Activity . Fig. . : Sixteen figures containing two shapes – square and triangle, two shades – pink and grey, cross on top and bottom, circles – right or left sides of figures.
These figures are used as instances of and non-instances of an artificial concept. In Figure . there are cards having two shapes - square and triangle, two shades-pink and grey, signs of cross on top or bottom, and small circle on right side or left side. With the help of these cards one can create a number of concepts by using different rules.
The set of features that are connected by some rule are called relevant features . The features that are not included in the rule are considered to be irrelevant features. For example, in the cards shown in Figure . there are four features — shape, shade, cross or no cross on the top, and circle on the right or left side.
In creating a conjunctive concept by using two features one may use shape and side as the relevant ones, and leave out two others as irrelevant. For such a concept, the exemplars and non- exemplars are given in Figure . . You will study more about concepts in Chapter on thinking.
shorthand writing, and writing and reading are examples of skills. Such skills are learned by practice and exercise. A skill consists of a chain of perceptual motor responses or as a sequence of S-R associations. Phases of Skill Acquisition Skill learning passes through several qualitatively different phases.
With each successive attempt at learning a skill, one’s performance becomes smoother and less effort demanding. In other words, it becomes more spontaneous or automatic. It has also been shown that in each phase the performance improves. In transition from one phase to the next, when the level of performance stands still, it is called performance plateau.
Once the next phase begins, performance starts improving and its level starts going up. One of the most influential accounts of the phases of skill acquisition is presented by Fitts. According to him, skill learning passes through