ABSTRACT
Attention and the acquirement o f skill. As pointed out a t the beginning o f the last chapter, learning verbal m aterial is not entirely different psychologically from the acquirem ent of skills, for learning and rem em bering complex movements also depend on fundam ental retentiveness and the fixing of associations; b u t there are obvious differences between the two kinds o f learning. Let us consider as an example of the acquirem ent o f skill, learning to play the piano. After we have learned tho roughly to play a piece of music ‘by h ea rt5 on the piano, then when we begin w ith the first few bars the required movements seem to ‘run off5 pretty m uch o f their own accord. Careful thought as to precise movem ents is of little h e lp ; indeed, if we stop to th ink w hat is the next m ovem ent it often results in u tter failure, and we have to go back to some earlier p a rt of the series. In first learning such a series of movements, however, atten tion and interest are as necessary as they are for the setting up of verbal and other associations.
