THE ACQUISITION OF SKILL IN ARCHERY. 127 



made under the influence of the adjustment, tends to become associated with it, and so to 

 interfere with the association between the adjustment and the performance of this particular 

 reaction. In the case of the successful reaction, however, the phase of inhibition does not 

 occur and the only association with the adjustment is of the positive sort. 



If habit fixation takes place in this way, progress perceptible to the subject 

 should cause a quicker fixation of the habit. It is generally stated that long- 

 practice groups can make an appreciable improvement in one practice period ; 

 that on this account their practice is more satisfying; and that this should 

 result, therefore, in quicker learning. This would tend to produce a "distri- 

 bution-rate" relation the reverse of that found. 



In the present experiment the evidence makes it seem highly improbable 

 that the "distribution-rate" relation was the result of differences in the 

 primarj- stimulus. Members of the 5-shot group showed no greater interest 

 in the problem than did the others; indeed, toward the end of practice, it 

 seemed to the experimenter that the members of this group, after two months 

 of faithful practice, were beginning to find the work something of a bore. The 

 members of the 12-shot group were very busy with other work and seemed 

 less interested in practice than any of the remaining groups. Yet these two 

 groups made the greatest progress. 



So far as the other possibilities are concerned, the present experiment offers 

 little that is helpful in eliminating any of them. The effects of fatigue 

 probably should not be emphasized too much. The 40- and 60-shot groups 

 suffered far more from fatigue than did any of the others and their slower rate 

 of progress does not seem proportionate to the amount of fatigue resulting 

 from such long-continued practice. Changes in the muscles themselves, while 

 possible in archery, are almost certainly precluded from language habits. 



Which, if any single one, of the po.ssibilities suggested is the real cause of 

 the relation between the rate of learning and the distribution of practice, the 

 evidence at hand is not sufficient to decide. Certainly some seem more, 

 others less probable, but it is not certain that any of the four chief classes 

 mentioned has been absolutely eliminated from any of the experiments thus 

 far completed. 



RESUME OF RESULTS. 



(1) The rate of learning to shoot with the bow was studied in two groups 

 of men, one of the artisan, the other of the professional class. No significant 

 difference in the rate of learning in the two groups was found. 



(2) The rate of improvement of five fairly comparable groups during prac- 

 tice of the same function was tested under different conditions of practice. 

 A close correspondence between the distribution of practice and the amount 

 of improvement appeared, a given amount of pi-actice being more efficient 

 when distributed through many short period.s than when concentrated in a 

 few long ones. 



(3) An attempt has been made to define the physiological [)roblems involved 

 in this "distribution-rate" relation. 



