Harvard Psychological Studies Part 28

10: refers to object exposed 10 seconds.

General average: (5), 27.75 sec.; (10), 29.15 sec.

_Series No. VII._--The object of this series was to determine the effect in ideation of exposing for unequal lengths of time the two objects compared. The figures compared were of the same area and outline, and were distinguished only by their color, one being red and the other green. These colors were employed, after a preliminary test, as showing, on the whole, to nearly equal advantage in the individual choice of colors. The shorter exposure was five seconds and the longer exposure ten seconds. The color that was to be seen the longer time was exposed first alone; after five seconds the other was exposed; and then both were seen for five seconds together, so that neither might have the advantage of the more recent impression. The two colors were regularly alternated, and in one half of the series the longer exposure was to the right, in the other half to the left. The extra five seconds were thus in each case at the beginning of the experiment.

The general averages show only a slight advantage in favor of the color which was exposed the longer time, namely, 29.15 seconds, as against 27.75 seconds. It is not easy to believe that the advantage of sole occupancy of the visual field for five seconds, without any offsetting disadvantage in the next five seconds, should have so slight an effect on the course of ideation. And it is not improbable that there was an offsetting disadvantage. In the presence of color the subject can scarcely remain in the att.i.tude of quiet curiosity which it is easy to maintain in the observation of colorless objects.

A positive interest is excited. And the appearance of a new color in the field when there is another color there already seems to be capable of exciting, by a sort of successive contrast different from that ordinarily described, an interest which is the stronger from the fact that the subject has already been interested in a different color. That is to say, the transition from color to color (only red and green were employed) seems to be more impressive than the transition from black to color. And, under the conditions of the experiment, the advantage of this more impressive transition lay always with the color which was exposed the shorter time.

Judging from the introspective notes, the outline seems to suffer, in compet.i.tion with a colored content, some loss of power to carry the attention and maintain its place in the ideation. "The colors tend to diffuse themselves, ignoring the boundary," says one. "The images fade from the periphery toward the center," says another. On the other hand, one of the subjects finds that when both images are present the color tends to fade out. This may perhaps be explained by the remark of another subject to the effect that there is an alternate s.h.i.+fting of the attention when both images are present. An att.i.tude of continued and definite change, we may suppose, is one in which the color interest must yield to the interest in boundaries and definite spatial relations.

Other interesting facts come out in the notes. One subject finds the ideated plane farther away than the objective plane; another conceives the two as coinciding. The movement of the eyes is by this time distinctly perceived by the subject. The reports run as follows: 'Eye-movements seem to follow the changes in ideation;' 'I find my eyes already directed, when an image is ideated, to the corresponding side, and am sometimes conscious of the movement, but the movement is not intended or willed;' 'in ideating any particular color I find my attention almost always directed to the side on which the corresponding object was seen.' This last observation seems to be true for the experience of every subject, and, generally speaking, the images occupy the same relative positions as the objects: the image of the right object is seen to the right, that of the left object to the left, and the s.p.a.ce between the two remains tolerably constant, especially for the full-faced figures.

This fact suggested a means of eliminating the disturbing influence of color, and its contrasts and surprises, by the subst.i.tution of gray figures identical in form and size and distinguished only by their spatial position. The result appears in the table which follows (VIII.).

_Series No. VIII._--The object of this experiment was the same as that of No. VII. Granite-gray figures, however, were subst.i.tuted, for the reasons already a.s.signed, in place of the red and green figures. And here the effect of additional time in the exposure is distinctly marked, the general averages showing 32.12 seconds for the image of the object which was exposed 10 seconds, as against 25.42 seconds for the other.

TABLE VIII.

1 2 3 4 5 Indiv. Aver.

5 10 5 10 5 10 5 10 5 10 5 10 I. 26.5 27 24.5 30.5 26.5 28 27.5 27.5 26.5 29 26.3 28.4 II. 32.5 38.5 27 36 29 28 17 14.5 37.5 27 28.6 28.8 III. 4.5 13.5 11 1.5 10 11 7.5 14.5 12.5 8.5 9.1 9.8 IV. 23.5 40.5 27.5 34 35.5 38 35 28 17 39 27.7 35.9 V. 41 46 50 51.5 43 42.5 46 35.5 31.5 44 42.3 43.9 VI. 7.5 27 18 25 21.5 25.5 7 44.5 33.5 19 17.5 28.2 VIII. 24.5 27 34.5 32 36.5 36 34.5 38.5 28 28.5 31.6 32.4 IX. 17 46 25.5 47.5 44 47 40.5 47.5 48 48 35.0 47.2 X. 20 29 21 26.5 25.5 24.5 27.5 22 19.5 23.5 22.7 25.1 XI. 11 41.5 9.5 50 5.5 43.5 15.5 40.5 25.5 32 13.4 41.5 20.80 33.60 24.85 33.45 27.70 32.40 25.80 31.30 27.95 29.85 25.42 32.12

VII.--Absent.

5: refers to object exposed 5 seconds.

10: refers to object exposed 10 seconds.

