Various - Harvard Psychological Studies, Volume 1

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Arranging the groups of images suppressed according to the average
times of all suppressions and absences we have these orders:

Suppression. Absences.
Central Images, 5.41 Marginal Images, 125.12
Upper " 6.95 Sundry " 68.78
Left " 8.60 Left " 51.26
Right " 8.94 Lower " 50.04
Lower " 9.11 Right " 43.93
Marginal " 11.35 Upper " 32.35
Sundry " 12.09 Central " 26.54

SUBJECTIVE.

Most of the subjects imaginatively placed the image to be suppressed
behind the screen, in a drawer, in their closed hands, pushed it
forward into the remote distance, sliced up, burned up, or pulverized
and so destroyed it. B. and D. 'thought it away' directly, without
mechanism or device, or got rid of it 'by a pure act of will.'
Superposition was tried, frequently with success, but at times the
under image shone through. When the objects were colored discs one
superposed on the other, the subject spread over the whole surface the
color of the image to be retained, but at times this resulted in there
being two shades of the upper color, and a yellow above a red changed
to an orange. When red was above yellow, the red appeared more highly
illuminated. Associations with objects of the color of the retained
image were found helpful but tended to modify the original color. Such
associations also, at times, by secondary associations brought back
the suppressed image. For example, when thinking of buttercups to
enforce a yellow image, the picture of grass surrounding the flowers
brought back the suppressed green image. Concentration of the
attention on the image to be retained and an ignoring of the other
was, on the whole, the method usually and successfully followed. This
concentration was helped by imagining the image marked off into minute
squares which were carefully counted. Numerous other devices of a
similar character were used. Objects having many details and those
lending themselves readily to suggestions of action (as a china
animal) were the most helpful in enabling the subject to concentrate
his attention on their image to the exclusion of another. Some
subjects conceived themselves as tracing with a pencil the outline and
details of the retained image. Frequently, when the two images were
originally near each other and one alone was being held by close
scrutiny of its parts, when this scrutiny reached the part of the
image which was nearest the position of the suppressed image, the
suppressed image returned. The original association between the two
images was often broken up by change of the position or shape of the
one to be suppressed. But devices soon became 'worn out' and new ones
had to be resorted to.

Motor impulses played a large part in the process of suppression, such
as head and eye movement away from the image to be suppressed,
contraction of the muscles of the forehead and scalp, occasional
'setting' of the teeth, pressure together of the hands when they were
supposed to be holding the image and of the knees under like
circumstances. The eye traced outline and details and the more
actively it could be so employed the more successful was the
suppression. The sensations of accommodation and of focusing
previously referred to were repeated in this series. Enunciation also
was very common.

Frequent comparison of the image with the percept was made at the
close of experiments and showed the utmost diversity in size,
vividness and distinctness. During an experiment when the suppressed
image came back, it was rarely more than a mere blur of color; in two
or three instances the form came without color. Green was found to be
a difficult color to hold. C. had an orange after-image from a
retained yellow image, a red image having been suppressed. Between the
images of a gray disc and an orange disc, three inches apart, he had
a blue disc. J., while suppressing an orange disc and retaining a
green disc, noticed that 'when off the fovea the whole green disc
became bright orange.' There was always a sense of readiness on the
part of the suppressed image to slip back. As C. expressed this, "The
thing suppressed exists in the fringe of consciousness." The recurring
image usually came back at its original position even when the
retained image was being held in a different part of the field. In
such cases the retained image at once resumed its original place.

G. and J. were successful in proportion as they freed themselves from
the nervous strain of anxiety as to the result.

V. MOVEMENTS OF A SINGLE IMAGE, THE OBJECT HAVING BEEN MOVED DURING
THE EXPOSURE.

In an additional series of experiments with five of the same subjects
(B., G., H., I. and K.), the object was moved during the five seconds
of exposure either right, left, up or down, a distance of about six to
eight inches, and back again. In this way the subject was supplied
with further material of a pure memory type and it was believed that
some addition to our knowledge of the nature of the control of the
image might thus be made by securing data contrasting the construction
and the more purely reminiscent work of the imagination.

