Abstract
I SHOULD like to hear the opinion of psychologists on the following circumstance:—A female child, quick and intelligent, when about fifteen months old, learned to repeat the alphabet, shortly afterwards the numerals, days of the week, month, &c., and, subsequently, scraps of nursery rhymes, English and German; then to spell words of two and three letters. All this was learned readily, eagerly indeed, and for a time she remembered apparently every word acquired, indelibly. At about two years old further teaching was for a time remitted, as she was observed to be repeating audibly in her sleep what she had learned during the day. Subsequently, tuition was resumed, under a governess, but she had not only forgotten much of what she had previously known perfectly, but learns far less readily than formerly. She is now about three and a half years old, in perfectly good health and spirits, quick, and particularly observant, but the capacity for learning by rote is materially diminished; she is remarkably imitative, but shows no faculty whatever for writing, and as little for music.
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A., M. Mental Development in Children. Nature 36, 483 (1887). https://doi.org/10.1038/036483b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/036483b0
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