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

There is similar evidence in beaten rhythms to show that when a full

measure is elided, the pause which replaces it is of less value than

the duration of a syncopated measure. When trochaic rhythms were

beaten out with a distinct pause after each measure, the relative

values of the two intervals were 1.000:2.046. Such a pause cannot be

equivalent to a suppressed beat and its interval; I regard it as

functionally equal to a whole measure. If that value be allowed for

the second interval which it possesses in the same rhythm type when no

pause is introduced, namely, 1.000:0.920, the first two intervals will

have a value—in terms of linear measurement—of 1.93 + 1.77 or 3.70.

The value of the suppressed measure would therefore be 2.15, a ratio

of acatalectic to elided group of 1.000:0.581.

Iambic rhythm beaten out without separating pauses presents the

following ratio between first and second intervals, 1.000:1.054; on

the introduction of a pause between the measures the ratio becomes

1.000:2.131. The assignment of these proportional values gives 1.68 +

1.77, or 3.45, as the duration of the first two intervals, and 1.81

for the pause, a ratio of 1.00:0.524.

In continuous dactylic tapping, the values of the successive

intervals are 1.000; 0.756; 0.927; with a separating pause their

relations are 1.000; 0.692; 1.346. These being analyzed as before, the

elided measure will have the relative value of 0.419. This shows a

decline in the proportional duration of the elision as the total value

of the measure elided increases. There can be little question that

this principle applies also to the value of elisions of higher

rhythmic structures as well.

In intensity the syncopated measure is a point of increased accentual

stress. This relation is not constantly maintained in the trochaic

form, in which at one ratio the accent appears reduced;[10] in the

dactylic form divergences are all in the direction of an apparent

increase in accentuation. In rhythms beaten out the form of succession

> . > >

was always prescribed (e.g., | q. q; q_% | or | q. %; q. q|, but not

______/ ________/

either at the subjects’ preference), so that no material was there

afforded for a determination of the primacy of particular figures; but

the results must of course show any tendency which exists toward an

increased accentuation of the syncopated measure. It needs but a

cursory reference to the statements of these results in Pt. III., B,

of this paper, to observe how constant and pronounced this tendency

is.[11]

[10] This result is clearly irregular, and is probably due to

the effect of accidental variations on a meager series of

judgments. The number of these was three for each observer,

making eighteen judgments in all the basis of each percentage

in the table.

[11] The subjective notes of the observers frequently refer to

this as an explicitly conscious process, the nature of the

rhythmical sequence requiring a greater stress at that point

than elsewhere. Extracts are appended:

Trochaic Syncopation.—“There is almost a necessity for an

accent on the last beat.” “… an almost imperative tendency

to emphasize the final syllable beyond the rest.” “The two taps

were followed by a pause and then a tap with increased

pressure.” “This was not satisfactory with any adjustment of

time relations so long as the stress of all three beats was the

same. In attempting to make them all equal I almost

involuntarily fell into the habit of emphasizing the final

one.”

Dactylic Syncopation.—“In this series it was easy to lay

stress on the last (beat) … this is the natural grouping; I

unconsciously make such.” “… of these the heavy one

(accented syncopation) was much more satisfactory.” “It was

constantly my tendency to increase the strength of the last

tap.” “In this it is natural for me to make the final stroke

heavy. To make the second group balance the first by equalizing

the time alone is less satisfactory than by introducing

elements of both time and force.” “I felt that the latter part

of the rhythm (unaccented syncopation) was lacking in force.

Something seemed continually to be dropped at the end of each

group.”

The reactors frequently repeated the full measure several times

before introducing the syncopated measure, which thus brought a

series to its close. It will probably be found that in the

actual construction of poetic measures the syncopated or

partially syncopated foot is systematically introduced

coincidently with points of rhythmical or logical pause.

Conclusive evidence of the integration of simple rhythm forms in

higher structures is presented by the process of increasing definition

which every rhythmical sequence manifests between its inception and

its close. This process is manifested equally in the facts of sensory

apprehension and those of motor reproduction of rhythm forms. On the

one hand, there is a progressive refinement in the discrimination of

variations from temporal uniformity as the series of stimulations

advances; and correspondingly, the sequence of motor reactions

presents a clearly marked increase in coördination taking place

parallel with its progress. A rhythmical form is thus given to the

whole succession of simple measures which are included within the

limits of the larger series, a form which is no less definite than

that exhibited by the intensive and temporal relations of the

rhythmical unit, and which, there can be little doubt, is even more

important than the latter in determining the character of the rhythm

experience as a whole.

The presentation of experimental results bearing on this point will

follow the lines already laid down. Only that part of the material

which is derived from the apprehension of sensory rhythm forms can be

applied to the determination of this formal curve for the ordinary

metrical types and their complications. The facts of progressive

coördination presented by beaten rhythms are based on the repetition

of simple forms only. The completion of the evidence requires a

quantitative analysis of the temporal relations presented by the whole

sequence of integrated measures which compose the common verse forms:

dimeter, trimeter, etc. This matter was not taken up in the present

investigation.

