112 



THE ACQUISITION OF SKILL IN ARCHERY. 



In computing the relative progress of the groups it has been found necessary- 

 to omit the record of the writer as involving a different type of learning, and 

 hence not fairly comparable with other records. Acting both as subject and 

 as experimenter, the writer was forced to read such instructions on the use of 

 the bow as were available, and to question the other subjects as to their 

 methods of aiming and loosing. From this it followed that many of the 

 adjustments which the others must make by the method of trial and error 

 were reached l)y him directly through the mediation of preexisting language 

 habits. The atlvantage of this learning with instruction is shown in figure 13, 



200 



300 



400 



Flu. 1.3. — Rate of improvement with ,ind with- 

 out instruction. The heavy hne is the learn- 

 ing curve of a subject who received detailed 

 instructions. The lighter lines are typical 

 curves of learning without instruction. Or- 

 dinates, distance from the bulls-eye in 

 inches; abscisste, successive shots arranged 

 by twenties. 



Fig. 14. — Learning curves of group A ( ) 



and B ( ) under light conditions of 



practice. 



where the experimenter's record is compared with 3 other typical curves of 

 learning without instruction. (In this figure, as in all the following learning 

 curves, the ordinates represent the average distance from the bulls-eye of suc- 

 cessive groups of 20 shots plotted on the absciss*.) 



Table 3.5. 



