CHAPTER VII

HOW TO USE YOUR MIND

A PSYCHOLOGY OF STUDY

BEING A MANUAL FOR THE USE OF STUDENTS AND TEACHERS IN THE

ADMINISTRATION OF SUPERVISED STUDY

BY

HARRY D. KITSON, PH.D.

PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY, INDIANA UNIVERSITY

1921

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

The kindly reception accorded to the first edition of this book has

confirmed the author in his conviction that such a book was needed, and

has tempted him to bestow additional labor upon it. The chief changes

consist in the addition of two new chapters, "Active Imagination," and

"How to Develop Interest in a Subject"; the division into two parts of

the unwieldy chapter on memory; the addition of readings and exercises

at the end of each chapter; the preparation of an analytical table of

contents; the correction of the bibliography to date; the addition of

an index; and some recasting of phraseology in the interest of

clearness and emphasis.

The author gratefully acknowledges the constructive suggestions of

reviewers and others who have used the book, and hopes that he has

profited by them in this revision.

H.D.K.

April 1, 1921.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

Educational leaders are seeing with increasing clearness the necessity

of teaching students not only the subject-matter of study but also

methods of study. Teachers are beginning to see that students waste a

vast amount of time and form many harmful habits because they do not

know how to use their minds. The recognition of this condition is

taking the form of the movement toward "supervised study," which

attempts to acquaint the student with principles of economy and

directness in using his mind. It is generally agreed that there are

certain "tricks" which make for mental efficiency, consisting of

methods of apperceiving facts, methods of review, devices for arranging

work. Some are the fruits of psychological experimentation; others are

derived from experience. Many of them can be imparted by instruction,

and it is for the purpose of systematizing these and making them

available for students that this book is prepared.

The evils of unintelligent and unsupervised study are evident to all

who have any connection with modern education. They pervade the entire

educational structure from kindergarten through college. In college

they are especially apparent in the case of freshmen, who, in addition

to the numerous difficulties incident to entrance into the college

world, suffer peculiarly because they do not know how to attack the

difficult subjects of the curriculum. In recognition of these

conditions, special attention is given at The University of Chicago

toward supervision of study. All freshmen in the School of Commerce and

Administration of the University are given a course in Methods of

Study, in which practical discussions and demonstrations are given

regarding the ways of studying the freshman subjects. In addition to

the group-work, cases presenting special features are given individual

attention, for it must be admitted that while certain difficulties are

common to all students, there are individual cases that present

peculiar phases and these can be served only by personal consultations.

These personal consultations are expensive both in time and patience,

for it frequently happens that the mental habits of a student must be

thoroughly reconstructed, and this requires much time and attention,

but the results well repay the effort. A valuable accessory to such

individual supervision over students has been found in the use of

psychological tests which have been described by the author in a

monograph entitled, "The Scientific Study of the College Student."[1]

[Footnote 1: Princeton University Press.]

But the college is not the most strategic point at which to administer

guidance in methods of study. Such training is even more acceptably

given in the high school and grades. Here habits of mental application

are largely set, and it is of the utmost importance that they be set

right, for the sake of the welfare of the individuals and of the

institutions of higher education that receive them later. Another

reason for incorporating training in methods of study into secondary

and elementary schools is that more individuals will be helped,

inasmuch as the eliminative process has not yet reached its

culmination.

In high schools where systematic supervision of study is a feature,

classes are usually conducted in Methods of Study, and it is hoped that

this book will meet the demand for a text-book for such classes, the

material being well within the reach of high school students. In high

schools where instruction in Methods of Study is given as part of a

course in elementary psychology, the book should also prove useful,

inasmuch as it gives a summary of psychological principles relating to

the cognitive processes.

In the grades the book cannot be put into the hands of the pupils, but

it should be mastered by the teacher and applied in her supervising and

teaching activities. Embodying, as it does, the results of researches

in educational psychology, it should prove especially suitable for use

in teachers' reading circles where a concise presentation of the facts

regarding the psychology of the learning process is desired.

There is another group of students who need training in methods of

study. Brain workers in business and industry feel deeply the need of

greater mental efficiency and seek eagerly for means to attain it.

Their earnestness in this search is evidenced by the success of various

systems for the training of memory, will, and other mental traits.

Further evidence is found in the efforts of many corporations to

maintain schools and classes for the intellectual improvement of their

employees. To all such the author offers the work with the hope that it

may be useful in directing them toward greater mental efficiency.

In courses in Methods of Study in which the book is used as a

class-text, the instructor should lay emphasis not upon memorization of

the facts in the book, but upon the application of them in study. He

should expect to see parallel with progress through the book,

improvement in the mental ability of the students. Specific problems

may well be arranged on the basis of the subjects of the curriculum,

and students should be urged to utilize the suggestions immediately.

The subjects treated in the book are those which the author has found

in his experience with college students to constitute the most frequent

sources of difficulty, and under these conditions, the sequence of

topics followed in the book has seemed most favorable for presentation.

With other groups of students, however, another sequence of topics may

be found desirable; if so, the order of topics may be changed. For

example, in case the chapter on brain action is found to presuppose

more physiological knowledge than that possessed by the students, it

may be omitted or may be used merely for reference when enlightenment

is desired upon some of the physiological descriptions in later

chapters. Likewise, the chapter dealing with intellectual difficulties

of college students may be omitted with non-collegiate groups.

The heavy obligation of the author to a number of writers will be

apparent to one familiar with the literature of theoretical and

educational psychology. No attempt is made to render specific

acknowledgments, but special mention should be made of the large

draughts made upon the two books by Professor Stiles which treat so

helpfully of the bodily relations of the student. These books contain

so much good sense and scientific information that they should receive

a prominent place among the books recommended to students. Thanks are

due to Professor Edgar James Swift and Charles Scribner's Sons for

permission to use a figure from "Mind in the Making"; and to J.B.

Lippincott Company for adaptation of cuts from Villiger's "Brain and

Spinal Cord."

The author gratefully acknowledges helpful suggestions from Professors

James R. Angell, Charles H. Judd and C. Judson Herrick, who have read

the greater part of the manuscript and have commented upon it to its

betterment. The obligation refers, however, not only to the immediate

preparation of this work but also to the encouragement which, for

several years, the author has received from these scientists, first as

student, later as colleague.

THE AUTHOR.

CHICAGO, September 25, 1916.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I. INTELLECTUAL PROBLEMS OF THE COLLEGE FRESHMAN

Number. Variety. Lecture Method. Note Taking. Amount of Library Work.

High Quality Demanded. Necessity for Making Schedule. A College Course

Consists in the Formation of Habits. Requires Active Effort on Part of

Student. Importance of Good Form.

II. NOTE TAKING

Uses of Notes. LECTURE NOTES--Avoid Verbatim Reports. Maintain Attitude

of Mental Activity. Seek Outline Chiefly. Use Notes in Preparing Next

Lesson. READING NOTES--Summarize Rather Than Copy. Read With Questions

in Mind. How to Read. How to Make Bibliographies. LABORATORY

NOTES--Content. Form. Miscellaneous Hints.

III. BRAIN ACTION DURING STUDY

The Organ of Mind. Gross Structure. Microscopic Structure. The Neurone.

The Nervous Impulse. The Synapse. Properties of Nervous Tissue

--Impressibility, Conductivity, Modifiability. Pathways Used in

Study--Sensory, Motor, Association. Study is a Process of Making

Pathways in Brain.

IV. FORMATION OF STUDY-HABITS

Definition of Habit. Examples. Inevitableness of Habits in Brain and

Nervous System. How to Insure Useful Habits--Choose What Shall Enter;

Choose Mode of Entrance; Choose Mode of Egress; Go Slowly at First;

Observe Four Maxims. Advantages and Disadvantages of Habit. Ethical

Consequences.

V. ACTIVE IMAGINATION

Nature of the Image. Its Use in Imagination. Necessity for Number,

Variety, Sharpness. Source of "Imaginative" Productions. Method of

Developing Active Imaginative Powers: Cultivate Images in Great

Number, Variety, Sharpness; Actively Combine the Elements of Past

Experience.

VI. FIRST AIDS TO MEMORY--IMPRESSION

Four Phases. Conditions of Impression: Care, Clearness, Choice of

Favorable Sense Avenue, Repetition, Overlearning, Primacy, Distribution

of Repetitions, (Inferences Bearing Upon Theme-writing), "Whole" vs.

"Part" Method, "Rote" vs. "logical" Method, Intention.

VII. SECOND AIDS TO MEMORY--RETENTION, RECALL AND RECOGNITION

Retention. Recall. Recall Contrasted With Impression. Practise Recall

in Impression. Recognition. Advantages of Review. Memory Works

According to Law. Possibility of Improvement. Connection With Other

Mental Processes.

VIII. CONCENTRATION OF ATTENTION

Importance in Mental Life. Analysis of Concrete Attentive State.

Cross-section of Mental Stream. Focal Object, Clear; Marginal Objects,

Dim. Fluctuation. Ease of Concentration Requires (1) Removal of All

Marginal Distractions Possible, (2) Ignoring Others. Conditions

Favorable for Concentration. Relation to Other Mental Processes.

IX. HOW WE REASON

Reasoning Contrasted with Simpler Mental Operations. Illustrated by

Method of Studying Geometry. Analysis of Reasoning Act: Recognition of

Problem, Efforts to Solve It, Solution. Study in Problems. Requirements

for Effective Reasoning: Many Ideas, Accessible, Clear. How to Clarify

Ideas: Define, Classify. Relation Between Habit and Reasoning. Summary.

X. EXPRESSION AS AN AID IN STUDY

Expression an Inevitable Accompaniment of Nervous Activity. Extent of

Expressive Movements. Relation Between Ideas and Expressive Acts.

Ethical Considerations. Methods of Expression Chiefly Used in Study:

Speech, Writing, Drawing. Effects of Expression: (1) On Brain, (2) On

Ideas. Hints on Development of Freedom of Expression.

XI. HOW TO BECOME INTERESTED IN A SUBJECT

Nature of Interest. Intellectual Interests Gained Through Experience.

Many Possible Fields of Interest. Laws of Interest.

XII. THE PLATEAU OF DESPOND

Measurement of Mental Progress. Analysis of the "Learning Curve."

