Various - Harvard Psychological Studies, Volume 1

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As before, the advantage is on the side of the disconnected lines. In
this case, however, it is very slight, the general averages showing
34.03 seconds for the completed figure, as against 36.40 seconds for
the lines. This reduction in the difference of the averages is
probably to be explained by the reduced complexity in the arrangement
of the lines. So far as they are all parallel they would not be likely
to give rise to great diversity of movement, though one subject does,
indeed, speak of traversing them in all directions. In fact, the
completed figures show greater diversity of direction than the lines,
and in this respect might be supposed to have the advantage of the
lines. The notes suggest a reason why the lines should still prove the
more persistent in ideation. "The lines appealed to me as a group; I
tended always to throw a boundary around the lines," is the comment of
one of the subjects. From this point of view the lines would form a
figure with a content, and we have learned (see Series No. VI.) that a
space with a varied content is more effective in ideation than a
homogeneous space of the same extent and general character. And this
unity of the lines as a group was felt even where no complete boundary
line was distinctly suggested. "I did not throw a boundary around the
lines," says another subject, "but they had a kind of unity." It is
possible also that from the character of their arrangement the lines
reinforced each other by a kind of visual rhythm, a view which is
supported by the comments: 'The lines were a little plainer than the
figure;' 'figure shadowy, lives vivid;' 'the figure grew dimmer
towards the end, the lines retained their vividness.'

On the whole, however, the chances are very nearly equal in the two
cases for the recurrence of the image, and a comparison of this series
with Series No. XII. cannot leave much doubt that the greater
effectiveness of the lines in the latter is due to their greater
complexity. In view, therefore, of the fact that in both series the
objects are all linear, and that the two series differ in no material
respect but in the arrangement of the disconnected lines, the
circumstance that a reduction in the complexity of this arrangement is
attended by a very considerable reduction in the power of the lines to
recur in the image or idea is a striking confirmation of the soundness
of our previous interpretation.

_Series No. XIV._--In this series full-faced figures (granite-gray)
similar in character to those made use of in former experiments, were
employed. The objects were suspended by black silk threads, but while
one of them remained stationary during the exposure the other was
lowered through a distance of six and one half centimeters and was
then drawn up again. The object moved was first that on the right
hand, then that on the left. As the two objects in each case were
exactly alike, the comparative effect of motion and rest in the object
upon the persistence in consciousness of the corresponding image was
obtained. The result shows a distinct preponderance in favor of the
moved object, which has an average of 37.39 seconds per minute as
against 28.88 seconds for the stationary object. The averages for the
pairs, as seen at the foot of the columns, all run the same way, and
only one exception to the general tendency appears among the
individual averages.

TABLE XIV.

1 2 3 4 5 Indiv. Av.
S M S M S M S M S M S M
I. 22.5 28.5 25 30.5 24.5 28 28 27.5 25.5 31 25.1 29.6
II. 47.5 55 53 42 48.5 53.5 34.5 39.5 49 52 46.5 48.4
III. 3 18 7.5 8.5 0 7.5 0 3.5 0 4 2.1 8.3
IV. 45 45 33.5 51.5 11 50.5 11 50 8 52.5 21.7 49.9
V. 54.5 51 53.5 54.5 49 51 30.5 38.5 56 55 48.7 50.0
VI. 21 32.5 26 33 29.5 37.5 30 35 30 36 27.3 34.8
VII. 48 55 56.5 49 41.5 54.5 44.5 53 35.5 54 45.2 53.1
VIII. 10.5 20.5 20.5 25 6 33 12.5 29.5 19 18 13.7 25.2
IX. 37.5 43.5 34.5 45 36 47.5 30 47.5 29 48.5 33.4 46.4
X. 13 39.5 18 34 19 33.5 19 33 10.5 44 15.9 36.8
XI. 17.5 43.5 47.5 32 27.5 36 46 16.5 52 16 38.1 28.8

29.09 39.27 34.14 36.82 26.59 39.55 26.00 33.95 28.59 37.36 28.88 37.39

S: Refers to figure left stationary.
M: Refers to figure that was moved during exposure.

General average: S, 28.88 sec.; M, 37.39 sec.

