Individual learning curves rise by irregular increments with occasional losses, with plateau-like periods attributed to changes in method and waning interest¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r1 · q2
Currency · newest study 1913 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? No individual progresses uniformly; gains come by irregular increments with occasional actual losses, and plateau periods between the fifth-seventh and eighth-eleventh trials are attributed by the author to changes in method of work and waning enthusiasm. → Baldwin 1913

Evidence¶

Baldwin 1913¶

Baldwin, B. T. (1913). The learning of delinquent adolescent girls as shown by a substitution test. The Journal of Educational Psychology, IV(6), 317-332. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0069968

q2 · i? · causal · r1

Analysis of individual practice curves for the white girls in Chart I. The author interprets the plateau periods between the fifth and seventh and the eighth and eleventh trials as "due to changes in method of work, and to the lack of the enthusiasm and interest manifested at the first trials."

"It will be noted that no individual progresses uniformly, but each gains by irregular increments, with an occasional actual loss. There is always a gain between the first and second trial, and at the last trial."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Interest — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes

Related Claims¶

• Efficiency in the work curve is conditioned by factors beyond fatigue proper: practice, adaptation, preparedness, warming up, spurts, voluntary effort, ennui, and diurnal rhythms (Offner) — related
• Note-level singing correctness rises with practice repetition in a negatively accelerated curve, gaining about 7 percentage points over 30 repetitions — related
• Learning-curve plateaus were caused by learners' failure to overcome specific difficulties at critical stages, not by the order in which habits developed — related
• Practice curves in computation and reasoning would resemble the learning curves of Bryan and Harter and Book — related