Irregularity. Rapid Progress at Beginning. The Plateau. Causes.

Remedies.

XIII. MENTAL SECOND-WIND

Description: (1) Physical, (2) Mental. Hidden Sources of Energy.

Retarding Effect of Fatigue. Analysis of Fatigue. How to Reduce

Fatigue in Study.

XIV. EXAMINATIONS

Purposes. Continuous Effort and Cramming. Effective Methods of

Reviewing. Immediate Preparation for an Examination Conduct in

Examination-room. Attitude of Activity. Attitude of Confidence.

XV. BODILY CONDITIONS FOB EFFECTIVE STUDY

FOOD: Quantity, Quality, Surroundings. SLEEP: Amount, Conditions,

Avoidance of Insomnia. EXERCISE: Regularity, Emphasis.

SUGGESTIONS FOB FURTHER READING

INDEX

HOW TO USE YOUR MIND

CHAPTER I

INTELLECTUAL PROBLEMS OF THE COLLEGE FRESHMAN

In entering upon a college course you are taking a step that may

completely revolutionize your life. You are facing new situations

vastly different from any you have previously met. They are also of

great variety, such as finding a place to eat and sleep, regulating

your own finances, inaugurating a new social life, forming new

friendships, and developing in body and mind. The problems connected

with mental development will engage your chief attention. You are now

going to use your mind more actively than ever before and should survey

some of the intellectual difficulties before plunging into the fight.

Perhaps the first difficulty you will encounter is the substitution of

the lecture for the class recitation to which you were accustomed in

high school. This substitution requires that you develop a new technic

of learning, for the mental processes involved in an oral recitation

are different from those used in listening to a lecture. The lecture

system implies that the lecturer has a fund of knowledge about a

certain field and has organized this knowledge in a form that is not

duplicated in the literature of the subject. The manner of

presentation, then, is unique and is the only means of securing the

knowledge in just that form. As soon as the words have left the mouth

of the lecturer they cease to be accessible to you. Such conditions

require a unique mental attitude and unique mental habits. You will be

obliged, in the first place, to maintain sustained attention over long

periods of time. The situation is not like that in reading, in which a

temporary lapse of attention may be remedied by turning back and

rereading. In listening to a lecture, you are obliged to catch the

words "on the fly." Accordingly you must develop new habits of paying

attention. You will also need to develop a new technic for memorizing,

especially for memorizing things heard. As a partial aid in this, and

also for purposes of organizing material received in lectures, you will

need to develop ability to take notes. This is a process with which you

have heretofore had little to do. It is a most important phase of

college life, however, and will repay earnest study.

Another characteristic of college study is the vast amount of reading

required. Instead of using a single text-book for each course, you may

use several. They may cover great historical periods and represent the

ideas of many men. In view of the amount of reading assigned, you will

also be obliged to learn to read faster. No longer will you have time

to dawdle sleepily through the pages of easy texts; you will have to

cover perhaps fifty or a hundred pages of knotty reading every day.

Accordingly you must learn to handle books expeditiously and to

comprehend quickly. In fact, economy must be your watchword throughout.

A German lesson in high school may cover thirty or forty lines a day,

requiring an hour's preparation. A German assignment in college,

however, may cover four or five or a dozen pages, requiring hard work

for two or three hours.

You should be warned also that college demands not only a greater

quantity but also a higher quality of work. When you were a high school

student the world expected only a high school student's accomplishments

of you. Now you are a college student, however, and your intellectual

responsibilities have increased. The world regards you now as a person

of considerable scholastic attainment and expects more of you than

before. In academic terms this means that in order to attain a grade of

95 in college you will have to work much harder than you did for that

grade in high school, for here you have not only more difficult

subject-matter, but also keener competition for the first place. In

high school you may have been the brightest student in your class. In

college, however, you encounter the brightest students from many

schools. If your merits are going to stand out prominently, therefore,

you must work much harder. Your work from now on must be of better

quality.

Not the least of the perplexities of your life as a college student

will arise from the fact that no daily schedule is arranged for you.

The only time definitely assigned for your work is the fifteen hours a

week, more or less, spent in the class-room. The rest of your schedule

must be arranged by yourself. This is a real task and will require care

and thought if your work is to be done with greatest economy of time

and effort.

This brief survey completes the catalogue of problems of mental

development that will vex you most in adjusting your methods of study

to college conditions. In order to make this adjustment you will be

obliged to form a number of new habits. Indeed, as you become more and

more expert as a student, you will see that the whole process resolves

itself into one of habit-formation, for while a college education has

two phases--the acquisition of facts and the formation of habits--it is

the latter which is the more important. Many of the facts that you

learn will be forgotten; many will be outlawed by time; but the habits

of study you form will be permanent possessions. They will consist of

such things as methods of grasping facts, methods of reasoning about

facts, and of concentrating attention. In acquiring these habits you

must have some material upon which you may concentrate your attention,

and it will be supplied by the subjects of the curriculum. You will be

asked, for instance, to write innumerable themes in courses in English

composition; not for the purpose of enriching the world's literature,

nor for the delectation of your English instructor, but for the sake of

helping you to form habits of forceful expression. You will be asked to

enter the laboratory and perform numerous experiments, not to discover

hitherto unknown facts, but to obtain practice in scientific procedure

and to learn how to seek knowledge by yourself. The curriculum and the

faculty are the means, but you yourself are the agent in the

educational process. No matter how good the curriculum or how renowned

the faculty, you cannot be educated without the most vigorous efforts

on your part. Banish the thought that you are here to have knowledge

"pumped into" you. To acquire an education you must establish and

maintain not a passive attitude but an active attitude. When you go to

the gymnasium to build up a good physique, the physical director does

not tell you to hold yourself limp and passive while he pumps your arms

and legs up and down. Rather he urges you to put forth effort, to exert

yourself until you are tired. Only by so doing can you develop physical

power. This principle holds true of mental development. Learning is not

a process of passive "soaking-in." It is a matter of vigorous effort,

and the harder you work the more powerful you become. In securing a

college education you are your own master.

In the development of physical prowess you are well aware of the

importance of doing everything in "good form." In such sports as

swimming and hurdling, speed and grace depend primarily upon it. The

same principle holds true in the development of the mind. The most

serviceable mind is that which accomplishes results in the shortest

time and with least waste motion. Take every precaution, therefore, to

rid yourself of all superfluous and impeding methods.

Strive for the development of good form in study. Especially is this

necessary at the start. Now is the time when you are laying the

foundations for your mental achievements in college. Keep a sharp

lookout, then, at every point, to see that you build into the

foundation only those materials and that workmanship which will support

a masterly structure.

READINGS AND EXERCISES

NOTE.--Numbers in parentheses refer to complete citations in

Bibliography at end of book.

Readings: Fulton (5) Lockwood (11)

Exercise 1. List concrete problems that have newly come to you since

your arrival upon the campus.

Exercise 2. List in order the difficulties that confront you in

preparing your daily lessons.

Exercise 3. Prepare a work schedule similar to that provided by the

form in Chart I. Specify the subject with which you will be occupied at

each period.

Exercise 4. Try to devise some way of registering the effectiveness

with which you carry out your schedule. Suggestions are contained in

the summary: Disposition of (1) as planned; (2) as spent. To divide the

number of hours wasted by 24 will give a partial "index of efficiency."

CHAPTER II

NOTE-TAKING

Most educated people find occasion, at some time or other, to take

notes. Although this is especially true of college students, they have

little success, as any college instructor will testify. Students, as a

rule, do not realize that there is any skill involved in taking notes.

Not until examination time arrives and they try vainly to labor through

a maze of scribbling, do they realize that there must be some system in

note-taking. A careful examination of note-taking shows that there are

rules or principles, which, when followed, have much to do with

increasing ability in study.

One criterion that should guide in the preparation of notes is the use

to which they will be put. If this is kept in mind, many blunders will

be saved. Notes may be used in three ways: as material for directing

each day's study, for cramming, and for permanent, professional use.

Thus a note-book may be a thing of far-reaching value. Notes you take

now as a student may be valuable years hence in professional life.

Recognition of this will help you in the preparation of your notes and

will determine many times how they should be prepared.

The chief situations in college which require note-taking are lectures,

library reading and laboratory work. Accordingly the subject will be

considered under these three heads.

LECTURE NOTES.--When taking notes on a lecture, there are two extremes

that present themselves, to take exceedingly full notes or to take

almost no notes. One can err in either direction. True, on first

thought, entire stenographic reports of lectures appear desirable, but

second thought will show that they may be dispensed with, not only

without loss, but with much gain. The most obvious objection is that

too much time would be consumed in transcribing short-hand notes.

Another is that much of the material in a lecture is undesirable for

permanent possession. The instructor repeats much for the sake of

emphasis; he multiplies illustrations, not important in themselves, but

important for the sake of stressing his point. You do not need these

illustrations in written form, however, for once the point is made you

rarely need to depend upon the illustrations for its retention. A still

more cogent objection is that if you occupy your attention with the

task of copying the lecture verbatim, you do not have time to think,

but become merely an automatic recording machine. Experienced

stenographers say that they form the habit of recording so

automatically that they fail utterly to comprehend the meaning of what

is said. You as a student cannot afford to have your attention so

distracted from the meaning of the lecture, therefore reduce your

classroom writing to a minimum.

Probably the chief reason why students are so eager to secure full

lecture notes is that they fear to trust their memory. Such fears

should be put at rest, for your mind will retain facts if you pay close

attention and make logical associations during the time of impression.

Keep your mind free, then, to work upon the subject-matter of the

lecture. Debate mentally with the speaker. Question his statements,

comparing them with your own experience or with the results of your

study. Ask yourself frequently, "Is that true?" The essential thing is

to maintain an attitude of mental activity, and to avoid anything that

will reduce this and make you passive. Do not think of yourself as a

vat into which the instructor pumps knowledge. Regard yourself rather

as an active force, quick to perceive and to comprehend meaning,

deliberate in acceptance and firm in retention.