The effectiveness of a bright light or of a moving object in arresting
attention in external perception is well understood. And the general
testimony of the subjects in this experiment shows that it required
some effort, during the exposure, to give an equal share of attention
to the moving and the resting object. Table IV., however, which
contains the record of the observations in the white-gray series,
shows that we cannot carry over, unmodified, into the field of
ideation all the laws that obtain in the field of perception. The
result of the experiment, accordingly, could not be predicted with
certainty. But the course of ideation, in this case, seems to follow
the same general tendency as the course of perception: the resting
object labors under a great disadvantage. And if there is any force in
the claim that diversity and complexity in an object, with the
relatively greater subjective activity which they imply, tend to hold
the attention to the ideated object about which this activity is
employed, the result could hardly be other than it is. There can be no
question of the presence of a strong motor element where the object
attended to moves, and where the movement is imaged no less than the
qualities of the object. In fact, the object and its movement were
sometimes sharply distinguished. According to one subject, 'the image
was rather the image of the motion than of the object moving.' Again:
'The introspection was disturbed by the idea of motion; I did not get
a clear image of the moving object; imaged the motion rather than the
object.' And a subject, who on one occasion vainly searched the
ideational field for sixty seconds to find an object, reports: 'I had
a feeling of something going up and down, but no object.' Clearly an
important addition was made to the active processes implied in the
ideation of a resting object, and it would be singular if this added
activity carried with it no corresponding advantage in the ideational
rivalry. In one case the ideas of rest and of movement were curiously
associated in the same introspective act. "The figure which moved,"
says the subject, "was imaged as stationary, and yet the idea of
movement was distinctly present."

The reports as to the vividness of the rival images are somewhat
conflicting. Sometimes it is the moving object which was imaged with
the more vivid content, and sometimes the resting object. One report
runs: "The moving object had less color, but was more distinct in
outline than the stationary." Sometimes one of the positions of the
moving object was alone represented in the image, either the initial
position (on a level with the resting object) or a position lower
down. On the other hand, we read: "The image of the moved object
seemed at times a general image that reached clear down, sometimes
like a series of figures, and not very distinct; but sometimes the
series had very distinct outlines." In one case (the circle) the
image of the figure in its upper position remained, while the serial
repetitions referred to extended below. This, as might be supposed, is
the report of an exceptionally strong visualizer. In other cases the
object and its movements were not dissociated: "The moved object was
imaged as moving, and color and outline were retained." And again:
"Twice through the series I could see the image of the moving object
as it moved." "Image of moved object moved all the time."

TABLE XV.

1 2 3 4 5 Indiv. Av.
Gray Red Gray Yellow Gray Green Gray Blue Gray Violet Gray Colored.

I. 26 29 27.5 28.5 26.5 29 21.5 27.5 27.5 26.5 25.8 28.1
II. 35.5 36.5 45.5 53.5 53.5 53.5 53.5 53.5 55 55 48.6 50.4
III. 0 11 2.5 19 10.5 16 17.5 8.5 0 9 6.1 12.7
IV. 45 23.5 8 53.5 48 39 48 52 55.5 35 40.9 40.6
V. 55.5 55.5 42 53 50 56 52.5 50 44.5 56.5 49.1 54.2
VI. 22 33.5 29 36.5 28 43.5 26 37.5 39.5 29 28.9 36.0
VII. 38.5 39 56 56 49.5 54.5 47 47 45.5 50 47.3 49.3
VIII. 15 10.5 15 19.5 23 21 19.5 24 20.5 25 18.6 20.0
IX. 31.5 49 19 42.5 50 50 35.5 46 48 39 36.8 45.3
X. 19 33 14.5 37 29.5 23 17 37.5 23 31 20.6 32.3
XI. 11 49.5 8 51.5 9 43.5 35 43.5 24 47 17.4 47.0
27.18 33.64 24.27 40.95 34.32 39.00 33.91 38.82 34.82 36.64 30.90 37.81

General average: Gray, 30.90 sec.; colored, 37.81 sec.

