. It is a well-known fact that mnemonic devices are alleged to furnish an aid to memory. Hence it devolves upon a technique of learning to inquire into the psychological justification and the practical utility of artificial aids to memory; and rules which are at once psychologically sound and justified by the purpose in view must be formulated for the employment of such devices as aids to memorial work.

5. All of the foregoing refers to the technique of learning. But in addition to this we aspire to an economy of learning. It is the purpose of an economy of learning to enable the learner to secure a maximum result at a minimum cost of time and of energy, and consequently to enable him to accomplish his task with a minimum degree of fatigue and with a minimum danger of over-fatigue.

It may be said, in summary, that an economy and technique of learning endeavors to investigate not only the general mental conditions of learning but also those special mental conditions which depend upon the specific purpose

Introduction xvii

for which a particular act of learning may have been undertaken; it also endeavors to make these various conditions subject to the will of the learner. It attempts to specify the particular conditions which depend upon the peculiar mental constitution of the individual learner; it investigates the possibihty of taking advantage of technical aids and artifices in learning, and of finding a psychological and a practical justification for employing them; it aims to give the learner instructions as to the best means of saving time and energy, and of attaining the highest degree of efiiciency in remembering and reproducing what he has learned/ Our problem then may be said to deal with the question: What methods or modes of procedure in learning are based upon a sound psychological, technical and economical foundation?

There is always a parallel between the subjective aspect, — the economy and technique of the work of the pupil, — and the objective aspect, — the teacher's presentation of the material to be learned, — in so far as the pupil's procedure is determined by the teacher's mode of presentation. For instance, if at one time the pupil acquires a given material in a visual fashion, from seeing it, and at another time in an auditory fashion, from hearing it, his mode of acquisition has varied with the mode of presentation; it took its start from the written or printed text, in the former case, from the oral statement of the teacher, in the latter case. Hence in so far as these different external starting-points of the pupil's activity in learning constitute subjective conditions of his activity, we may also speak of an economy of presenting material to be learned.

It is evident that this way of looking at the matter consists simply in regarding the subjective conditions of learning from

^ For a discussion of the various meanings of economy of learning the reader is referred to Appendix II. 2 xviii Introduction

the objective point of view, the mode of presentation. Yet there are certain practical reasons wliich justify^ a separate discussion of the influence of presentation upon learning.

It may also be noted that the experiments which deal with the presentation of material contain the first beginnings of a new branch of pedagogy, which may be called the economy and technique of teaching. And it may be that the psychology of memory will furnish the means of taking the first step toward an accurate experimental determination of rules and norms of teaching. In the discussions which are to follow, this possibiHty will frequently be indicated.

These general statements may be illustrated in detail by an observation of the memorial work of pupils. Even at an early age the pupil is called upon to accomphsh a great variety of mental tasks; and we require of him a work of memory to wliich he brings but Httle, if any, experience. Now, mental work may be done by wholly different methods; the pupil's procedure may be exceedingly wasteful of time and energy, or it may consist in the formation of such associations as shall employ his mental energies in the most advantageous manner. For example, in memorizing a poem he may go through a slow and laborious process of adapting his attention to the subject-matter in question; or he may concentrate his attention intensively from the outset. His repetitions of the poem may be mechanical and barren of result; or he may make every repetition contribute its quota to the memorization of the material. He may make much or little use of the factor of rhythm; he may make much or little use of the meaning of the poem; he may pronounce the words audibly, semiaudibly or inaudibly; he may employ a rapid rate of pronunciation or a slow and emphatic pronunciation; he may divide the poem into small sections and memorize each section independently, or he may read the whole poem through

Introduction

XIX each time from beginning to end and memorize it as a unitary whole; he may learn it at a single sitting, or he may devote several sittings to the task, distributing the work over a longer period of time and introducing pauses between the several sittings; his learning may be of a purely successive sort, or he may employ in part successive and in part simultaneous and regressive associations.

Which of these methods of learning leads most readily and most rapidly to the goal, — to fluent and errorless reproduction? Which method secures the most permanent and the most accurate retention? Questions such as these arise in connection with every sort of memorial imprinting, — even with the imprinting of concrete sensory material, whether presented but once or presented repeatedly. Here again the learner may proceed in an unsystematic fashion with an extravagant expenditure of time and energy; or he may fulfil all of the conditions which are necessary for a systematic and effective imprinting of the material upon his consciousness. Thus in every department of memorial function we may speak of a technique and economy of memory; and that is the topic which we propose to evolve, in its essential features, in this volume. If we are to attain this end we must first discuss the foundation of the modern psychology of memory in order that, from this vantage ground, we may be able to throw light upon the various functions of memory, and upon the various sorts and cases of memorial activity for which we are to formulate specific, technical rules. Then we shall attempt to give the reader an insight into the experimental investigations which have, in recent times, established the conditions of the various sorts of memorial activity; and finally we shall discuss the more important results of these investigations, and indicate their significance for the work of the teacher.