After observing the stress laid, throughout this book, upon the

necessity for logical associations, you will readily see that the

key-note to note-taking is, Let your notes represent the logical

progression of thought in the lecture. Strive above all else to secure

the skeleton--the framework upon which the lecture is hung. A lecture

is a logical structure, and the form in which it is presented is the

outline. This outline, then, is your chief concern. In the case of some

lectures it is an easy matter. The lecturer may place the outline in

your hands beforehand, may present it on the black-board, or may give

it orally. Some lecturers, too, present their material in such

clear-cut divisions that the outline is easily followed. Others,

however, are very difficult to follow in this regard.

In arranging an outline you will find it wise to adopt some device by

which the parts will stand out prominently, and the progression of

thought will be indicated with proper subordination of titles. Adopt

some system at the beginning of your college course, and use it in all

your notes. The system here given may serve as a model, using first the

Roman numerals, then capitals, then Arabic numerals:

I.

II.

A.

B.

1.

2.

a.

b.

(1)

(2)

(a)

(b)

In concluding this discussion of lecture notes, you should be urged to

make good use of your notes after they are taken. First, glance over

them as soon as possible after the lecture. Inasmuch as they will then

be fresh in your mind, you will be able to recall almost the entire

lecture; you will also be able to supply missing parts from memory.

Some students make it a rule to reduce all class-notes to typewritten

form soon after the lecture. This is an excellent practice, but is

rather expensive in time. In addition to this after-class review, you

should make a second review of your notes as the first step in the

preparation of the next day's lesson. This will connect up the lessons

with each other and will make the course a unified whole instead of a

series of disconnected parts. Too often a course exists in a student's

mind as a series of separate discussions and he sees only the horizon

of a single day. This condition might be represented by a series of

disconnected links:

O O O O O

A summary of each day's lesson, however, preceding the preparation for

the next day, forges new links and welds them all together into an

unbroken chain:

OOOOOOOOOO

A method that has been found helpful is to use a double-page system of

notetaking, using the left-hand page for the bare outline, with

largest divisions, and the right-hand page for the details. This device

makes the note-book readily available for hasty review or for more

extended study.

READING NOTES.--The question of full or scanty notes arises in reading

notes as in lecture notes. In general, your notes should represent a

summary, in your own words, of the author's discussion, not a

duplication of it. Students sometimes acquire the habit of reading

single sentences at a time, then of writing them down, thinking that by

making an exact copy of the book, they are playing safe. This is a

pernicious practice; it spoils continuity of thought and application.

Furthermore, isolated sentences mean little, and fail grossly to

represent the real thought of the author. A better way is to read

through an entire paragraph or section, then close the book and

reproduce in your own words what you have read. Next, take your summary

and compare with the original text to see that you have really grasped

the point. This procedure will be beneficial in several ways. It will

encourage continuous concentration of attention to an entire argument;

it will help you to preserve relative emphasis of parts; it will lead

you to regard thought and not words. (You are undoubtedly familiar with

the state of mind wherein you find yourself reading merely words and

not following the thought.) Lastly, material studied in this way is

remembered longer than material read scrappily. In short, such a method

of reading makes not only for good memory, but for good mental habits

of all kinds. In all your reading, hold to the conception of yourself

as a thinker, not a sponge. Remember, you do not need to accept

unqualifiedly everything you read. A worthy ideal for every student to

follow is expressed in the motto carved on the wall of the great

reading-room of the Harper Memorial Library at The University of

Chicago: "Read not to contradict, nor to believe, but to weigh and

consider." Ibsen bluntly states the same thought:

"Don't read to swallow; read to choose, for 'Tis but to see what one

has use for."

Ask yourself, when beginning a printed discussion, What am I looking

for? What is the author going to talk about? Often this will be

indicated in topical headings. Keep it in the background of your mind

while reading, and search for the answer. Then, when you have read the

necessary portion, close the book and summarize, to see if the author

furnished what you sought. In short, always read for a purpose.

Formulate problems and seek their solutions. In this way will there be

direction in your reading and your thought.

This discussion of reading notes has turned into an essay on "How to

Read," and you must be convinced by this time that there is much to

learn in this respect, so much that we may profitably spend more time

in discussing it.

Every book you take up should be opened with some preliminary ceremony.

This does not refer to the physical operation of opening a new book,

but to the mental operation. In general, take the following steps:

1. Observe the title. See exactly what field the book attempts to

cover.

2. Observe the author's name. If you are to use his book frequently,

discover his position in the field. Remember, you are going to accept

him as authority, and you should know his status. You may be told this

on the title-page, or you may have to consult Who's Who, or the

biographical dictionary.

3. Glance over the preface. Under some circumstances you should read it

carefully. If you are going to refer to the book very often, make

friends with the author; let him introduce himself to you; this he will

do in the preface. Observe the date of publication, also, in order to

get an idea as to the recency of the material.

4. Glance over the table of contents. If you are very familiar with the

field, and the table of contents is outlined in detail, you might

advantageously study it and dispense with reading the book. On the

other hand, if you are going to consult the book only briefly, you

might find it necessary to study the table of contents in order to see

the relation of the part you read to the entire work.

5. Use the index intelligently; it may save you much time.

You will have much to do throughout your college course with the making

of bibliographies, that is, with the compilation of lists of books

bearing upon special topics. You may have bibliographies given you in

some of your courses, or you may be asked to compile your own. Under

all circumstances, prepare them with the greatest care. Be scrupulous

in giving references. There is a standard form for referring to books

and periodicals, as follows:

C.R. Henderson, Industrial Insurance (2d ed.; Chicago: The University

of Chicago Press, 1912), p. 321.

S.I. Curtis, "The Place of Sacrifice," Biblical World, Vol. XXI (1902),

p. 248 _ff_.

LABORATORY NOTES.--The form for laboratory notes varies with the

science and is usually prescribed by the instructor. Reports of

experiments are usually written up in the order: Object, Apparatus,

Method, Results, Conclusions. When detailed instructions are given by

the instructor, follow them accurately. Pay special attention to

neatness. Instructors say that the greatest fault with laboratory

note-books is lack of neatness. This reacts upon the instructor,

causing him much trouble in correcting the note-book. The resulting

annoyance frequently prejudices him, against his will, against the

student. It is safe to assert that you will materially increase your

chances of a good grade in a laboratory course by the preparation of a

neat note-book.

The key-note of the twentieth century is economy, the tendency in all

lines being toward the elimination of waste. College students should

adopt this aim in the regulation of their study affairs, and there is

much opportunity for applying it in note-taking. So far, the discussion

has had to do with the _content_ of the note-book, but _its form_ is

equally important. Much may be done by utilization of mechanical

devices to save time and energy.

First, write in ink. Pencil marks blur badly and become illegible in a

few months. Remember, you may be using the notebook twenty years hence,

therefore make it durable.

Second, write plainly. This injunction ought to be superfluous, for

common sense tells us that writing which is illegible cannot be read

even by the writer, once it has "grown cold." Third, take care in

forming sentences. Do not make your notes consist simply of separate,

scrappy jottings. True, it is difficult, under stress, to form

complete sentences. The great temptation is to jot down a word here

and there and trust to luck or an indulgent memory to supply the

context at some later time. A little experience, however, will quickly

demonstrate the futility of such hopes; therefore strive to form

sensible phrases, and to make the parts of the outline cohere. Apply

the principles of English composition to the preparation of your

note-book.

A fourth question concerns size and shape of the note-book. These

features depend partly upon the nature of the course and partly upon

individual taste. It is often convenient and practicable to keep the

notes for all courses in a single note-book. Men find it advantageous

to use a small note-book of a size that can be carried in the coat

pocket and studied at odd moments.

A fifth question of a mechanical nature is, Which is preferable, bound

or loose-leaf note-books? Generally the latter will be found more

desirable. Leaves are easily inserted and the sections are easily filed

on completion of a course.

It goes without saying that the manner in which notes, are to be taken

will be determined by many factors, such as the nature of individual

courses, the wishes of instructors, personal tastes and habits.

Nevertheless, there are certain principles and practices which are

adaptable to nearly all conditions, and it is these that we have

discussed. Remember, note-taking is one of the habits you are to form

in college. See that the habit is started rightly. Adopt a good plan at

the start and adhere to it. You may be encouraged, too, with the

thought that facility in note-taking will come with practice.

Note-taking is an art and as you practise you will develop skill.

We have noted some of the most obvious and immediate benefits derived

from well-prepared notes, consisting of economy of time, ease of

review, ease of permanent retention. There are other benefits, however,

which, though less obvious, are of far greater importance. These are

the permanent effects upon the mind. Habits of correct thinking are the

chief result of correct note-taking. As you develop in this particular

ability, you will find corresponding improvement in your ability to

comprehend and assimilate ideas, to retain and reproduce facts, and to

reason with thoroughness and independence.

READINGS AND EXERCISES

Readings:

Adams (1) Chapter VIII.

Dearborn (2) Chapter II.

Kerfoot (10)

Seward (17)

Exercise 1. Contrast the taking of notes from reading and from

lectures.

Exercise 2. Make an outline of this chapter.

Exercise 3. Make an outline of some lecture.

CHAPTER III

BRAIN ACTION DURING STUDY

Though most people understand more or less vaguely that the brain acts

in some way during study, exact knowledge of the nature of this action

is not general. As you will be greatly assisted in understanding mental

processes by such knowledge, we shall briefly examine the brain and its

connections. It will be manifestly impossible to inquire into its

nature very minutely, but by means of a description you will be able to

secure some conception of it and thus will be able better to control

the mental processes which it underlies.

To the naked eye the brain is a large jelly-like mass enclosed in a

bony covering, about one-fourth of an inch thick, called the skull.

Inside the skull it is protected by a thick membrane. At its base

emerges the spinal cord, a long strand of nerve fibers extending down

the spine. For most of its length, the cord is about as large around as

your little finger, but it tapers at the lower end. From it at right

angles throughout its length branch out thirty-one pairs of fibrous

nerves which radiate to all parts of the body. The brain and spinal

cord, with all its ramifications, are known as the nervous system. You

see now that, though we started with the statement that the mind is

intimately connected with the brain, we must now enlarge our statement

and say it is connected with the entire nervous system. It is therefore

to the nervous system that we must turn our attention.

Although to the naked eye the nervous system is apparently made up of a

number of different kinds of material, still we see, when we turn our

microscopes upon it, that its parts are structurally the same. Reduced

to lowest terms, the nervous system is found to be composed of minute

units of structure called nerve-cells or neurones. Each of these looks

like a string frayed out at both ends, with a bulge somewhere along its

length. The nervous system is made up of millions of these little cells

packed together in various combinations and distributed throughout the

body. Some of the neurones are as long as three feet; others measure

but a fraction of an inch in length.