The question proposed is as follows: Does the fact that a certain
movement of an object was presented to the optical perception give an
advantage in time, or ease, to the mental recall of that object as so
moving, over its recall as moving in other directions? The subjective
experiences during such recalls may be expected to throw light upon
the matter.

The subject, with closed eyes, was requested to move the mental image
of the object in the four directions indicated above, returning it
after each movement to its original position, and the time of each
movement was recorded and, as well, the report of the subject with
regard to his subjective experiences. There were sixteen hundred
movements in all, eight hundred away from the original position of the
image (two hundred in each of the four directions mentioned above) and
eight hundred in returning to the original position.

Besides these experiments, other movements of the object during
exposure were made, such as inversion, rotation, change from the
vertical to the horizontal position and vice versa, rolling, oblique
movements and the subjective phenomena were recorded when the subject
had repeated with the image the designated movements. In all the
experiments the objects were moved by the hand of the conductor of the
experiment.

Table VII. gives the time record in seconds of these experiments for
each subject under each of the four variations: Movement of the object
to right, left, up, down.

TABLE VII.

MOVEMENTS OF A SINGLE IMAGE, THE OBJECT HAVING BEEN MOVED DURING THE
TIME OF OPTICAL STIMULATION. AVERAGE TIME IN SECONDS. TEN MOVEMENTS IN
EACH DIRECTION FOR EACH SUBJECT.

_a_. Object moved to right.

Subject R. Return L. Return Up Return Down Return Aver.
B. 0.57 0.75 0.62 0.60 0.64
0.35 0.42 0.37 0.62 0.44
G. 0.55 0.60 0.55 0.57 0.57
0.27 0.25 0.27 0.25 0.26
H. 6.95 6.90 6.47 6.40 6.65
5.40 5.55 4.50 5.00 5.11
I. 2.05 2.10 2.05 2.22 2.10
1.15 1.35 1.32 1.57 1.35
K. 2.35 2.97 2.42 2.62 2.59
1.17 1.20 1.17 1.55 1.28
Ave. 2.49 2.66 2.02 2.48 2.52
1.67 1.75 1.53 1.80 1.69

Ave. to right, 2.49
Ave. of other movements, 2.52
Grand average, 2.10

_b_. Object moved to left.
B. 0.72 0.60 0.62 0.60 0.64
0.52 0.40 0.52 0.42 0.47
G. 0.67 0.45 0.55 0.67 0.59
0.42 0.35 0.35 0.37 0.37
H. 8.22 5.95 6.52 6.42 6.78
5.82 4.10 4.37 5.55 4.96
I. 2.40 1.30 2.25 2.72 2.17
1.97 1.22 0.95 1.47 1.40
K. 2.45 2.57 2.25 2.00 2.30
1.70 1.60 1.32 1.35 1.49
Ave. 2.89 2.17 2.44 2.48 2.50
2.09 1.53 1.50 1.83 1.74

Ave. to left, 2.17
Ave. of other movements, 2.60
Grand average, 2.12

_c_. Object moved up.
B. 0.75 0.62 0.42 0.57 0.59
0.32 0.50 0.42 0.37 0.40
G. 0.65 0.57 0.45 0.47 0.54
0.35 0.27 0.25 0.27 0.29
H. 6.77 6.25 6.85 6.15 6.57
5.27 5.55 5.30 5.30 5.35
I. 2.47 2.27 1.85 2.65 2.31
1.25 1.00 0.87 1.10 1.05
K. 3.40 2.72 1.42 2.20 2.44
1.50 1.37 1.27 1.17 1.33
Ave. 2.81 2.49 2.20 2.41 2.48
1.74 1.74 1.62 1.70 1.69

Ave. up, 2.20
Ave. of other movements, 2.57
Grand average, 2.08

_d_. Object moved down.
B. 0.80 0.72 0.70 0.57 0.70
0.42 0.42 0.50 0.42 0.44
G. 0.60 0.60 0.55 0.47 0.55
0.25 0.25 0.27 0.27 0.26
H. 6.77 6.80 6.80 8.77 7.29
5.90 6.35 4.55 5.55 5.59
I. 2.30 2.20 2.22 1.80 2.13
1.30 1.20 1.15 1.42 1.27
K. 3.15 2.75 2.95 2.30 2.79
1.62 1.57 1.12 1.25 1.39
Ave. 2.72 2.61 2.64 2.78 2.69
1.90 1.92 1.52 1.78 1.79

Ave. down, 2.78
Ave. of other movements, 2.66
Grand average, 2.24

NUMERICAL.

