THE PHANTOM PLATEAU¹

Abstract

Not so long ago, I overheard a laboratory assistant in general psychology telling one of the boys in his section about a file of old examinations that we keep in the college library for students to consult.He ended brightly with the comment that it wouldn't do much good to study these exams."You see, " he said, "we use the same questions from year to year, but we change the answers."This disturbed me at the time.It seemed like a dangerous quip to make.What if word got around that we actually did change our answers?Might we not be in- vestigated for Unacademic Activities?A little reflection, however, suggested that changing answers was, in truth, a sign of good health in any course of study.It suggested, too, that such changes are really quite uncommon--especially in the beginning course.And, finally, it suggested a few answers that ought to be changed.One of these makes up the burden of the present discussion.The answer to which I refer is commonly given in textbook chapters on learning, or habit-formation.Under such headings, it may fall within a treatment of skill, practice, or, occasionally, learning-curve plateaus.In conformity with a well-known teaching procedure, the question itself comes after the answer, usually by several weeks.In an old-fashioned essay-type exam- ination, it might read like this: What is the normal course of progress in the mastery of a skill?How might a curve for ball-tossing or pursuit-meter learning differ from that for Morse code receiving?Explain thisl difference.(10 points) An A-student's answer to this question might go as follows:The progress curve for most skills is negatively accelerated.The amount of improvement from one trial to the next decreases as the number of trials increases.This is true of balltossingand of keeping contact with the target of a pursuit-meter.However, progress in Morse code receiving typically shows a long period of no advance--a plateau--midway in training.This plateau occurs only in the case of receiving plain-language material.It is said to be due to the fact that code proficiency depends on learning to respond to phrases and sentences as units, rather than to letters or words' The plateau represents the period in which word habitshave not yet become sufficiently automatic for progress with phrases and sentences to take place.

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Affiliated Institutions

• Columbia University US

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