ABSTRACT
We have already described certain aspects of learning in discussing the acquisition of skill (§ 36). An acquisition of skilled behavior is always the result of an act of perception. No golf-player can improve his score steadily without giving heed to what he is about; neither can a tight-rope walker retain his balance without being alert to his situation. In both these instances the configuration of the entire act must be heeded; an over-emphasis of any part-movement, or of any discrete objective which may emerge in the course of the act, would be disastrous to the performance as a whole.