We do not know exactly how the mind, that part of us which feels,

reasons and wills, is connected with this mass of cells called the

nervous system. We do know, however, that every time anything occurs in

the mind, there is a change in some part of the nervous system.

Applying this fact to study, it is obvious that when you are performing

any of the operations of study, memorizing foreign vocabularies, making

arithmetical calculations, reasoning out problems in geometry, you are

making changes in your nervous system. The question before us, then,

is, What is the nature of these changes?

According to present knowledge, the action of the nervous system is

best conceived as a form of chemical change that spreads among the

nerve-cells. We call this commotion the nervous current. It is very

rapid, moving faster than one hundred feet a second, and runs along the

cells in much the same way as a "spark runs along a train of

gunpowder." It is important to note that neurones never act singly;

they always act in groups, the nervous current passing from neurone to

neurone. It is thought that the most important changes in the nervous

system do not occur within the individual neurones, but at the points

where they join with each other. This point of connection is called the

synapse and although we do not understand its exact nature, it may well

be pictured as a valve that governs the passage of the nervous current

from neurone to neurone. At time of birth, most of the valves are

closed. Only a few are open, mainly those connected with the vegetative

processes such as breathing and digestion. But as the individual is

played upon by the objects of the environment, the valves open to the

passage of the nervous current. With increased use they become more and

more permeable, and thus learning is the process of making easier the

passage of the nervous current from one neurone to another.

We shall secure further light upon the action of the nervous system if

we examine some of the properties belonging to nerve-cells. The first

one is _impressibility_. Nerve-cells are very sensitive to impressions

from the outside. If you have ever had the dentist touch an exposed

nerve, you know how extreme this sensitivity is. Naturally such a

property is very important in education, for had we not the power to

receive impressions from the outside world we should not be able to

acquire knowledge. We should not even be able to perceive danger and

remove ourselves from harm. "If we compare a man's body to a building,

calling the steel frame-work his skeleton and the furnace and power

station his digestive organs and lungs, the nervous system would

include, with other things, the thermometers, heat regulators, electric

buttons, door-bells, valve-openers,--the parts of the building, in

short, which are specifically designed to respond to influences of the

environment." The second property of nerve-cells which is important in

study is _conductivity_. As soon as a neurone is stimulated at one end,

it communicates its excitement, by means of the nervous current, to the

next neurone or to neighboring neurones. Just as an electric current

might pass along one wire, thence to another, and along it to a third,

so the nervous current passes from neurone to neurone. As might be

expected, the two functions of impressibility and conductivity are

aided by such an arrangement of the nerve-cells that the nervous

current may pass over definitely laid pathways. These systems of

pathways will be described in a later paragraph.

The third property of nerve-cells which is important in study is

_modifiability_. That is, impressions made upon the nerve-cells are

retained. Most living tissue is modifiable to some extent. The features

of the face are modifiable, and if one habitually assumes a peevish

expression, it becomes, after a time, permanently fixed. The nervous

system, however, possesses the power of modifiability to a marked

degree, even a single impression sufficing to make striking

modification. This is very important in study, being the basis for the

retentive powers of the mind.

Having examined the action of the nervous system in its simplicity, we

have now to examine the ways in which the parts of the nervous system

are combined. We shall be helped if we keep to the conception of it as

an aggregation of systems or groups of pathways. Some of these we shall

attempt to trace out. Beginning with those at the outermost parts of

the body, we find them located in the sense-organs, not only within

the traditional five, but also within the muscles, tendons, joints,

and internal organs of the body such as the heart, and digestive

organs. In all these places we find ends of neurones which converge at

the spinal cord and travel to the brain. They are called sensory

neurones and their function is to carry messages inward to the brain.

Thus, the brain represents, in great part, a central receiving station

for impressions from the outside world. The nerve-cells carrying

messages from the various parts of the body terminate in particular

areas. Thus an area in the back part of the brain receives messages

from the eyes; another area near the top of the brain receives messages

from the skin. These areas are quite clearly marked out and may be

studied in detail by means of the accompanying diagram.

There is another large group of nerve-cells which, when traced out, are

found to have one terminal in the brain and the other in the muscles

throughout the body. The area in the brain, where these neurones

emerge, is near the top of the brain in the area marked _Motor_ on the

diagram. From here the fibers travel down through the spinal cord and

out to the muscles. The nerve-cells in this group are called motor

neurones and their function is to carry messages from the brain out to

the muscles, for a muscle ordinarily does not act without a nervous

current to set it off.

So far we have seen that the brain has the two functions of receiving

impressions from the sense-organs and of sending out orders to the

muscles. There is a further mechanism that must now be described. When

messages are received in the sensory areas, it is necessary that there

be some means within the brain of transmitting them over to the motor

area so that they may be acted upon. Such an arrangement is provided by

another group of nerve-cells in the brain, having as their function the

transmission of the nervous current from one area to another. They are

called association neurones and transmit the nervous current from

sensory areas to motor areas or from one sensory area to another. For

example, suppose you see a brick falling from above and you dodge

quickly back. The neural action accompanying this occurrence consists

of an impression upon the nerve-cells in the eye, the conduction of the

nervous current back to the visual area of the brain, the transmission

of the current over association neurones to the motor area, then its

transmission over the motor neurones, down the spinal cord, to the

muscles that enable you to dodge the missile. The association neurones

have the further function of connecting one sensory area in the brain

with another. For example, when you see, smell, taste and touch an

orange, the corresponding areas in the brain act in conjunction and are

associated by means of the association neurones connecting them. The

association neurones play a large part in the securing and organizing

of knowledge. They are very important in study, for all learning

consists in building up associations.

From the foregoing description we see that the nervous system consists

merely of a mechanism for the reception and transmission of incoming

messages and their transformation into outgoing messages which produce

movement. The brain is the center where such transformations are made,

being a sort of central switchboard which permits the sense-organs to

come into communication with muscles. It is also the instrument by

means of which the impressions from the various senses can be united

and experience can be unified. The brain serves further as the medium

whereby impressions once made can be retained. That is, it is the great

organ of memory. Hence we see that it is to this organ we must look for

the performance of the activities necessary to study. Everything that

enters it produces some modification within it. Education consists in a

process of undergoing a selected group of experiences of such a nature

as to leave beneficial results in the brain. By means of the changes

made there, the individual is able better to adjust himself to new

situations. For when the individual enters the world, he is not

prepared to meet many situations; only a few of the neural connections

are made and he is able to perform only a meagre number of simple acts,

such as breathing, crying, digestion. The pathways for complex acts,

such as speaking English or French, or writing, are not formed at birth

but must be built up within the life-time of the individual. It is the

process of building them up that we call education. This process is a

physical feat involving the production of changes in physical material

in the brain. Study involves the overcoming of resistance in the

nervous system. That is why it is so hard. In your early school-days,

when you set about laboriously learning the multiplication table, your

unwilling protests were wrung because you were being compelled to force

the nervous current through new pathways, and to overcome the inertia

of physical matter. Today, when you begin a train of reasoning, the

task is difficult because you are opening hitherto untravelled

pathways. There is a comforting thought, however, which is derived from

the factor of modifiability, in that with each succeeding repetition,

the task becomes easier, because the path becomes worn smoothly and the

nervous current seeks it of its own accord; in other words, each act

and each thought tends to become habitualized. Education is then a

process of forming habits, and the rest of the book will be devoted to

the description and discussion of habits which a student should form.

READING AND EXERCISE

Reading: Herrick (7)

Exercise 1. Draw a picture of the brain, showing roughly what takes

place there (a) when you read a book, (6) listen to a lecture, (c) take

notes.

CHAPTER IV

FORMATION OF STUDY-HABITS

As already intimated, this book adopts the view that education is a

process of forming habits in the brain. In the formation of habits

there are several principles that must be observed. Accordingly we

shall devote a chapter to the consideration of habits in general before

discussing the specific habits involved in various kinds of study.

Habit may be defined roughly as the tendency to act time after time in

the same way. Thus defined, you see that the force of habit extends

throughout the entire universe. It is a habit for the earth to revolve

on its axis once every twenty-four hours and to encircle the sun once

every year. When a pencil falls from your hand it has a habit of

dropping to the floor. A piece of paper once folded tends to crease in

the same place. These are examples of the force of habit in nonliving

matter. Living matter shows its power even more clearly. If you assume

a petulant expression for some time, it gets fixed and the expression

becomes habitual. The hair may be trained to lie this way or that.

These are examples of habit in living tissue. But there is one

particular form of living tissue which is most susceptible to habit;

that is nerve tissue. Let us review briefly the facts which underlie

this characteristic. In nerve tissue, impressibility, conductivity and

modifiability are developed to a marked degree. The nerve-cells in the

sense organs are impressed by stimulations from the outside world. The

nervous current thus generated is conducted over long nerve fibers,

through the spinal cord to the brain where it is received and we

experience a sensation. Thence it pushes on, over association neurones

in the brain to motor neurones, over which it passes down the spinal

cord again to muscles, and ends in some movement. In the pathway which

it traverses it leaves its impression, and, thereafter, when the first

neurone is excited, the nervous current tends to take the same pathway

and to end in the same movement.

It should be emphasized that the nervous current, once started, always

tends to seek outlet in movement. This is an extremely important

feature of neural action, and, as will be shown in another chapter, is

a vital factor in study. Movement may be started by the stimulation of

a sense organ or by an idea. In the latter case it starts from regions

in the brain without the immediately preceding stimulation of a sense

organ. Howsoever it starts you may be sure that it seeks a way out, and

prefers pathways already traversed. Hence you see you are bound to have

habits. They will develop whether you wish them or not. Already you are

"a bundle of habits"; they manifest themselves in two ways--as habits

of action and habits of thought. You illustrate the first every time

you tie your shoes or sign your name. To illustrate the second, I need

only ask you to supply the end of this sentence: Columbus discovered

America in----. Speech reveals many of these habits of thought. Certain

phrases persist in the mind as habits so that when the phrase is once

begun, you proceed habitually with the rest of it. When some one starts

"in spite," your mind goes on to think "of"; "more or" calls up "less."

