ABSTRACT
Ulric Neisser has an impressive demonstration of the conditions under which a learner solves general problems. In a series of studies he has examined the ability of subjects to look selectively at visual displays and pick up one sort of information rather than another. There is, therefore, learning that needs to be accounted for having examined learning from specific problems and after a component is modularized. But it too can be considered another case of overcoming a perturbation. The structural analysis of skill suggests that what is learned with practice is a higher order, or more abstract plan for carrying out the performance. The case of noticing the woman with the umbrella provides a useful illustration of what modularization in the development of a skill enables a child to do. The phenomena do indicate that step-by-step control is eliminated and the learner's knowledge of a particular routine becomes extensive and generalized across contexts.