_Series No. XV._--The figures in each pair of this series were
full-faced, and of the same shape and size, but one was gray and the
other colored, the gray being seen first to the left, and then to the
right. The colors used were of Prang's series (Gray, R., Y., G., B.,
V.). In No. 1 the figures were in the form of a six-pointed star, and
gray was compared with red. In No. 2 the figures were elliptical, and
gray was compared with yellow. In No. 3 a broad circular band of gray
was compared with the same figure in green. In No. 4 the figures were
kite-shaped, and gray was compared with blue. In No. 5 a circular
surface of gray was compared with a circular surface of violet. The
objects compared were exposed at the same time, under the usual
conditions.

As might perhaps be expected, the colored surfaces proved to be the
more persistent in ideation, showing a general average of 37.81
seconds per minute as against 30.90 seconds for the gray.

The distinctness of the process of color apprehension is reflected in
the notes: "In the colored images I find the color rather than the
form occupying my attention; the image seems like an area of color, as
though I were close to a wall and could not see the boundary;" and
then we have the significant addition, "yet I feel myself going about
in the colored area." Again: "In the gray the outline was more
distinct than in the colors; the color seems to come up as a shade,
and the outline does not come with it." Or again: "The gray has a more
sharply defined outline than the color." This superior definiteness in
outline of the gray figures is subject to exceptions, and one subject
reports 'the green outline more distinct than the gray.' And even so
brilliant a color as yellow did not always obscure the boundary: "The
yellow seems to burn into my head," says one of the subjects, "but the
outline was distinct." The reports in regard to this color (yellow)
are in fact rather striking, and are sometimes given in terms of
energy, as though the subject were distinctly conscious of an active
process (objectified) set up in the apprehension of this color. The
reports run: "The yellow has an expansive power; there seemed to be no
definite outline." "The yellow seemed to exert a power over the gray
to suppress it; its power was very strong; it seemed to be
aggressive."

TABLE XVI.

1 2 3 4 5
a b a b a b a b a b
I. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
II. 43 41 33 51 19 31 32 41 20 18
III. 0 6 0 0 3 11 13 16 0 0
IV. 56 28 23 35 0 11 48 56 35 25
V. 56 55 44 44 57 30 39 32 34 30
VI. 14 8 12 12 11 5 35 12 9 6
VII. 52 54 56 56 51 47 56 57 47 26
VIII. 15 0 18 21 24 39 26 10 23 21
IX. 28 25 39 31 23 28 26 36 25 17
X. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
XI. 52 45 41 48 7 39 50 36 48 22
35.11 29.11 29.55 33.11 21.66 26.78 29.55 26.91 21.91 15.00

_Series No. XVI._--The course of experimentation having shown the
superior energy of lines, in comparison with surfaces, in stimulating,
directing, and holding the attention, a series of figures was devised
to test the question whether the direction of the lines would have any
effect upon the length of time during which _both_ images of a pair of
linear figures would be presented together. The materials used were
granite-gray strips half a centimeter wide. The letters (_a_) and
(_b_) at the heads of the columns refer to the same letters in the
diagram, and distinguish the different arrangements of the same pair
of objects. The figures in the body of the columns show only the
length of time during which both images were reported present in
consciousness together. At the foot of the columns are shown the
averages for each pair. No general averages are shown, as the problem
presented by each pair is peculiar to itself.

[Illustration: FIG. 7.]

The maximum is reached in No. 1_a_, where the angle has the arrowhead
form and each angle points to the other. It should be remarked that
the diagram is somewhat misleading in respect to the distance of the
figures, which in this as in the other experiments was 25 cm. The
figures therefore were far enough away from each other to be perceived
and imaged in individual distinctness. But the 'energy' of the lines,
especially where the lines united to form an acute angle, was often
sufficient to overcome the effect of this separation, and either to
bring the figures nearer together or to unite them into a single
object. The notes are very decisive in this regard. A few of them may
be cited: "The angles tended to join points." "The figures showed a
tendency to move in the direction of the apex." "The angles (2_a_)
united to form a cross." "When both figures (4_b_) were in mind I felt
disagreeable strains in the eyeballs; one figure led me to the right
and the other to the left." The effect of the last-named figures
(4_a_) seemed to be different from that of 1_a_ and 2_a_, though the
apex of each angle was turned to that of the other in each of the
three cases. "The two angles," says another subject, speaking of 4_a_,
"appeared antagonistic to each other." It will be observed that they
are less acute than the other angles referred to, and the confluent
lines of each figure are far less distinctly directed towards the
corresponding lines of the opposing figure, so that the attention, so
far as it is determined in direction by the lines, would be less
likely to be carried over from the one image to the other.