When I ask you what word is called up by "black," you reply "white"

according to the principles of mental habit. Your mind is arranged in

such habitual patterns, and from these examples you readily see that a

large part of what you do and think during the course of twenty-four

hours is habitual. Twenty years hence you will be even more bound by

this overpowering despot.

Our acts our angels are, or good, or ill,

Our constant shadows that walk with us still.

Since you cannot avoid forming habits, how important it is that you

seek to form those that are useful and desirable. In acquiring them,

there are several general principles deducible from the facts of

nervous action. The first is: Guard the pathways leading to the brain.

Nerve tissue is impressible and everything that touches it leaves an

ineradicable trace. You can control your habits to some extent, then,

by observing caution in permitting things to impress you. Many

unfortunate habits of study arise from neglect of this. The habit of

using a "pony," for example, arises when one permits oneself to depend

upon a group of English words in translating from a foreign language.

Nerve pathways should then be guarded with respect to _what_ enters.

They should also be guarded with respect to the _way_ things enter.

Remember, as the first pathway is cut, subsequent nervous currents will

be directed. Consequently if you make a wrong pathway, you will have

trouble undoing it.

Another maxim which will obviously prevent undesirable pathways is, go

slowly at first. This is an important principle in all learning. If,

when trying to learn the date 1453, you carelessly impress it first as

1435, you are likely to have trouble ever after in remembering which is

right, 1453 or 1435. As you value your intellectual salvation, then, go

slowly in making the first impression and be sure it is right. The next

rule is: Guard the exits of the nervous currents. That is, watch the

movements you make in response to impressions and ideas. This is

necessary because the nervous current pushes on past obstructions,

through areas in the brain, until it ends in some form of movement, and

in finding the way out, it seeks those pathways that have been most

frequently travelled. In study, it usually takes the form of movements

of speech or writing. You will need to guard this part of the process

just as you did the incoming pathway You must see that the movement is

made which you wish to build into a habit. In learning the

pronunciation of a foreign word, for example, see that your first

pronunciation of it is absolutely right. When learning to typewrite

see that you always hit the right key during the early trials. The

point of exit of a nervous current is the point also where precautions

are to be taken in developing good form. The path should be the

shortest possible, involving only those muscles that are absolutely

necessary. This makes for economy of effort.

The third general principle to be kept in mind is that habits are most

easily formed in youth, for this is the period when nerve tissue is

most easily impressed and modified. With respect to habit formation,

then, you see that youth is the time when emphasis should be laid upon

the formation of as many useful habits as possible. The world

recognizes this to some extent and society is so organized that the

youth of the race are given leisure and protection so that they may

form useful habits. The world asks nothing of you during the next four

years except that you develop yourself and form useful habits which

will enable you in later life to take your place as a useful and stable

member of society.

In addition to the principles just discussed, there are a number of

other maxims which have been laid down as guides in the formation of

new habits. The first is, _make an assertion of will_. Vow to yourself

that you will form the habit, and keep that resolve ever before you.

The second maxim is, _make an emphatic start._ Surround yourself with

every aid possible. Make it easy at first to perform the act and

difficult not to perform it. For example, if you desire to form the

habit of arising at six every morning, surround yourself with a number

of aids. Buy an alarm clock, and tell some one of your decision. Such

efforts at the start "will give your new beginning such a momentum that

the temptation to break down will not occur as soon as it otherwise

might; and every day during which a breakdown is postponed adds to the

chances of its not occurring at all." Man has discovered the value of

such devices during the course of his long history, and has evolved

customs accordingly. When men decide to swear off smoking, they choose

the opening of a new year when many other new things are being started;

they make solemn promises to themselves, to each other, and finally to

their friends. Such customs are precautions which help to bolster up

the determination at the time when extraordinary effort and

determination are required. In forming the habits incidental to college

life, take pains from the start to surround yourself with as many aids

as possible. This will not constitute a confession of weakness. It is

only a wise and natural precaution which the whole experience of the

race has justified. The third maxim is, _never permit an exception to

occur_. Suppose you have a habit of saying "aint" which you wish to

replace with a habit of saying "isn't." If the habit is deeply rooted,

you have worn a pathway in the brain to a considerable depth,

represented in the accompanying diagram by the line _A X B_.

A

|

X

/ \

B C

Let us suppose that you have already started the new habit, and have said

the correct word ten times. That means you have worn another pathway

_A X C_ to a considerable depth. During all this time, however, the old

pathway is still open and at the slightest provocation will attract the

nervous current. Your task is to deepen the new path so that the nervous

current will flow into it instead of the old. Now suppose you make an

exception on some occasion and allow the nervous current to travel over

the old path. This unfortunate exception breaks down the bridge which

you had constructed at _X_ from _A_ to _C_. But this is not the only

result. The nervous current, as it revisits the old path, deepens it

more than it was before, so the next time a similar situation arises,

the current seeks the old path with much greater readiness than before,

and vastly more effort is required to overcome it. Some one has likened

the effect of these exceptions to that produced when one drops a ball

of string that is partially wound. By a single slip, more is undone

than can be accomplished in a dozen windings.

The fourth maxim is, _seize every opportunity to act upon your

resolution_. The reason for this will be understood better if you keep

in mind the fact, stated before, that nervous currents once started,

whether from a sense-organ or from a brain-center, always tend to seek

egress in movement. These outgoing nervous currents leave an imprint

upon the modifiable nerve tissues as inevitably as do incoming

impressions. Therefore, if you wish your resolves to be firmly fixed,

you should act upon them speedily and often. "It is not in the moment

of their forming, but in the moment of their producing _motor effects_,

that resolves and aspirations communicate the new 'set' to the brain."

"No matter how full a reservoir of _maxims_ one may possess, and no

matter how good one's _sentiments_ may be, if one has not taken

advantage of every concrete opportunity to _act_, one's character may

remain entirely unaffected for the better." Particularly at time of

emotional excitement one makes resolves that are very good, and a glow

of fine feeling is present. Beware that these resolves do not evaporate

in mere feeling. They should be crystallized in some form of action as

soon as possible. "Let the expression be the least thing in the

world--speaking genially to one's grandmother, or giving up one's seat

in a ... car, if nothing more heroic offers--but let it not fail to take

place." Strictly speaking you have not really completed a resolve until

you have acted upon it. You may determine to go without lunch, but you

have not consummated that resolve until you have permitted it to

express itself by carrying you past the door of the dining-room. That

is the crucial test which determines the strength of your resolve. Many

repetitions will be required before a pathway is worn deep enough to be

settled. Seize the very earliest opportunity to begin grooving it out,

and seize every other opportunity for deepening it.

After this view of the place in your life occupied by habit, you

readily see its far-reaching possibilities for welfare of body and

mind. Its most obvious, because most annoying, effects are on the side

of its disadvantages. Bad habits secure a grip upon us that we are

sometimes powerless to shake off. True, this ineradicableness need have

no terrors if we have formed good habits. Indeed, as will be pointed

out in the next paragraph, habit may be a great asset. Nevertheless, it

may work positive harm, or at best, may lead to stagnation. The

fixedness of habit tends to make us move in ruts unless we exert

continuous effort to learn new things. If we permit ourselves to move

in old grooves we cease to progress and become "old fogy."

But the advantages of habit far outweigh its disadvantages. Habit helps

the individual to be consistent and helps people to know what to expect

from one. It helps society to be stable, to incorporate within itself

modes of action conducive to the common good. For example, the respect

which we all have for the property of others is a habit, and is so

firmly intrenched that we should find ourselves unable to steal if we

wished to. Habit is thus a very desirable asset and is truly called the

"enormous fly-wheel of society."

A second advantage of habit is that it makes for accuracy. Acts that

have become habitualized are performed more accurately than those not

habitualized. Movements such as those made in typewriting and

piano-playing, when measured in the psychological laboratory, are found

to copy each other with extreme fidelity. The human body is a machine

which may be adjusted to a high degree of nicety, and habit is the

mechanism by which this adjustment is made.

A third advantage is that a stock of habits makes life easier. "There

is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual

but indecision, for whom the lighting of every cigar, the drinking of

every cup, the time of rising and going to bed every day and the

beginning of every bit of work, are subjects of express volitional

deliberation. Full half the time of such a man goes to the deciding or

regretting of matters which ought to be so ingrained in him as

practically not to exist for his consciousness at all." Have you ever

reflected how miserable you would be and what a task living would be if

you had to learn to write anew every morning when you go to class; or

if you had to relearn how to tie your necktie every day? The burden of

living would be intolerable.

The last advantage to be discerned in habit is economy. Habitual acts

do not have to be actively directed by consciousness. While they are

being performed, consciousness may be otherwise engaged. "The more of

the details of our daily life we can hand over to the effortless

custody of automatism, the more our higher powers of mind will be set

free for their own proper work." While you are brushing your hair or

tying your shoes, your mind may be engaged in memorizing poetry or

calculating arithmetical problems. Habit is thus a great economizer.

The ethical consequences of habit are so striking that before leaving

the subject we must give them acknowledgment. We can do no better than

to turn to the statement by Professor James, whose wise remarks upon

the subject have not been improved upon:

"The physiological study of mental conditions is thus the most powerful

ally of hortatory ethics. The hell to be endured hereafter, of which

theology tells, is no worse than the hell we make for ourselves in this

world by habitually fashioning our characters in the wrong way. Could

the young but realize how soon they will become mere walking bundles of

habits, they would give more heed to their conduct while in the plastic

state. We are spinning our own fates, good or evil, and never to be

undone. Every smallest stroke of virtue or of vice leaves its

never-so-little scar. The drunken Rip Van Winkle, in Jefferson's play,

excuses himself for every fresh dereliction by saying, 'I won't count

this time!' Well! he may not count it and a kind heaven may not count

it; but it is being counted none the less. Down among his nerve-cells

and fibers the molecules are counting it, registering it, and storing

it up to be used against him when the next temptation comes. Nothing we

ever do is, in strict scientific literalness, wiped out. Of course this

has its good side as well as its bad one. As we become permanent

drunkards by so many drinks, so we become saints in the moral, and

authorities and experts in the practical and scientific, spheres, by so

many separate acts and hours of work. But let no youth have any anxiety

about the upshot of his education, whatever the line of it may be. If

he keep faithfully busy each hour of the working day, he may safely

leave the final result to itself. He can with perfect certainty count

on waking up some fine morning, to find himself one of the competent

ones of his generation, in whatever pursuit he has singled out.

