RECORDS OF MEETINGS 361 



till the last reaction, which is quicker than those Just before it. In the 

 traditional language of the work curve, we find here a rapid warming-up, 

 followed by progressive fatigue and an end-spurt. These conceptions are, 

 however, of questionable value when applied to so brief a period of work, 

 and a truer interpretation may be had from the notions of overlap and 

 interference. The "fatigue effect" is here, probably, an index of the 

 steady accumulation of interferences, while the warming-up and end- 

 spurt effects can be connected with the overlapping of the reactions to 

 successive stimuli. Overlap acts to the advantage of the performance as 

 a whole, in spite of the division of attention involved ; but in the case of 

 the first reaction, -the division of attention is present without any chance 

 of gain from the overlap, while in the final reaction the division of atten- 

 tion lapses and the advantage of overlap remains. When the same test 

 material is- used with an interval of a few seconds between the presenta- 

 tion of successive stimuli, both overlap and interference would be ex- 

 pected to drop out; and, in fact, the work curve under these conditions 

 reduces practically to a dead level. 



^\v. Myers said: Ten words were pronounced with regular tempo to 

 300 boys and girls of normal school, academy, seventh and eighth grades. 

 The subjects were made to believe it was a regular spelling test. At vari- 

 ous intervals the several groups of each grade were surprised by the re- 

 quest to recall as many of the words as they could remember. All groups 

 compared gave a final recall after the same interval (one hour, one-half 

 hour, or three weeks). One group had two intervening recalls, one had 

 one and one had no intervening recalls. 



The results for final recall are best with two intervening recalls, and 

 for one intervening recall much better than for none. The gain by the 

 five minute over the immediate recall is noticeably greater in its effect on 

 the final recall than the gain of immediate recall over no intervening re- 

 calls. The total percentages for the respective groups of girls are 89, 71, 

 -58; for the boys, 73, 61, 53 (final recall after 30 minutes). The total 

 percentages show a strong gain in efficiency in the final recall after one 

 hour, as a result of immediate recall — girls, 76, 43; boys, 61, 40. 



On the whole the girls are noticeably superior to the boys and their 

 mode is one degree higher for each period of time. For immediate recall 

 and recall after one hour the mode for the boys is at 5, for the girls, at 6. 

 After three weeks it is at 4 and 6, respectively. The average deviation 

 from' the mode is consistently greater for the girls than for the boys. 



The pedagogical significance of these findings, especially in relation to 

 drill and frequent reviews, is obvious. 