As each movement may be compared with three other movements, and as
there were five subjects and four variations in the conditions, there
are sixty opportunities of comparing the time required to move the
image in the direction in which the object was moved with the time
taken to move it in the other directions. In 45 instances the time was
less, in 3 the same, and in 12 greater.

These twelve instances occurred with two subjects, three (to left)
occurring with K. and nine (three each right, up, down) occurring with
H. The cause was the same in all twelve instances, both H. and K.
reporting that (in these cases) they had great difficulty in obtaining
a reasonably vivid and distinct image when directed to move the image
in the direction in which the object had been moved. The attempt to
move the image resulted in a vague image spread continuously over the
entire area that had been covered by the moving object, and the effort
to obtain the image at the desired position only was serious and took
an appreciably longer time than usual. It is to be noted, also, that
the time usually taken by H. is uniformly very much greater than the
time taken by the other subjects. Yet, even with these instances
included, the average time of all movements of the image in the
direction in which the object had been moved is less than the average
time of the other movements, the former being 2.41 seconds, the
latter, 2.59 seconds.

TABLE VIII.

MOVEMENTS OF A SINGLE IMAGE.

I., OBJECT PREVIOUSLY MOVED; II., OBJECT NOT MOVED.

Average Time Given in Seconds.

Subjects: B. G. H.
I II I II I II
To right, 0.57 1.30 0.55 1.46 6.95 7.15
Return, 0.35 0.58 0.27 0.92 5.40 4.51
To left, 0.60 1.06 0.45 1.15 5.95 6.42
Return, 0.40 0.73 0.35 0.89 4.10 4.41
Up, 0.42 1.05 0.45 0.99 6.85 5.96
Return, 0.42 0.46 0.25 0.76 5.30 4.36
Down, 0.57 1.10 0.47 0.82 8.77 5.85
Return, 0.42 0.45 0.27 0.06 5.55 4.40
General 0.54 1.13 0.48 1.10 7.13 6.34
Averages, 0.40 0.55 0.28 0.66 5.09 4.42

Subjects: I. K.
I II I II
To right, 2.05 1.28 2.35 4.80
Return, 1.15 0.67 1.17 2.40
To left, 1.30 1.34 2.57 4.63
Retur, 1.22 0.62 1.60 2.73
Up, 1.85 1.62 1.42 3.29
Return, 0.87 0.86 1.27 1.90
Down, 1.80 1.36 2.30 3.27
Return, 1.42 0.72 1.25 1.56
General 1.75 1.40 2.16 4.00
Averages, 1.16 0.72 1.32 2.15

If the record of H. is omitted from Table VII., _a, c, _and _d_, and
that of K. from VII., _b_ (as these are the records of the twelve
exceptions), the former average becomes 1.44 seconds, the latter 1.86
seconds.

The following table affords the means of comparing the time taken in
moving the image in the direction in which the object had been moved
with the time taken in moving the image in the same direction when
there had been no movement of the object. The averages are obtained
from the records of Tables VII. and I.

We have here twenty comparisons each of movements away from the
original positions and movements back to the original positions:

In the first case, 15 took less time under I., 5 took more
time under I.

The 5 cases of more time occurred with two subjects (H., 3 and
I., 2).

In the second case, 12 took less time under I., 8 took more
time under I.

The 8 cases of more time occurred with three subjects (G., 1;
H., 3; I., 4).

If we omit H.'s record and take the general averages for each subject,
we find the following advantages in time in form of movements where
the object had been moved;

B., 0.59 seconds.
G., 0.52 "
K., 1.84 "

But I., 0.35 seconds in favor of movements when the object had not
been moved.

Combining these results, we have 0.74 sec. as the average gain in time
for these four subjects.