On the other hand, when the angles were turned away from each other
the legs of the angles in the two figures compared were brought into
closer relation, so that in 2_b_, for instance, the average is even
higher than in 2_a_. Similarly the average in 3_b_, an obtuse angle,
is higher than in 3_a_. The notes show that in such cases the
contrasted angles tended to close up and coalesce into a single
figure with a continuous boundary. "The ends (2_b_) came together and
formed a diamond." "When the angles were turned away from each other
the lines had an occasional tendency to close up." "There was a
tendency to unite the two images (4_a_) into a triangle." "The two
figures seemed to tug each other, and the images were in fact a little
closer than the objects (4_a_)." "The images (4_a_) formed a
triangle." So with regard to the figures in 5_a_. "When both were in
the field there seemed to be a pulling of the left over to the right,
though no apparent displacement." "The two figures formed a square."

The lowest average--and it is much lower than any other average in the
table--is that of 5_b_, in which the contrasted objects have neither
angles nor incomplete lines directed to any common point between the
objects. In view of the notes, the tabulated record of these two
figures (5_b_) is very significant, and strikingly confirms, by its
negative testimony, what 1_a_ and 2_b_ have to teach us by their
positive testimony. The averages are, in the three cases just cited:
1_a_, 35.11 seconds; 2_b_,33.11 seconds; 5_b_, 15 seconds per minute.

On the whole, then, the power of the line to arrest, direct, and keep
the attention, through the greater energy and definiteness of the
processes which it excites, and thereby to increase the chances of the
recurrence and persistence of its idea in consciousness, is confirmed
by the results of this series. The greatest directive force seems to
lie in the sharply acute angle. Two such angles, pointing one towards
the other, tend very strongly to carry the attention across the gap
which separates them. (And it should be borne in mind that the
distance between the objects exposed was 25 cm.) But the power of two
incomplete lines, similarly situated, is not greatly inferior.

It thus appears that the attention process is in part, at least, a
motor process, which in this case follows the direction of the lines,
acquiring thereby a momentum which is not at once arrested by a break
in the line, but is readily diverted by a change in the direction of
the line. If the lines are so situated that the attention process
excited by the one set is carried away from the other set, the one set
inhibits the other. If, on the other hand, the lines in the one set
are so situated that they can readily take up the overrunning or
unarrested processes excited by the other set, the two figures support
each other by becoming in fact one figure. The great importance of the
motor elements of the attention process in ideation, and thus in the
persistence of the idea, is evident in either phase of the experiment.

RECAPITULATION.

Seconds Seconds.
1 Figures alike: Left 30.8 Right 31.9
2 " unlike: Simple 27.10 Complex 34.62
3 " " Small 24.54 Large 33.30
4 " " Gray 25.61 White 29.53
5 " " Line 31.91 Angle 38.54
6 " " Plain 23.92 Marked 37.48
7 " " (colored) 5 seconds 27.75 10 seconds 29.15
8 " " (gray) 5 seconds 25.42 10 " 32.12
9 " " 1st exposure 12.64 2d exposure 36.45
10 " " Vertical line 34.94 Hor. line 34.49
11 " " Full-faced 28.10 Outline 41.08
12 " " Figure 29.26 Int. lines 39.32
13 " " Figure 34.03 Vert. lines 36.40
14 " " Stationary 28.88 Moved 37.39
15 " " Gray 30.90 Colored 37.81
16 (See Table XVI.)

If we put these results into the form of propositions, we find:

1. That when the objects are similar surfaces, seen under similar
conditions, the chances of the recurrence and persistence of their
images are, on the whole, practically equal.

2. That surfaces bounded by complicated outlines have an advantage in
ideation, other things equal, over surfaces bounded by simple
outlines.

3. That as between two objects of unequal area--color, form, and other
conditions being the same--the larger object has the advantage in the
ideational rivalry.

4. That the image of a white object has a like advantage over the
image of a gray object.

5. That broken or complex lines have in ideation an advantage over
straight or simple lines.

6. That an object with varied content, other conditions remaining the
same, has an advantage over an object with homogeneous surface.

