3 i4 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 



Skill on the Problem of School Organisation ' has been sent to interested 

 persons. 



V. Proposed Further Work. 



The need for exploring other aspects of manual skill and of mechanical 

 aptitude has been indicated above. The difference there observed between 

 ' coarse ' and ' fine ' assembling afford but one illustration of the practical 

 value and urgency of such work. Although a good deal of ground has been 

 covered by the work supported by this Committee, there remain many 

 industrial operations, both ' manual ' and ' mechanical,' about which our 

 psychological knowledge is meagre and unsystematised. Work in these 

 directions has already been started, as indicated above. As progress is 

 made in the discovery of the special abilities involved in these activities, so, 

 it is hoped, tests for their measurement in individuals may be developed 

 and standardised. 



VI. Renewal of Grant. 



In order that this work may be carried out, and the work already in pro- 

 gress may be allowed to continue, it is requested that the grant be renewed. 

 In view of the fact that the grant allocated by the Association for last year's 

 work was not paid owing to an oversight regarding the date of application, 

 and funds which have hitherto partly supported this work are now exhausted, 

 it is hoped that the grant may be substantially increased. 



PERSEVERATION. 



Interim Report of Committee on the nature of perseveration and its testing 

 (Prof. F. Aveling, Chairman ; Dr. Wm. Stephenson, Secretary ; 

 Dr. M. Collins, Dr. P. E. Vernon, Prof. J. Drever). 



The Committee, confining itself for the present to cognitive processes, 

 notes that the items of activity, concepts, or descriptive processes listed below 

 have been variously described as perseverations, or perseveration, and 

 recommend that for the present the word perseveration should be given a 

 wide connotation, being best regarded as a classificatory term embracing 

 the items so listed. It is in no way claimed that these items are exclusively 

 defined ; and the list is put forward without prejudice to other items which 

 may be added to it later. 



(i) Perseverative Tendency (Muller and Pilzecker). 



(2) General inertia (Spearman). 



(Distinguishable from the clearness variation of ' attention ' by its 

 apparent independency of will or effort.) 



(3) Secondary function (O. Gross). 



(4) Motor Interference. 



(A thoroughly habituated activity is considered, because of its 

 after-effect, to interfere with another closely resembling it.) 



(5) Perseverations. 



(The apparently free and spontaneous recurrence of ideas, thoughts, 

 tunes, etc.) 



(6) Psychiatric perseveration. 



(The abnormally persistent repetition of a word, or words, etc., 

 or motor action, in spite of attempts by the observer to stay the 