Chapter I A Survey Of The Modern Psychology Of Memory

In every-day speech, memory is understood to mean the capacity to imprint and to retain perceptions and ideas and, as it were, to incorporate them into consciousness as a temporary or permanent possession. That such an imprinting or incorporation has taken place, however, is revealed to us only by the fact that we can subsequently recall our experiences; but when the same impressions recur to consciousness we detect certain changes in our attitude and behavior, — a feeling of familiarity, a greater facility in re-learning, and the like. Strictly speaking then, we have an immediate knowledge only of the process of imprinting, on the one hand, and of the subsequent reproduction and the changed attitude on the other; everything that lies between these two termini completely escapes our direct knowledge. In so far then as we are limited to empirical observation, the sole manifestations of memory consist either in a reproduction or in a changed re-experiencing or in a modified re-learning of what has previously been experienced or learned.

Now since reproduction must necessarily depend, in some sense, upon a retention of impressions, and since our modified acquisition must be due to an after-effect of former contents of consciousness, memory may be briefly defined, for the present, as the capacity to retain perceptions or ideas and subsequently to revive them, or at least to experience after-effects of their former presence in consciousness. And since it seems probable that an "after-effect" is only a species of reproduction, the present consequences of former memorial activity may all be referred to briefly as reproduction.

Educational psychology regards memory as a definite function and capacity which serves certain educative purposes. General or theoretical psychology, on the contrary, concerns itself, as a rule, not with mental capacities or functions but only with mental processes. The mental processes which are fundamental to memory are, on the one hand, the imprinting of impressions and the forming of associations among ideas, and on the other hand, the reproduction or revival or reappearance of ideas in consciousness; between these two processes lies the hidden intermediate member, the after-effect of former impressions or ideas, which is to be conceived as a latent survival of the dispositions and associations which were established by the original imprinting. It is important that association be distinguished from reproduction. Association is the initial formation of a connection between ideas which are present in consciousness simultaneously or in immediate succession, or which occur at least as links in a chain of ideas which constitutes some sort of a unitary whole for us. Reproduction, on the other hand, is the appearance of ideas in consciousness, or the entrance of ideas into consciousness, — a phenomenon which is rendered possible in most cases by a previously established association between these ideas and other ideas. In order to account for the imprinting and the subsequent reappearing of the idea, psychologists usually assume that every perception or idea which comes to consciousness, even if only once, leaves behind it a trace or after-effect. And since this residuum has to do with subsequent revival it is called a disposition to revival. The term disposition has a dual significance here. It indicates that the idea tends to recur to consciousness through the aid of other ideas, or even in consequence of its own energy; but it also indicates that every revival of an idea is facilitated by impressions and by other ideas.

The doctrine of memory and of its origin in the association and reproduction of ideas has undergone a considerable change in modern psychology. The significance of memory has been essentially broadened and extended; and attempts have been made to distinguish memory more accurately from cognate mental processes.

The extension of the meaning of memory takes its origin from an endeavor, in itself perfectly justified, to bring the phenomenon as manifested by man, into relation with a group of related phenomena which occur elsewhere in nature. It has been hoped by this means to bring memory more nearly within the range of our comprehension, and especially to demonstrate the organic basis of memory dispositions. Thus the physiologists Hering, in i860, and Hensen, in 1877, attempted to show that *' memory is a universal property of organic matter." This view was extended by Haeckel, Forel and Mach, and more recently in a comprehensive volume by Richard Semon.^ Semon calls the memory processes in general "mnemic" processes; and organic memory he calls mneme, — from the Greek \i.<zr\\rr\, memory. This extension of the meaning of memory receives its support from the fact that every process or activity which has once occurred in organized matter, — in nerve, in muscle, or even in simple cell or in groups of cells, — leaves behind it a disposition or after-effect as a result of which the same activity, on being repeated, is accomplished more easily and with a lesser expenditure of energy, and also in somewhat modified form. This survival of the dispositional after-effects of every activity is also the ^ See Bibliography at the end of this volume.