General average: (5), 25.42 sec.; (10), 32.12 sec.

The interpretation of this difference may be made in accordance with the principles already laid down. The ideated and actual movements which favor the recurrence and persistence of an idea are, on grounds generally recognized in psychology, much more likely to occur and repeat themselves when the corresponding movements, or the same movements in completer form, have frequently been repeated in observation of the corresponding object.

TABLE IX.

1 2 3 4 5 Indiv. Aver.

1st 2d 1st 2d 1st 2d 1st 2d 1st 2d 1st 2d I. 22.5 32.5 27 28 26.5 28 26.5 27.5 26 29 25.7 29.0 II. 4.5 43 9 29 3.5 38 0 43 17 44.5 6.8 39.5 III. 0 22 0 20.5 9.5 16.5 0 23.5 3.5 9.5 2.6 18.4 IV. 0 31 1 35.5 4.5 39 16.5 32.5 16 20.5 7.6 31.7 V. 24 52.5 41.5 40 12 53.5 22 55 22 50.5 24.3 50.3 VII. 1.5 52 0 48 0 54.5 0 50.5 0 46.5 0.3 50.3 VIII. 12 26 10 27.5 11.5 23.5 13.5 28.5 15.5 20 12.5 25.1 IX. 24 43.5 20 42 25 42.5 20.5 44.5 28 42.5 23.5 43.0 X. 9 45.5 19.5 30 11 33 12 38 14.5 30 13.2 35.3 XI. 12.5 35 23.5 29.5 1 49 2 44 10.5 52 9.9 41.9 11.00 38.30 15.15 33.00 10.45 37.75 11.30 38.70 15.30 34.50 12.64 36.45

VI.--Absent.

From this point on the place of Miss H. (IV.) is taken by Mr.

R. The members in each pair of objects in this group were not exposed simultaneously.

1st: refers to object first exposed.

2d: refers to object last exposed.

General average: 1st, 12.64 sec.: 2d, 36.45 sec.

What is here called ideated movement--by which is understood the idea of a change in spatial relations which accompanies a s.h.i.+fting of the attention or a change in the mental att.i.tude, as distinguished from the sense of movements actually executed--was recognized as such by one of the subjects, who says: "When the two objects are before me I am conscious of what seem to be images of movement, or ideated movements, not actual movements." The same subject also finds the image of the object which had the longer exposure not only more vivid in the quality of the content, but more distinct in outline.

_Series No. IX._--In this experiment the objects, which were of granite-gray cardboard, were exactly alike, but were exposed at different times and places. After the first had been exposed five seconds alone, it was covered by means of a sliding screen, and the second was then exposed for the same length of time, the interval between the two exposures being also five seconds. Two observations were made with each pair, the first exposure being in one case to the left and in the other case to the right. The object here was, of course, to determine what, if any, advantage the more recent of the two locally different impressions would have in the course of ideation. The table shows that the image of the object last seen had so far the advantage in the ideational rivalry that it remained in consciousness, on the average, almost three times as long as the other, the average being, for the first, 12.64 seconds; for the second, 36.45 seconds. And both the individual averages and the averages for the several pairs show, without exception, the same general tendency.

The notes show, further, that the image of the figure first seen was not only less persistent but relatively less vivid than the other, though the latter was not invariably the case. One subject had 'an impression that the images were farther apart' than in the series where the exposure of the two objects was simultaneous, though the distance between the objects was in all cases the same, the time difference being, apparently, translated into spatial terms and added to the spatial difference. The sort of antagonism which temporal distinctions tend, under certain conditions, to set up between ideas is ill.u.s.trated by the remark of another subject, who reports that 'the attention was fairly dragged by the respective images.' And the fact of such antagonism, or incompatibility, is confirmed by the extremely low figure which represents the average time when both images were reported present at the same time. The two images, separated by processes which the time interval implies, seem to be more entirely incompatible and mutually inhibitory than the images of objects simultaneously perceived. For not only does the advantage of a few seconds give the fresher image a considerable preponderance in its claim on the attention, but even the earlier image, after it has once caught the attention, usually succeeds in shutting out the other from a simultaneous view.

TABLE X.

1 2 3 4 5 Indiv. Aver.

V H V H V H V H V H V H I. 27.5 27 26.5 28 30.5 24.5 27.5 28.5 26 25 27.60 26.60 II. 45 43.5 37 40 35.5 28.5 19 15.5 30.5 30.5 33.40 31.60 III. 19 21 0 10.5 19.5 19 9 15 4.5 16 10.40 16.30 IV. 47.5 39 36 22.5 44.5 41.5 47.5 46 37 36 42.50 37.00 V. 56.5 46.5 42.5 42.5 48 45.5 48.5 48.5 53 52 49.70 47.00 VI. 31.5 28.5 30.5 30.5 22 34.5 34.5 28.5 25 26.5 28.70 29.70 VII. 55 55 55 45.5 38 20 55.5 53.5 56 56 51.90 45.80 VIII. 39.5 47 23.5 23.5 19 18.5 26.5 26.5 26 20.5 26.90 27.20 IX. 26.5 46 38 42.5 41 44 40.5 46.5 35.5 39 36.30 43.60 X. 24.5 25 26 25 25.5 23 23.5 28.5 32.5 20.5 26.40 24.40 XI. 52 52 56.5 54.5 48 49.5 45 47.5 51.5 47.5 50.60 50.20

38.60 39.14 33.77 33.09 33.77 31.68 34.27 34.95 34.31 33.60 34.94 34.49

_V_: Vertical. _H_: Horizontal.

