Sixteen Experimental Investigations from the Harvard Psychological Laboratory by Hugo Münsterberg (100 books to read .txt) 📕

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