7 and 8. That an increase of the time during which the attention is
given to an object increases the chances for the recurrence of its
image or idea.

9. That of two objects to which attention is directed in succession,
the object last seen has a distinct advantage in the course of
ideation following close on the perception of the objects.

10. That lines of similar appearance and equal length, one of which is
vertical and the other horizontal, have, like surfaces of similar
appearance and form and equal dimensions, practically equal chances of
recurrence and survival in ideation, the slight difference in their
chances being in favor of the vertical line.

11. That as between two figures of similar form and equal dimensions,
one of which has a filled homogeneous content and the other is a mere
outline figure, the latter has a marked advantage in the course of
ideation.

12. That of two linear and symmetrical figures, of which one is an
outline figure with continuous boundary, and the other consists of the
same linear elements, similarly disposed, as the first, but has its
lines disconnected so that it has no continuous boundary, the latter
figure has the advantage in ideation.

13. That if, with material similar to that described in paragraph 12,
the disconnected lines are arranged so as to be vertical and
equidistant, the advantage in ideation still remains with the
disconnected lines, but is much reduced.

14. That if one of two figures, of similar appearance and form and of
equal dimensions, is kept in motion while it is exposed to view, and
the other is left at rest, the image of the moving object is the more
persistent.

15. That, under like conditions, colored objects are more persistent
in ideation than gray objects.

16. That lines and sharp angles, as compared with broad surfaces, have
a strong directive force in the determination of the attention to
their images or ideas; that this directive force is strongest in the
case of very acute angles, the attention being carried forward in the
direction indicated by the apex of the angle; but that uncompleted
lines, especially when two such lines are directed towards each
other, have a similar and not much inferior force in the control of
the course of ideation.

If we should seek now to generalize these experimental results, they
would take some such form as the following:

Abstraction made of all volitional aims and all aesthetic or affective
bias, the tendency of an object to recur and persist in idea depends
(within the limits imposed by the conditions of these experiments)
upon the extent of its surface, the complexity of its form, the
diversity of its contents, the length and recency of the time during
which it occupies the attention, the definiteness of the direction
which it imparts to the attention (as in the case of angles and
lines), its state of motion or of rest, and, finally, its brightness
and its color.

These conditions, however, are for the most part but conditions which
determine the energy, diversity, complexity and definiteness of the
active processes involved in the bestowal of attention upon its
object, and the experiments show that such active processes are as
essential in ideation as in perception. The stability of an image, or
internal sensation, thus depends on the activity of its motor
accompaniments or conditions. And as the presence of an image to the
exclusion of a rival, which but for the effect of these motor
advantages would have as strong a claim as itself to the occupation of
consciousness (cf. Series I., X.), may be treated as a case of
inhibition, the greater the relative persistence of an image or idea
the greater we may say is the 'force' with which it inhibits its
rival. Exclusive possession of the field involves, to the extent to
which such possession is made good, actual exclusion of the rival; and
exclusion is inhibition. Our generalization, accordingly, may take the
following form:--

The inhibitory effect of an idea, apart from volitional or emotional
bias, depends upon the energy, diversity, complexity and definiteness
of the motor conditions of the idea.

* * * * *

CONTROL OF THE MEMORY IMAGE.

BY CHARLES S. MOORE.

Since Gallon's classic investigation in the field of mental imagery
several similar investigations have been pursued in the same
direction, chiefly, however, for the purpose of discovering and
classifying types of imagination.

Little has been done in the line of developing and studying the
problems of the memory image proper, and still less, in fact almost
nothing, is to be found bearing on the control of the visual memory
image. The general fact of this control has been presented, with
greater or less detail, based upon returns from questionaries. Gallon
himself, for example, having referred to instances in which the
control was lacking, goes on to say[1]: "Others have complete mastery
over their mental images. They can call up the figure of a friend and
make it sit on a chair or stand up at will; they can make it turn
round and attitudinize in any way, as by mounting it on a bicycle or
compelling it to perform gymnastic feats on a trapeze. They are able
to build up elaborate structures bit by bit in their mind's eye and
add, substract or alter at will and at leisure."