General average: Vertical, 34.94 sec.; Horizontal, 34.49 sec.

_Series No. X._--The objects used in this experiment were straight lines, two strips of granite-gray cardboard, each ten centimeters long and half a centimeter wide, the one being vertical and the other horizontal. These were pasted on black cards and exposed in alternate positions, each appearing once to the right and once to the left. The figures in the columns represent in each case the combined result of two such observations.

The experiments with these lines were continued at intervals through a number of weeks, each individual average representing the result of ten observations, or of five pairs of exposures with alternating objects.

The striking feature in the observations is the uniformity of the results as they appear in the general averages and in the averages for each pair as shown at the foot of the columns. There is some variation in the individual tendencies, as shown by the individual averages. But the general average for this group of subjects shows a difference of less than half a second per minute, and that difference is in favor of the vertical line.

This series will serve a double purpose. It shows, in the first place, that on the whole the vertical and the horizontal lines have a nearly equal chance of recurrence in image or idea. It will serve, in the second place, as a standard of comparison when we come to consider the effect of variations in the position and direction of lines.

TABLE XI.

1 2 3 4 5 Indiv. Av.

F O F O F O F O F O F O I. 24 31 26.5 28.5 27 29 22 33.5 27.5 28 25.4 30.0 II. 53.5 50 52.5 52.5 56.5 55.5 43.5 43.5 56 51.5 52.4 50.6 III. 3 21.5 4 20 11 17 3.5 27 0 20.5 4.3 21.2 IV. 26.5 30 11 48.5 12.5 53 12 51 23 51 17.0 46.7 V. 40.5 56.5 48 56 55.5 55.5 53 55.5 53.5 55.5 50.1 55.58 VI. 27.5 40.5 23 31.5 24.5 32.5 31 29 27 33.5 26.6 33.4 VII. 50.5 54 53.5 56.5 53.5 53.5 40.5 52 55 55 50.6 54.2 VIII. 1 33.5 11 27 5 32 7.5 39 4.5 36.5 5.8 33.6 IX. 35.5 41.5 45.5 47 41.5 41.5 39 44.5 41 41.5 40.5 43.2 X. 19 30.5 21.5 30.5 21 29.5 16 37.5 22.5 30.5 20.0 31.7 XI. 11.5 52.5 18 51.5 14.5 50.5 23 50.5 15 52.5 16.4 51.5 26.59 40.14 28.59 40.86 29.32 40.86 26.45 42.09 29.55 41.45 28.10 41.08

_F_: Full-faced. _O_: Outlined.

General average: full-faced, 28.10 sec.; outlined, 41.08 sec.

_Series No. XI._--In this series full-faced figures were compared with outline figures of the same dimensions and form. Material, granite-gray cardboard. The area of the full-faced figures was the same as that of the figures of similar character employed in the various series, approximately 42 sq. cm.; the breadth of the lines in the outline figures was half a centimeter. The objects in each pair were exposed simultaneously, with the usual instructions to the subject, namely, to regard each object directly, and to give to each the same share of attention as to the other.

The form of the experiment was suggested by the results of earlier experiments with lines. It will be remembered that the express testimony of the subjects, confirmed by fair inference from the tabulated record, was to the effect that lines show, in ideation as in perception, both greater energy and clearer definition than surfaces.

By lines are meant, of course, not mathematical lines, but narrow surfaces whose longer boundaries are closely parallel. To bring the superior suggestiveness of the line to a direct test was the object of this series. And the table fully substantiates the former conclusion.

For the outline figure we have a general average of 41.08 seconds per minute, as against 28.10 seconds for the full-faced figure.

The notes here may be quoted as corroborative of previous statements.

"I notice," says one, "a tendency of the color in the full-faced figure to spread over the background"--a remark which bears out what has been said of the relative vagueness of the subjective processes excited by a broad h.o.m.ogeneous surface. To this may be added: "The full-faced figures became finally less distinct than the linear, and faded from the outside in;" "the areal (full-faced) figure gradually faded away, while the linear remained." Another comment runs: "I feel the left (full-faced) striving to come into consciousness, but failing to arrive. Don't see it; feel it; and yet the feeling is connected with the eyes." This comment, made, of course, after the close of an observation, may serve as evidence of processes subsidiary to ideation, and may be compared, in respect of the motor factors which the 'striving' implies, with the preparatory stage which Binet found to be an inseparable and essential part of any given (vocal) motor reaction.[8]

[8] Binet, A. et Henri, V.: _op. citat._