USING THE MIND.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5272, 9 May 1928, Page 1

USING THE MIND.

BEST METHODS TO EMPLOY.

ADDRESS BY PROFESSOR LAWSON.

The subject of an address at the Dunedin. University Club luncheon recently was one of particular interest to the many people who in. these enlightened days of psychological study are endeavouring to explore the hid' den depths of the mind, and Who wish to use to the full the mental capabilities with which they are blessed.

Professor R. Lawson, of the Otago University, wts the speaker, and what life, had to say was .much appreciated by a large and attentive audience. In the earlier part of his address Professor Lawson dealt with memory training as applied to children. He pointed out that children broke down in recitation mainly owing to tiheii; learning by partial methods instead of learning by Wholes.” In this con' nection not one but hundreds dt experiments had been made. As an ini' stance, he quoted ap occasion when 200 lines of “Paradise Lost” were read over three times a day. A s,imilair passage of 240 li.nes was committed to memory by the repetition of thirty lines at a time dai*y- When the two passages could be recited equally well by heart it was found that the partial method took twelve days (a total of 431 minuteEi) to perfect, ■ and that, when the “ wholes ” method was employed the time taken was ten days, or 348 minutes; by the latter .method 20 per . cent, of time was saved.

The breakdown in public recitation was due to the fragmentary method of learning. In giving some significance to the comparative values, of paced repetition, he stated that eight repetitions a day for three days were not as good as six repetitions a day for twelve days. In an experiment of this nature pupils had been awards ed 18, 39, and 53 marks respectively, and in ye.t another case 7, 31, and 55 marks had been awarded. Aji additional point was that an effort at recall should, be made after very little learning. This was better than going over, the piece again, because it clarified the images, confirmed the mental associations, and turned the process into an active one.

“In learning or preparing a speech or in endeavouring to write an article or a,n essay,” continued' Professor Lawson, “one should: jot down any thoughts which spring inrto the mind in the order in which they come. Once they are lodged in the mind they tend to knit up tue associations. Thus an increase of knowledge may come when we are asleep. Children who are imperfectly learning by heart a piece of poetry w ill know it better at the end of two days without having looked at it in the interim. When a blockage occurs in the endeavour to recall a name, picture the person, and recall in the mind a ny syllables that seems similar in sound to his name an*d similar in look when written. The unconscious mind will hand you up the same sooner or, later.” ■ After telling how Monsieur Poip-i care, the President of the French Republic, made a celebrated mathematician discovery, the speaker said that one keeps on learning to swim in the winter time without 'ever going near the water, for up to a. certain point the tendency was to improve. As regards character formation, he stated that it was the first atraw not the last straw" that broke the camel’s back. Once a nerv'ous impulse had taken, a certain line of discharge, even in earliest infancy, '.later, impulses of a similar character, tended to take the same track. In forming the wil.l expression of some kind was an aid, because we were dll inclined to express ideas. For example, a man with both eyes bandaged, whe.n asked to think of a certain object at his side would, if he had a recording inistrument placed against that side of his head, show a tendency to lean in that direction.”

“ In making a speech begin boldly,” declared Professor Lawson. “ This creates, energy. In learning a hard foreign langwauge don’t be depressed when in traversing the chart of progress you come on to a plateau. ,On the plateau consolidation of past effort is going on ; it is a sort of mental second wind. By persevering you will wake up one morning to find you are halfway up -Mount Cook. Perseverance’.may not take you to the top of Mount Everest, but it will, 'Certainly take you to the highest summit of which your particular capacity has the potentiality. When the abdominal girth (laughter) is increasing in inverse proportion to the: circle of intellectual interests, it is advisable to keep t 'he faculty of effort alive by a little, gratuitous, exercise every day. Walk instead of riding on trams,; dig theg arden instead of employing a main start to learn Greek . This keeps the physiological, basis of will in active operation. Identify yourself warmly with the goal‘you wish to reach. If yon wished t'o be re-> minded to post a letter, picture yourself actually slipping i.t into a pillar box ; if you wish, to sleep, call up a picture of a sleeping infant; even the persistaltic action of the tin.es is valuable in the relief of constipation.

In conclusion, the. sytaker stated that the great disturbing element was the emotional field. If we could make our emotions the scarce of propulsive energy to the realis.ation of our aims, approved by our treason, we should achieve satisfactory’ results. —Dunedin Evening Star.