The perception of variations in the measures of an iambic pentameter

line was first taken up. The series of sounds was produced by the fall

of hammer, the distances traversed being, for the accented elements

0.875 inch, and for the unaccented, 0.250 inch. The series was

followed by a pause equal to one and a half measures, and was repeated

before judgment was made. The time occupied by the series of sounds

was 2.62 seconds. The intervals between the successive sounds were

adjusted on the basis of previous experimentation concerning the most

acceptable relations between the durations of accented and unaccented

intervals. Their values were in the ratio 1.000:0.714 for accented and

unaccented respectively. The variations were introduced in a single

element, namely, the interval following the accented beat of the

group, which, in this form of rhythm, is also the inter-group

interval. This interval was changed by successive increments of one

seventh its original value, or one twelfth the duration of the whole

measure. Four such additions were made, the final value of the

interval standing to its original duration in the ratio 1.000:0.636.

The same series of changes in the duration of the accented interval

was made successively in each measure of the pentameter series. In all

these experiments the subjects were in ignorance of the character and

position of the changes introduced. The results appear in the annexed

table.

TABLE LVIII.

Position in Series. Percentage Values.

Ratios. I II III IV I II III IV

1.000 : 1.000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

1.000 : 0.874 4 4 4 7 40 40 40 70

1.000 : 0.777 6 6 8 10 60 60 80 100

1.000 : 0.700 6 6 10 10 60 60 100 100

1.000 : 0.636 6 6 10 10 60 60 100 100

In the five horizontal rows on the left of the table are set down the

number of times, out of a total of ten judgments, the interval in

question was perceived to be greater than the like interval in other

groups, under the original relation of uniformity and for the four

successive increments. On the right these numbers are given as

percentages of the whole number of judgments. These figures show an

increase of discriminative sensibility for such changes as the series

advances. The percentage of correct discrimination, as it stands in

the table, is the same for the first and second positions in the

line, but this coincidence is to be attributed to accident, in

consequence of the relatively small number of judgments on which the

results are based, rather than to a functional indifference in the two

positions. I conclude that fuller experiments would show a curve of

continuous increase in the number of correct judgments for the whole

series of measures here included. If we number the series of ratios

given above from one to five, the thresholds of perceptible change for

this series of positions, expressed in terms of this numerical series,

would be: I., 4.1; II., 4.1; III., 3.9; IV., 3.6.

Secondly, in a series of five trochaic measures, the intervals

separating the groups—which in this case follow the unaccented

beat—were successively lengthened by increments identical with those

employed in the preceding set of experiments. The results are

presented in the table below, arranged similarly to the previous one.

TABLE LIX.

Position in Series. Percentage Values.

Ratios. I II III IV I II III IV

1.000 : 1.000 0 0 0 0 0.0 10.0 0.0 0.0

1.000 : 0.874 1 1 3 4 16.5 16.5 50.0 60.0

1.000 : 0.777 4 4 5 6 66.0 66.0 83.0 100.0

1.000 : 0.700 6 6 6 6 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

1.000 : 0.636 6 6 6 6 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

These results are essentially identical with those of the preceding

section. The sensitiveness to small differences in duration within the

rhythmical series becomes continuously greater as that series

proceeds. The thresholds of perceptible change in terms of the

numerical series of ratios (as in preceding paragraph) are as follows:

I., 4.0; II., 4.0; III., 3.7; IV., 3.6.

Finally, the intensity of the preceding sound was increased as well as

the duration of the interval separating it from the following stroke.

The measure employed was the trochaic, the interval suffering change

was that following the accented beat—in this case, therefore, the

intra-group interval. The relations obtaining among the unchanged

measures were, as to duration of accented and unaccented elements,

1.000:0.714; as to intensity, 0.875:0.250 inch. Instead of a series,

as in the preceding experiments, only one change in each direction

was introduced, namely, an increase in duration of a single accented

element of the series from 1.000 to 1.285, and an increase of the same

element in intensity from 0.875 to 1.875 inch fall. The results are

given in the annexed table:

TABLE LX.

Duration. Stress.

Position Interval Following Louder

in Series. Judged to be Increased Stress.

+ = - Times Noted. Not Noted.

I. 8 per cent. 92 per cent. 0 per cent. 40 per cent. 60 per cent

II. 42 ” 50 ” 8 ” 42 ” 58 “

III. 57 ” 36 ” 7 ” 54 ” 46 “

IV. 67 ” 26 ” 7 ” 62 ” 38 “

V. 30 ” 40 ” 40 ” 60 ” 40 “

The figures show that in regard to the discrimination of changes in

duration occurring in intervals internal to the rhythm group, as well

as in the case of intervals separating adjacent groups, there is a

progressive increase in sensibility to variations as the succession of

sounds advances. This increased sensitiveness is here complicated with

another element, the tendency