SUBJECTIVE.

With one exception (G.), the subjects found Movements I., movements in
the direction in which the object had been moved, easier than
Movements II. In Movements II. the eye seemed to construct and compel
the motion, which was not the case with Movements I., in which the eye
followed the motion. The distance to which the image went in Movements
I. seemed predetermined, and these movements seemed exact copies of
the original movement of the object, being purely reminiscent and
reproducing its irregularities when there were any. Also, the image
was usually seen _in transitu_ both out and back, which was never the
case with Movements II. Eye movement and enunciation were much less
frequent and the image was more vivid and distinct in Movements I.

* * * * *

STUDIES IN AESTHETIC PROCESSES.

* * * * *

Transcriber's Note:

Rhythmic measures in the first 2 articles of this section are
transcribed as follows:

| delineates measure
q quarter note
q. dotted quarter note
e eighth note
% quarter rest

Major accent of the measure is indicated by a >, either above
or in front of the beat. Minor accent of the measure is
indicated by ., used in the same way.

> .
| q q q q | or | >q q .q q | represent the same rhythmic pattern.

* * * * *

THE STRUCTURE OF SIMPLE RHYTHM FORMS.

BY ROBERT MACDOUGALL.

I. PROBLEMS AND METHODS OF EXPERIMENTATION.

The investigation of the problems presented by the psychological
phenomena of rhythm has of late years occupied much attention and been
pushed in a variety of different directions. Some researches have been
concerned with an analysis of rhythm as an immediate subjective
experience, involving factors of perception, reaction, memory,
feeling, and the like; others have had to do with the specific
objective conditions under which this experience arises, and the
effect of changes in the relations of these factors; still others have
sought to cooerdinate the rhythm experience with more general laws of
activity in the organism, as the condition of most effective action,
and to affiliate its complex phenomena upon simpler laws of
physiological activity and repose; while a fourth group has undertaken
a description of that historical process which has resulted in the
establishment of artistic rhythm-types, and has sought to formulate
the laws of their construction.[1]

[1] Description: (1) Of the psychological factors of the rhythm
experience: Angell and Pierce, Ettlinger, Hauptmann, Mentz,
Meumann, Stumpf, Wundt, et al. (2) Of its objective conditions
and products: Binet et Courtier, Bolton, Ebhardt, Hurst and
McKay, Meumann, Schumann, Sievers, et al. (3) Of its
physiological accompaniments: Bolton, Bruecke, Dogiel,
Hausegger, Mach, Mentz, Ribot, Sherrington, Scripture, Smith,
et al. (4) Of its historical evolution: Buecher, Moritz,
Scherer, et al.

This differentiation has already made such progress as to constitute
the general topic a field within which specialization is called for,
instead of an attempt to treat the phenomenon as a whole. It is the
purpose of this paper to describe a set of experiments having to do
with the second of these problems, the constitution of objective
rhythm forms. In the determination of such forms it is, of course,
impossible to avoid the employment of terms descriptive of the
immediate experience of rhythm as a psychological process, or to
overlook the constant connection which exists between the two groups
of facts. The rhythm form is not objectively definable as a stable
type of stimulation existing in and for itself; the discrimination of
true and false relations among its elements depends on the immediate
report of the consciousness in which it appears. The artistic form is
such only in virtue of its arousing in the observer that peculiar
quality of feeling expressed in calling the series of sensory stimuli
rhythmically pleasing, or equivalent, or perfect. In no other way than
as thus dependent on the appeal which their impression makes to the
aesthetic consciousness can we conceive of the development and
establishment of fixed forms of combination and sequence among those
types of sensory stimulation which arouse in us the pleasurable
experience of rhythm. The artistic rhythm form cannot be defined as
constituted of periods which are 'chronometrically proportionate,' or
mathematically simple. It is not such in virtue of any physical
relations which may obtain among its constituents, though it may be
dependent on such conditions in consequence of the subordination to
physical laws of the organic activities of the human individual. The
view must be subjectively objective throughout.