basis of all of the effects which result from practice; and thus memory is brought into relation with all of the phenomena of practice. Now, it seems probable that the basis of all memory processes, in human as well as in animal consciousness, is to be sought in the physical phenomenon that former impressions and ideas,— or more strictly speaking, the physical parallels of these mental processes, — do leave behind them such a disposition to a more ready recurrence. There is no doubt that in this respect the human function of memory suggests characteristics which are common to all organic matter. But it is only to this rudimentary and general basis of memory in parallel bodily processes that we can apply this extended meaning of memory; and such a procedure does not help us in the slightest degree to understand the origin or nature of memory as a mental process. We must not lose sight of the fact that the survival of these enduring dispositions of impressions becomes comprehensible to us only when we assume that material modifications, of a temporary or permanent sort, take place in a substance which itself persists throughout; and that these modifications subsequently facilitate the recurrence of the activity to which they owe their existence.

Dispositions, in this sense of a permanent modification of an organ, do not exist in the domain of consciousness; nor can we speak, in any such sense, of mental or psychical dispositions. When a muscle or a group of muscles has made a particular movement a great many times, there ensues a muscular change which is continuously present as a persistent modification of the muscle-substance — a modification of its mass, of its structure, or of its chemical or molecular constitution. And these modifications constitute the basis of the muscle's subsequent capacity to accomplish the same activity in a more easy fashion. A somewhat analogous state of affairs must be assumed for nerve-substance, and especially for the nerve-cells of the cerebral cortex, to which we ascribe those neural processes which run parallel with the processes of consciousness. But we find nothing in the domain of consciousness which is in any way a counter-part of this permanent modification of nerve-substance. So far as the phenomena of consciousness are concerned, we see only the results or the efifects of the repetition of an activity or an impression, — for instance, we see simply the reproduction or the facilitated acquisition of the impression. We do not find any permanent modification of consciousness itself which can serve as a basis for this resultant of former activity. From this it follows, firstly, that we cannot speak of psychical dispositions in the same sense in which we speak of physical dispositions. Psychical dispositions must consist solely in the fact that mental processes run their course differently as a result of repeated recurrence. A second consequence is that, in so far as their bodily aspect is concerned, it becomes possible to explain the phenomena of practice, — and the processes of memory are phenomena of practice, — by referring them back to a more general physiological principle. So far as their mental aspect is concerned, on the contrary, such a tracing back of the processes of practice and memory to more general phenomena is impossible. They are rather to be regarded as ultimate facts; and we can only establish them as facts.

A second extension of the concept of memory is concerned with the mental aspect of memorial phenomena. This extension owes its origin to pathology and psychiatry (the investigation of the pathological conditions of mental life); it is interesting to note, however, that it was anticipated by the French philosopher Malebranche. It has been observed that all memory training has a twofold effect: a general or functional effect, which is to be regarded as essentially a phenomenon of practice; and a special effect, which has to do with the content or material which is remembered. Kraepelin refers to this as a distinction between general memory and special memory.^ Whenever we train the memory with any sort of material we bring about a twofold result: i. The material or content is imprinted upon our consciousness, and is thereby rendered capable of being subsequently reproduced; or in other words, by means of the activity of memory we acquire knowledge, a stock of particular ideas whose permanence of retention is proportionate to the thoroughness of their imprinting. 2. But we also train the memory itself, i. e., our general retentive and reproductive capacity is strengthened and improved by every act of memory. In this regard, also, the whole activity of memory appears as a phenomenon of practice, as it does in regard to memorial traces or dispositions. But our general capacity to retain and to reproduce also depends, in turn, upon the development of other functions of consciousness, especially upon the concentration and persistence of attention, the effort of will, the emotional condition and the Hke.^

Thus in training the memory we always develop all of these other formal capacities of mind as well; and hence in exercising the memory we derive an advantage not only in the direction of an acquisition of knowledge but also in the direction of an improvement of all of the general functions which are active in the work of memory and which make memory possible. It was this twofold function of memory which led to a distinction between general and special memory. This

^ E. Kraepelin, Der psychologische Versuch in der Psychiatric, Psychologische Arbeit en, I., 1894, 48.

^Cf. Ebert und Meumann, Ueber einige Grundfragcn der Psychologic der Ucbungsphanomene im Bereiche des Gedachtnisses, Archiv f. d. gesamle Psychol. IV., 1904, 2oSfI.