Such a pupil hears your words, says "yes," even acts appropriately so far as your immediate instructions go; but when he comes to the same situation again, he is as virginly innocent of your lesson as if his teacher had never been born.

Psychologically, the state differs from preoccupation, which characterizes quite a different type of mind.

The motor boy is not preoccupied.

Far from that, he is quite ready to attend to you.

But when he attends, it is with a momentary concentration--with a rush like the flow of a mountain stream past the point of the bank on which you sit.