Silently, between all the details of his business, the _power of

judging_ in all that class of matter will have built itself up within

him as a possession that will never pass away. Young people should know

the truth of this in advance. The ignorance of it has probably

engendered more discouragement and faintheartedness in youths embarking

on arduous careers than all other causes put together."

EXERCISE

Exercise 1. Point out an undesirable habit that you are determined to

eradicate. Describe the desirable habit which you will adopt in its

place. Give the concrete steps you will take in forming the new habit.

How long a time do you estimate will be required for the formation of

the new habit? Mark down the date and refer back to it when you have

formed the habit, to see how accurately you estimated.

CHAPTER V

ACTIVE IMAGINATION

A very large part of the mental life of a student consists in the

manipulation of images. By images we mean the revivals of things that

have been impressed upon the senses. Call to mind for the moment your

house-number as it appears upon the door of your home. In so doing you

mentally reinstate something which has been impressed upon your senses

many times; and you see it almost as clearly as if it were actually

before you. The mental thing thus revived is called an image.

The word image is somewhat ill-chosen; for it usually signifies

something connected with the eye, and implies that the stuff of mental

images is entirely visual. The true fact of the matter is, we can image

practically anything that we can sense. We may have tactual images of

things touched; auditory images of things heard; gustatory images of

things tasted; olfactory images of things smelled. How these behave in

general and how they interact in study will engage our attention in

this chapter.

The most highly dramatic use of images is in connection with that

mental process known as Imagination. As we study the writings of Jack

London, Poe, Defoe, Bunyan, we move in a realm almost wholly imaginary.

And as we take a cross-section of our minds when thus engaged, we find

them filled with images. Furthermore, they are of great variety--images

of colors, sounds, tastes, smells, touches, even of sensations from our

own internal organs, such as the palpitations of the heart that

accompany feelings of pride, indignation, remorse, exaltation. A

further characteristic is that they are sharp, clean-cut, vivid.

Note in the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet, the number, variety

and vividness of the images:

"But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?

It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.

Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,

Who is already sick and pale with grief

That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she.

Be not her maid, since she is envious;

Her vestal livery is but sick and green....

Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,

Having some business, do entreat her eyes

To twinkle in their spheres till they return.

What if her eyes were there, they in her head?

The brightness in her cheek would shame those stars,

As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven

Would through the airy regions stream so bright

That birds would sing and think it were not night.

See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand!

O, that I were a glove upon that hand,

That I might touch that cheek!"

We may conclude, then, that three of the desirable attributes of great

works of the imagination are _number, variety_ and _vividness_ of

mental images.

One question that frequently arises concerning works of the imagination

is, What is their source? Superficial thinkers have loosely answered,

"Inspiration," implying, (according to the literal meaning of the word,

"to breathe in"), that some mysterious external force (called by the

ancients, "A Muse") enters into the mind of the author with a special

revelation.

Psychological analysis of these imaginative works shows that this

explanation is untrue. That the bizarre and apparently novel products

arise from the experiences of the author, revived in imagination and

combined in new ways. The horrendous incidents depicted in Dante's

"Divine Comedy" never occurred within the lifetime experience of the

author as such. Their separate elements did, however, and furnished the

basis for Dante's clever combinations. The oft-heard saying that there

is nothing new under the sun is psychologically true.

In the light of this brief analysis of products of the imagination we

are ready to develop a program which we may follow in cultivating an

active imagination.

Recognizing that images have their source in sensory experience, we see

that the first step to take is to seek a multitude of experiences. Make

intimate acquaintance with the objects of your environment. Handle

them, tear them apart, put them together, place them next to other

objects, noting the likenesses and differences. Thus you will acquire

the stuff out of which images are made and will stock your mind with a

number of images. Then when you wish to convey your ideas you will have

a number of terms in which to do it--one of the characteristics of a

free-flowing imagination.

The second characteristic we found to be variety. To secure this, seek

a variety of sensational experiences. Perceive the objects of your

experience through several senses--touch, smell, sight, hearing,

taste. By means of this variety in sensations you will secure

corresponding variety in your images.

To revive them easily sometimes requires practice. For it has been

discovered that all people do not naturally call up images related to

the various senses with equal ease. Most people use visual and auditory

images more freely than they do other kinds. In order to develop skill

in evoking the others, practise recalling them. Sit down for an hour of

practice, as you would sit down for an hour of piano practice. Try to

recall the taste of raisins, English walnuts; the smell of hyacinths,

of witch-hazel; the rough touch of an orange-skin. Though you may at

first have difficulty you will develop, with practice, a gratifying

facility in recalling all varieties of images.

The third characteristic which we observed in works of the imagination

is vividness. To achieve this, pay close attention to the details of

your sensory experiences. Observe sharply the minute but characteristic

items--the accent mark on _après_; the coarse stubby beard of the

typical alley tough. Stock your mind with a wealth of such detailed

impressions. Keep them alive by the kind of practice recommended in the

preceding paragraph. Then describe the objects of your experience in

terms of these significant details.

We discovered, in discussing the source of imaginative works, that the

men whom we are accustomed to call imaginative geniuses do not have

unique communication with heaven or with any external reservoir of

ideas. Instead, we found their wonder-evoking creations to be merely

new combinations of old images. The true secret of their success is

their industrious utilization of past experiences according to the

program outlined above. They select certain elements from their

experiences and combine them in novel ways. This is the explanation of

their strange, beautiful and bizarre productions. This is what Carlyle

meant when he characterized genius as "the transcendent capacity for

taking trouble" This is what Hogarth meant when he said, "Genius is

nothing but labor and diligence." For concrete exemplification of this

truth we need only turn to the autobiographies of great writers. In

this passage from "John Barleycorn," Jack London describes his methods:

"Early and late I was at it--writing, typing, studying grammar,

studying writing and all forms of writing, and studying the writers who

succeeded in order to find out how they succeeded. I managed on five

hours' sleep in the twenty-four, and came pretty close to working the

nineteen waking hours left to me."

By saying that the novel effects of imagination come by way of

industry, we do not mean to imply that one should strain after novelty

and eccentricity. Unusual and happy combinations will come of

themselves and naturally if one only makes a sufficient number.

There are laws of combination, known as the psychological laws of

association, by which images will unite naturally. The number of

possible combinations is infinite. By industriously making a large

number, you will by the very laws of chance, stumble upon some that are

especially happy and striking.

In summarizing this discussion, we may conclude that an active fertile

imagination comes from crowding into one's life a large number of

varied and vivid experiences; storing them up in the mind in the form

of images; and industriously recalling and combining them in novel

relationships. Mental images occur in other mental processes besides

Imagination. They bulk importantly in memorizing, as we shall see in

Chapters VI and VII; and in reasoning, as we shall see in Chapter IX.

Throughout the book we shall find that as we develop ability to

manipulate mental images, we shall increase the adaptability of all the

mental processes.

READING AND EXERCISES

Reading: Dearborn (2) Chapter III.

Exercise 1. Call up in imagination the sound of your French

instructor's voice as he says _étudiant_. Call up the appearance on the

page of the conjugation of _être_, present tense.

Exercise 2. Choose some word which you have had difficulty in learning.

Look at it attentively, securing a perfectly clear impression of it;

then practise calling up the visual image of it, until you secure

perfect reproduction.

Exercise 3. List the different images called up by the passage from

_Romeo and Juliet_.

CHAPTER VI

FIRST AIDS TO MEMORY; IMPRESSION

Of all the mental operations employed by the student, memory is

probably the one in which the greatest inefficiency is manifested.

Though we often fail to realize it, much of our life is taken up with

memorizing. Every time we make use of past experience, we rely upon

this function of the mind, but in no occupation is it quite so

practically important as in study. We shall begin our investigation of

memory by dividing it into four phases or stages--Impression,

Retention, Recall and Recognition. Any act of memory involves them all.

There is first a stage when the material is being impressed; second, a

stage when it is being retained so that it may be revived in the

future; third, a stage of recall when the retained material is revived

to meet present needs; fourth, a feeling of recognition, through which

the material is recognized as having previously been in the mind.

Impression is accomplished through the sense organs; and in the

foregoing chapter we laid down the rule: Guard the avenues of

impression and admit only such things as you wish to retain. This

necessitates that you go slowly at first. This is a principle of all

habit formation, but is especially important in habits of memorizing.

Much of the poor memory that people complain about is due to the fact

that they make first impressions carelessly. One reason why people fail

to remember names is that they do not get a clear impression of the

name at the start. They are introduced in a hurry or the introducer

mumbles; consequently no clear impression is secured. Under such

circumstances how could one expect to retain and recall the name? Go

slowly, then, in impressing material for the first time. As you look up

the words of a foreign language in the lexicon, trying to memorize

their English equivalents, take plenty of time. Obtain a clear

impression of the sound and appearance of the words.

Inasmuch as impressions may be made through any of the sense organs,

one problem in the improvement of memory concerns the choice of sense

avenues. As an infant you used all senses impartially in your eager

search after information. You voraciously put things into your mouth

and discovered that some things were sweet, some sour. You bumped your

head against things and learned that some were hard and some soft. In

your insatiable curiosity you pulled things apart and peered into them;

in short, utilized all the sense organs. In adult life, however, and in

education as it takes place through the agency of books and

instructors, most learning depends upon the eye and ear. Even yet,

however, you learn many things through the sense of touch and through

muscle movement, though you may be unaware of it. You probably have

better success retaining impressions made upon one sense than another.

The majority of people retain better things that are visually

impressed. Such persons think often in terms of visual images. When

thinking of water running from a faucet, they can see the water fall,

see it splash, but have no trace of the sound. The whole event is

noiseless in memory. When they think of their instructor, they can see

him standing at his desk but cannot imagine the sound of his voice.

