The Relation of Quickness of Learning to Retentiveness (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1916 Excerpt: ... relearning is used, the only measurement we have to consider is that of time. In methods 1 and 2, however, we must take into consideration the various mistakes, be they of omission, insertion of wrong material, or wrong order. In my earliest experiments, I used the method devised by Ebbinghaus,7 scoring every omission as one error, every displacement from the correct position in the series by two or three places as 0.5 error, and every displacement by four or more places as one error. The subjects were then compared with respect to their error-score in series of each length separately. I found however, upon correlating the scores thus obtained, that my results were practically the same as when using the much simpler method used by Dr. Whitley.8 "The chief difficulty," says Whitley, " in comparing people's work on memory, lies in the variable methods of scoring, especially with regard to transpositions. If the order is 76431528 and a subject writes 7463..., some experimenters call it two errors because both the 4 and the 6 are in the wrong place; other experimenters call it one error because by making one change--by 'lifting' the 6 over the 4, it is corrected. The latter method seems preferable. Supposing a subject were to write 87643152, eight errors would be scored by the first method since each numeral is misplaced; by the latter method only one error is scored, since one change would set all right.'-Thus a misplacement is rated by Whitley practically the same as an omission. For example, a subject writing 76-31528, would, by the first method, be scored one error for omitting the 4, but two errors if he placed it before the 6. By Whitley's method, however, he is, by counting misplacements and omissions as equal, scored only one error. This...