The need for simplicity and exactness has led to the very general
employment of material as barely sensorial as could be devised for the
carrying on of experiments upon rhythm. Rich tones and complex
combinations of them are to be avoided, for these qualities are
themselves immediate sources of pleasure, and the introduction of them
into the material of experimentation inevitably confuses the analysis
which the observer is called upon to make of his experience and of the
sources of his pleasure in it. Still more objectionable than the
presence of such complex musical tones in an investigation of rhythm
is the introduction of the symbols of rational speech in concrete
poetical forms. This element can be only a hindrance to the perception
of pure rhythmical relations, in virtue of the immediate interest
which the images called up by the verbal signs possess, and further,
in view of the fact that the connections of significant thought impose
upon the purely rhythmical formulation of the series of stimulations
an unrelated and antagonistic principle of grouping, namely, the
logical relations which the various members of the series bear to one
another.

The demand for a simplification of the material which supports the
rhythm experience, for the purpose of obtaining a more exact control
over the conditions of experimentation, has been met by the invention
of a variety of devices whereby the sequences of music, song and
poetical speech have been replaced by elementary conventional symbols
as the vehicle of the rhythmical impression or expression. On the one
side there has commonly been substituted for musical tones and
rhythmical speech the most simple, sharply limited and controllable
sounds possible, namely, those due to the action of a telephone
receiver, to the vibrations of a tuning-fork placed before the
aperture of a resonator, or to the strokes of metallic hammers falling
on their anvils. On the other side, the form of the reproduced rhythm
has been clarified by the substitution of the finger for the voice in
a series of simple motor reactions beaten out on a more or less
resonant medium; by the use--when the voice is employed--of
conventional verbal symbols instead of the elements of significant
speech; and--where actual verse has been spoken--by a treatment of the
words in formal staccato scansion, or by the beating of time
throughout the utterance. The last of these methods is a halting
between two courses which casts doubt on the results as characteristic
of either type of activity. There is no question that the rhythmic
forms of recitative poetry differ vastly from those of instrumental
music and chanted speech. The measures of spoken verse are elastic and
full of changefulness, while those of music and the chant maintain a
very decided constancy of relations. The latter present determinable
types of grouping and succession, while it is questionable whether the
forms of relationship in spoken verse can ever be considered apart
from the emotion of the moment. In so far as the rhythmic form which
these differing modes of expression embody are to be made the subject
of experimental investigation their characteristic structures should
be kept intact as objects of analysis in independent experiments,
instead of being combined (and modified) in a single process.

The apparatus employed in the course of the present investigation
consisted of four different pieces of mechanism, one affording the
vehicle of expression throughout the series of reproduced rhythms, the
others providing the auditory material of the various rhythms
apperceived but not designedly reproduced. The first of these
consisted of a shallow Marey tambour, placed horizontally upon a table
with its rubber film upwards, and connected by means of rubber-tubing
with a pneumographic pen in contact with the revolving drum of a
kymograph. A Deprez electric marker, aligned with the pneumographic
stylus, afforded a time record in quarter seconds. Upon this tambour,
placed within comfortable reach of the reactor's hand, the various
rhythm types were beaten out. The impact of the finger-tip on the
tense surface of the drum gave forth a faint and pleasing but at the
same time clearly discernible and distinctly limited sound, which
responded with audible variations of intensity to the differing
stresses involved in the process of tapping, and which I have
considered preferable to the short, sharp stroke of the Kraepelin
mouth-key employed by Ebhardt. The rate of revolution in the drum was
so adjusted to the normal range of excursion in the pneumographic pen
as to give sharp definition to every change of direction in the curve,
which hence allowed of exact measurements of temporal and intensive
phases in the successive rhythm groups. These measurements were made
to limits of 1.0 mm. in the latter direction and of 0.5 mm. in the
former.[2]

[2] Professor Binet's doubt (_L'Annee Psychologique_ 1895, p.
204) that the propulsion of air from the elastic chamber and
the rebound of the pen might interfere with the significance of
the graphic record is more serious in connection with the
application of this method to piano playing than here; since
its imperfection, as that writer says, was due to the force and
extreme rapidity of the reactions in the former case. The
present series involved only light tapping and was carried on
at a much slower average rate.