When striving to think of the causes leading to the Civil War, they

picture them as they are listed on the page of the text-book or

note-book. Other people have not this ability to recall in visual

terms, but depend to greater extent upon sounds. When asked to think

about their instructor, they do it in terms of his voice. When asked to

conjugate a French verb, they hear it pronounced mentally but do not

see it on the page. These are extremes of imagery type, but they

illustrate preferences as they are found in many persons. Some persons

use all senses with ease; others unconsciously work out combinations,

preferring one sense for some kinds of material and another for other

kinds. For example, one might prefer visual impression for remembering

dates in history but auditory impression for conjugating French verbs.

You will find it profitable to examine yourself and discover your

preferences. If you find that you have greater difficulty in

remembering material impressed through the ear than through the eye,

reduce things to visual terms as much as possible. Make your lecture

notes more complete or tabulate things that you wish to remember, thus

securing impression from the written form. The writer has difficulty in

remembering names that are only heard. So he asks that the name be

spelled, then projects the letters on an imaginary background, thus

forming visual stuff which can easily be recalled. If, on the contrary,

you remember best the things that you hear, you may find it a good plan

to read your lessons aloud. Many a student, upon the discovery of such

a preference, has increased his memory ability many fold by adopting

the simple expedient of reading his lessons aloud. It might be pointed

out that while you are reading aloud, you are making more than auditory

impressions. By the use of the vocal organs you are making muscular

impressions, which also aid in learning, as will be pointed out in

Chapter X.

After this discussion do not jump to the conclusion that just because

you find some difficulty in using one sense avenue for impression, it

is therefore impossible to develop it. Facility in using particular

senses can be gained by practice. To improve ability to form visual

images of things, practise calling up visions of things. Try to picture

a page of your history textbook. Can you see the headlines of the

sections and the paragraphs? To develop auditory imagery, practise

calling up sounds. Try to image your French instructor's voice in

saying _élève_. The development of these sense fields is a slow and

laborious process and one questions whether it is worth while for a

student to undertake the labor involved when another sense is already

very efficient. Probably it is most economical to Arrange impressions

so as to favor the sense that is already well developed and reliable.

Another important condition of impression is repetition. It is well

known that material which is repeated several times is remembered more

easily than that impressed but once. If two repetitions induce a given

liability to recall, four or eight will secure still greater liability

of recall. Your knowledge of brain action makes this rule intelligible,

because you know the pathway is deepened every time the nervous current

passes over it.

Experiments in the psychological laboratory have shown that it is best

in making impressions to make more than enough impressions to insure

recall. "If material is to be retained for any length of time, a simple

mastery of it for immediate recall is not sufficient. It should be

learned far beyond the point of immediate reproduction if time and

energy are to be saved." This principle of learning points out the fact

that there are two kinds of memory--immediate and deferred. The first

kind involves recall immediately after impression is made; the second

involves recall at some later time. It is a well-known fact that things

learned a long time before they are to be recalled fade away. If you

are not going to recall material until a long time after the

impression, store up enough impressions so that you can afford to lose

a few and still retain enough until time for recall. Another reason for

"overlearning" is that when the time comes for recall you are likely to

be disturbed. If it is a time of public performance, you may be

embarrassed; or you may be hurried or under distractions. Accordingly

you should have the material exceedingly well memorized so that these

distractions will not prove detrimental.

The mere statement made above, that repetition is necessary in

impression, is not sufficient. It is important to know how to

distribute the repetitions. Suppose you are memorizing "Psalm of Life"

to be recited a month from to-day, and that you require thirty

repetitions of the poem to learn it. Shall you make these thirty

repetitions at one sitting? Or shall you distribute them among several

sittings? In general, it is better to spread the repetitions over a

period of time. The question then arises, what is the most effective

distribution? Various combinations are possible. You might rehearse the

poem once a day during the month, or twice a day for the first fifteen

days, or the last fifteen days, four times every fourth day, _ad

infinitum_. In the face of these possibilities is there anything that

will guide us in distributing the repetitions? We shall get some light

on the question from an examination of the curve of forgetting--a curve

that has been plotted showing the rate at which the mind tends to

forget. Forgetting proceeds according to law, the curve descending

rapidly at first and then more slowly. "The larger proportion of the

material learned is forgotten the first day or so. After that a

constantly decreasing amount is forgotten on each succeeding day for

perhaps a week, when the amount remains practically stationary." This

gives us some indication that the early repetitions should be closer

together than those at the end of the period. So long as you are

forgetting rapidly you will need more repetitions in order to

counterbalance the tendency to forget. You might well make five

repetitions; then rest. In about an hour, five more; within the next

twenty-four hours, five more. By this time you should have the poem

memorized, and all within two days. You would still have fifteen

repetitions of the thirty, and these might be used in keeping the poem

fresh in the mind by a repetition every other day.

As intimated above, one important principle in memorizing is to make

the first impressions as early as possible, for older impressions have

many chances of being retained. This is evidenced by the vividness of

childhood scenes in the minds of our grandparents. An old soldier

recalls with great vividness events that happened during the Civil War,

but forgets events of yesterday. There is involved here a principle of

nervous action that you have already encountered; namely, that

impressions are more easily made and retained in youth. It should also

be observed that pathways made early have more chances of being used

than those made recently. Still another peculiarity of nervous action

is revealed in these extended periods of memorizing. It has been

discovered that if a rest is taken between impressions, the impressions

become more firmly fixed. This points to the presence of a surprising

power, by which we are able to learn, as it were, while we sleep. We

shall understand this better if we try to imagine what is happening in

the nervous system. Processes of nutrition are constantly going on. The

blood brings in particles to repair the nerve cells, rebuilding them

according to the pattern left by the last impression. Indeed, the

entrance of this new material makes the impression even more fixed. The

nutritional processes seem to set the impression much as a hypo bath

fixes or sets an impression on a photographic plate. This peculiarity

of memory led Professor James to suggest, paradoxically, that we learn

to skate in summer and to swim in winter. And, indeed, one usually

finds, in beginning the skating season, that after the initial

stiffness of muscles wears off, one glides along with surprising

agility. You see then that if you plan things rightly, Nature will do

much of your learning for you. It might be suggested that perhaps

things impressed just before going to sleep have a better chance to

"set" than things impressed at other times for the reason that sleep is

the time when the reparative processes of the body are most active.

Since the brain pattern requires time to "set," it is important that

after the first impression you refrain from introducing anything

immediately into the mind that might disturb it. After you have

impressed the poem you are memorizing, do not immediately follow it by

another poem. Let the brain rest for three or four minutes until after

the first impressions have had a chance to "set."

Now that we have regarded this "unconscious memorizing" from the

neurological standpoint, let us consider it from the psychological

standpoint. How are the ideas being modified during the intervals

between impressions? Modern psychology has discovered that much

memorizing goes on without our knowing it, paradoxical as that may

seem. The processes may be described in terms of the doctrine of

association, which is that whenever two things have once been

associated together in the mind, there is a tendency thereafter "if the

first of them recurs, for the other to come with it." After the poem of

our illustration has once been repeated, there is a tendency for events

in everyday experience that are like it to associate themselves with

it. For example, in the course of a day or week many things might arise

and recall to you the line, "Life is real, life is earnest", and it

would become, by that fact, more firmly fixed in the mind. This

valuable semi-conscious recall requires that you must make the first

impression as early as possible before the time for ultimate recall.

This persistence of ideas in the mind means "that the process of

learning does not cease with the actual work of learning, but that, if

not disturbed, this process runs on of itself for a time, and adds a

little to the result of our labors. It also means that, if it is to our

advantage to stand in readiness with some word or thought, we shall be

able to do so, if only this word or thought recur to us but once, some

time before the critical moment. So we remember to keep a promise to

pay a call, to make a remark at the proper time, even though we turn

our mind to other work or talk for some hours between. We can do this

because, if not vigorously prevented, ideas and words keep on

reappearing in the mind." You may utilize this principle in

theme-writing to good advantage. As soon as the instructor announces

the subject for a theme, begin to think about it. Gather together all

the ideas you have about the subject and start your mind to work upon

it. Suppose you take as a theme-subject The Value of Training in Public

Speaking for a Business Man. The first time this is suggested to you, a

few thoughts, at least, will come to you. Write them down, even though

they are disconnected and heterogeneous. Then as you go about your

other work you will find a number of occasions that will arouse ideas

bearing upon this subject. You may read in a newspaper of a brilliant

speech made before the Chamber of Commerce by a leading business man,

which will serve as an illustration to support your affirmative

position; or you may attend a banquet where a prominent business man

disappoints his audience with a wretched speech. Such experiences, and

many others, bearing more or less directly upon the subject, will come

to you, and will call up the theme-subject, with which they will unite

themselves. Write down these ideas as they occur, and you will find

that when you start to compose the theme formally, it almost writes

itself, requiring for the most part only expansion and arrangement of

ideas. While thus organizing the theme you will reap even more benefits

from your early start, for, as you are composing it, you will find new

ideas crowding in upon you which you did not know you possessed, but

which had been associating themselves in your mind with this topic even

when you were unaware of the fact.

In writing themes, the principle of distribution of time may also be

profitably employed. After you have once written a theme, lay it aside

for a while--perhaps a week. Then when you take it up, read it in a

detached manner and you will note many places where it may be improved.

These benefits are to be enjoyed only when a theme is planned a long

time ahead. Hence the rule to start as early as possible.

Before leaving the subject of theme-writing, which was called up by the

discussion of unconscious memory, another suggestion will be given that

may be of service to you. When correcting a theme, employ more than one

sense avenue. Do not simply glance over it with your eye. Read it

aloud, either to yourself or, better still, to someone else. When you

do this you will be amazed to discover how different it sounds and what

a new view you secure of it. When you thus change your method of

composition, you will find a new group of ideas thronging into your

mind. In the auditory rendition of a theme you will discover faults of

syntax which escaped you in silent reading. You will note duplication

of words, split infinitives, mixed tenses, poorly balanced sentences.

Moreover, if your mind has certain peculiarities, you may find even

more advantages accruing from such a practice. The author, for example,

has a slightly different set of ideas at his disposal according to the

medium of expression employed. When writing with a pencil, one set of

ideas comes to mind; with a typewriter slightly different ideas arise;

when talking to an audience, still different ideas. Three sets of ideas

and three vocabularies are thus available for use on any subject. In

adopting this device of composing through several mediums, you should

combine with it the principle of distributing time already discussed in

connection with repetition of impressions. Write a theme one day,

then lay it aside for a few days and go back to it with a fresh mind.

