Mental work and fatigue and individual differences and their causes / by Edward L. Thorndike.

  • Edward Thorndike
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Mental work and fatigue and individual differences and their causes / by Edward L. Thorndike. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

    39/434 page 21
    complicated more or less by sensory and muscular work. The question of distributing each decrease in efficiency amongst these three factors will not, however, be troublesome since there will be only very slight decreases, or none at all, to be distributed. Burgerstein [’91] found, with a large group of children from nine and a half to fifteen and a half years old, in an hour’s continuous work in adding and multiplying,* the fol- lowing results :f First 15 min. Number of operations 28267, errors:): 851 Second 15 “ “ “ “ 32477 “ 1292 Third 15 “ . “ “ “ 35443 “ 2011 Fourth 15 “ “ “ “ 39450 “ 2360 If we assume that an error is equivalent to five operations, in the sense that on the average a child, by working more rapidly and doing five more operations than lie did, would make one more error, we have more comparable measures, namely: First 15 min. 35812 operations with 2360 errors Second 15 “ 37817 “ “ 2360 “ Third 15 37188 “ “ 2360 “ Fourth 15 “ 39450 “ “ 2360 “ According to just what relative weight we thus allow to speed and accuracy in determining total efficiency, the later work will seem a little better or a little worse than the earlier. The work does about as much good by its training as it does harm by its continuity. Hopfner [’94] measured the accuracy of a class of forty- * Using such examples as: 28704516938276546397 plus 35869427359163827263 and 28704516938276546397 X 2 (or 3, or 4, or 5, or 6, but not 7, 8, or 9). t Combined from Burgerstein [’91, pp.' 608 and 613]. t An error means a wrong figure in an answer.
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3