The rests will be found very beneficial in helping you to get a new

viewpoint of the subject.

Reverting to our discussion of memory, we come upon another question:

In memorizing material like the poem of our example, should one impress

the entire poem at once, or break it up into parts, impressing a stanza

each day? Most people would respond, without thought, the latter, and,

as a matter of fact, most memorizing takes place in this way.

Experimental psychology, however, has discovered that this is

uneconomical. The selection, if of moderate length, should be impressed

as a whole. If too long for this, it should be broken up as little as

possible. In order to see the necessity for this let us examine your

experiences with the memorization of poems in your early school days.

You probably proceeded as follows: After school one day, you learned

the first stanza, then went out to play. The next day you learned the

second one, and so on. You thought at the end of a week that you had

memorized it because, at the end of each day's sitting, you were able

to recite perfectly the stanza learned that day. On "speaking day" you

started out bravely and recited the first stanza without mishap. When

you started to think of the second one, however, it would not come. The

memory balked. Now what was the matter? How can we explain this

distressing blank? In psychological terms, we ascribe the difficulty to

the failure to make proper associations between stanzas. Association

was made effectively between the lines of the single stanzas, but not

between the separate stanzas. After you finished impressing the first

stanza, you went about something else; playing ball, perhaps. When you

approached the poem the next day you started in with the second stanza.

There was then no bridge between the two. There was nothing to link the

last line of the first stanza,

"And things are not what they seem,"

with the first line of the next stanza,

"Life is real, life is earnest."

This makes clear the necessity of impressing the poem as a whole

instead of by parts.

According to another classification, there are two ways of

memorizing--by rote and by logical associations. Rote memorizing

involves the repetition of material just as it stands, and usually

requires such long and laborious drill that it is seldom economical.

True, some matter must be memorized this way; such as the days of the

week and the names of the months; but there is another and gentler

method which is usually more effective and economical than that of

brutal repetition. That is the method of logical association, by which

one links up a new fact with something already in the mind. If, for

example, you wish to remember the date of the World's Fair in Chicago,

you might proceed as follows: Ask yourself, What did the Fair

commemorate? The discovery of America in 1492, the four hundredth

anniversary occurring in 1892. The Fair could not be made ready in that

year, however, so was postponed a year. Such a process of memorizing

the date is less laborious than the method of rote memory, and is

usually more likely to lead to ready recall. The old fact already in

mind acts as a magnet which at some later time may call up other facts

that had once been associated with it. You can easily see that this new

fact might have been associated with several old facts, thus securing

more chances of being called up. From this it may be inferred that the

more facts you have in your mind about a subject the more chances you

have of retaining new facts. It is sometimes thought that if a person

stores so much in his memory it will soon be so full that he cannot

memorize any more. This is a false notion, involving a conception of

the brain as a hopper into which impressions are poured until it runs

over. On the contrary, it should be regarded as an interlacing of

fibers with infinite possibilities of inter-connection, and no one ever

exhausts the number of associations that can be made.

The method of logical association may be employed with telling effect

in the study of foreign languages. When you meet a new word scrutinize

it carefully for some trace of a word already familiar to you either in

that language or in another. This independent discovery of meanings is

a very great aid in saving time and in fixing the meaning of new words.

Opportunities for this method are especially frequent in the German

language, since so many German words are formed by compounding other

words. "Rathausmarkt" is a long and apparently difficult German word,

and one's first temptation is to look it up in the lexicon and promptly

forget it. Let us analyze it, however, and we shall see that it is only

a compound of already familiar words. "_Rat_" is already familiar as

the word for counsel ("_raten"_ to give advice); "_haus_" is equally

familiar. So we see that the first part of the word means

council-house; the council-house of a city is called a city hall.

"_Markt_" is equally familiar as market-square, so the significance of

the entire word stands, city-hall-square. By such a method of utilizing

facts already known, you may make yourself much more independent of the

lexicon and may make your memory for foreign words much more tenacious.

We approach a phase of impression the importance of which is often

unsuspected; namely, the intention with which memorizing is done. The

fidelity of memory is greatly affected by the intention. If, at the

time of impression, you intend to retain only until the time of recall,

the material tends to slip away after that time. If, however, you

impress with the intention to retain permanently the material stays by

you better. Students make a great mistake when they study for the

purpose merely of retaining until after examination time. Intend to

retain facts permanently, and there will be greater likelihood of their

permanence.

READINGS AND EXERCISES

Readings: Adams (1) Chapter III. Seashore (16) Chapter II. Swift (20)

Chapter VII. Watt (21).

Exercise I. Cite examples from your own experience showing the effects

of the following faults in making impressions. _a_. First impression

not clear. _b_. Insufficient number of repetitions. _c_. Use of rote

method instead of method of logical association. _d_. Impressions not

distributed. _e_. Improper use of "part" method.

Exercise 2. After experimentation, state what is your most effective

sense avenue for the impression of foreign words, facts in history, the

pronunciation of English words.

Exercise 3. Make a preliminary draft of your next theme; lay it aside

for a day or two; then write another on the same subject; combine the

two, using the best parts of each; lay this aside for a day or two;

then read it aloud, making such changes as are prompted by the auditory

presentation. Can you find elements of worth in this method, which will

warrant you in adopting it, at least, in part?

CHAPTER VII

SECOND AIDS TO MEMORY: RETENTION, RECALL AND RECOGNITION

Our discussion up to this point has centred around the phase of memory

called impression. We have described some of the conditions favorable

to impression and have seen that certain and accurate memory depends

upon adherence to them. The next phase of memory--Retention--cannot be

described in psychological terms. We know we retain facts after they

are once impressed, but as to their status in the mind we can say

nothing. If you were asked when the Declaration of Independence was

signed, you would reply instantly. When asked, however, where that fact

was five minutes ago, you could not answer. Somewhere in the recesses

of the mind, perhaps, but as to immediate awareness of it, there was

none. We may try to think of retention in terms of nerve cells and say

that at the time when the material was first impressed there was some

modification made in certain nerve cells which persisted. This trait of

nerve modifiability is one factor which accounts for greater retentive

power in some persons than in others. It must not be concluded,

however, that all good memory is due to the inheritance of this trait.

It is due partly to observance of proper conditions of impression, and

much can be done to overcome or offset innate difficulty of

modification by such observance.

We are now ready to examine the third phase of memory--Recall. This is

the stage at which material that has been impressed and retained is

recalled to serve the purpose for which it was memorized. Recall is

thus the goal of memory, and all the devices so far discussed have it

for their object. Can we facilitate recall by any other means than by

faithful and intelligent impressions? For answer let us examine the

state of mind at time of recall.

We find that it is a unique mental state. It differs from impression in

being a period of more active search for facts in the mind accompanied

by expression, instead of a concentration upon the external impression.

It is also usually accompanied by motor expressions, either talking or

writing. Since recall is a unique mental state, you ought to prepare

for it by means of a rehearsal. When you are memorizing anything to be

recalled, make part of your memorizing a rehearsal of it, if possible,

under same conditions as final recall. In memorizing from a book, first

make impression, then close the book and practise recall. When

memorizing a selection to be given in a public speaking class,

intersperse the periods of impression with periods of recall. This is

especially necessary in preparation for public speaking, for facing an

audience gives rise to a vastly different psychic attitude from that of

impression. The sight of an audience may be embarrassing or exciting.

Furthermore, unforeseen distractions may arise. Accordingly, create

those conditions as nearly as possible in your preparation. Imagine

yourself facing the audience. Practise aloud so that you will become

accustomed to the sound of your own voice. The importance of the

practice of recall as a part of the memory process can hardly be

overestimated. One psychologist has advised that in memorizing

significant material more than half the time should be spent in

practising recall.

There still remains a fourth phase of memory--Recognition. Whenever a

remembered fact is recalled, it is accompanied by a characteristic

feeling which we call the feeling of recognition. It has been described

as a feeling of familiarity, a glow of warmth, a sense of ownership, a

feeling of intimacy. As you walk down the street of a great city you

pass hundreds of faces, all of them strange. Suddenly in the crowd you

catch sight of some one you know and are instantly suffused with a glow

of feeling that is markedly different from your feeling toward the

others. That glow represents the feeling of recognition. It is always

present during recall and may be used in great advantage in studying.

It derives its virtue for our purpose from the fact that it is a

feeling, and at the time of feeling the bodily activities in general

are affected. Changes occur in heart beat, breathing; various glandular

secretions are affected, the digestive organs respond. In this general

quickening of bodily activity we have reason to believe that the

nervous system partakes, and things become impressed more readily. Thus

the feeling of recognition that accompanies recall is responsible for

one of the benefits of reviews. At such a time material once memorized

becomes tinged with a feelingful color different from that which

accompanied it when new. Review, then, not merely to produce additional

impressions, but also to take advantage of the feeling of recognition.

We have now discussed memory in its four phases and have seen clearly

that it operates not in a blind, chaotic manner, but according to law.

Certain conditions are required and when they are met memory is good.

After providing proper conditions for memory, then, trust your memory.

An attitude of confidence is very necessary. If, when you are

memorizing, you continually tremble for fear that you will not recall

at the desired moment, the fixedness of the impression will be greatly

hindered. Therefore, after utilizing all your knowledge about the

conditions of memorizing, rest content and trust to the laws of Nature.

They will not fail you.

By this time you have seen that memory is not a mysterious mental

faculty with which some people are generously endowed, and of which

others are deprived. All people of normal intelligence can remember and

can improve their ability if they desire. The improvement does not take

the form that some people expect, however. No magic wand can transform

you into a good memorizes You must work the transformation yourself.

Furthermore, it is not an instantaneous process to be accomplished

overnight. It will come about only after you have built up a set of

habits, according to our conception of study as a process of habit

formation.

A final word of caution should be added. Some people think of memory as

a separate division or compartment of the mind which can be controlled

and improved by exercising it alone. Such a conception is fallacious.

Improvement in memory will involve improvement in other mental

abilities, and you will find that as you improve your ability to

remember, you will develop at the same time better powers to

concentrate attention, to image, to associate facts and to reason.

READING AND EXERCISE

Reading: See readings for Chapter VI.

Exercise I. Compare the mental conditions of impression with those of

recall.