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

‘synthesizing activity’ in the case of rhythms, may just as well be

said in the case of any coördinated act.

[9] Meumann, E.: Phil. Stud., 1894, X., S. 249 ff.

Meumann discussed in detail the characteristics of the rhythm of a

simple series of sounds, of music, and of verse. He assumed that in

the simple sound series we have rhythm in its barest form, and only

the rhythmic synthetic activity is at work; while in music there is a

content which to some extent prescribes unities, and the objective

regularity of the rhythm is broken. In verse we have much more

content, and the rhythmization is no longer regular in its temporal

relations; it is entirely dominated at times by the ‘logical unities’

of the ‘thought.’

One great difficulty with such a differentiation of the three types of

rhythms presents itself when one inquires into the objective

regularity of the types; the fact is that music is by far the most

regular in its time values, though it has more content than the sound

series; and that just as great irregularities are possible in the bare

sound series as in the rhythm of verse with its rich and definite

content.

Later statements of the facts and theories relating to rhythm have

inclined more and more to an emphasis of the motor aspect, even on the

part of Wundtians. Since Meumann there has been some detailed

laboratory work published, but the amount of accurately measured

rhythmic material is astonishingly small. Meumann established

experimentally the well-known relation between the length of a

rhythmic element and its accent, and corroborated the earlier work on

subjective accentuation. The reports contain the measurements of but

about eighty individual unit groups (iambs, trochees, etc.).

Ebhardt[10] gave the measurements of from 150 to 300 taps from each of

three subjects. But his work is vitiated, as far as any application to

rhythm is concerned, because he based everything on the judgment of

equality, which has nothing to do with rhythm.

[10] Ebhardt, K.: _Zeilschr. f. Psych, u. Physiol. d.

Sinnesorgane,_1898, Bd. 18, S. 99.

Hurst, McKay and Pringle[11] published measurements of about 600

individual unit groups from three different subjects; in several

cases, the material consists rather too much of records of the

experimenters themselves, but in general their results agree very well

with those of other authors. Scripture[12] published the measurements

of a single stanza of poetry. It is but a single stanza and quite too

little material on which to base any conclusions, but it is notable as

a measurement of freely spoken rhythm. No experiments have been

published which bear on the nature of the rhythmic phrase, of the

period, or of the stanza.

[11] Hurst, A.S., McKay, J., and Pringle, G.C.F.: _Univ. of

Toronto Studies,_ 1899, No. 3, p. 157.

[12] Scripture, E.W.: Studies from the Yale Psych. Lab.,

1899, VII., p. 1.

Our problem is: What part do the recurrent qualitative factors, like

rhyme, play in the grouping of rhythms? They function evidently, in

the main, as factors determining the periods or larger phrases of the

rhythm structure—the verses and stanzas of poetry and nonsense verse.

As no work has been done on the nature of such larger rhythmic

unities, a large share of the investigation was concerned with the

nature of the verse unity.

Two methods of investigation were used: Subjects listened to rhythmic

series, into which various modifications were introduced; and

secondly, rhythms of a prescribed type, produced by the subject, were

recorded and measured.

[Illustration: PSYCHOLOGICAL REVIEW. MONOGRAPH SUPPLEMENT, 17. PLATE IX.

Opposite p. 417]

II. THE PERCEPTION OF A RHYTHMIC SERIES.

Apparatus: A disc (Fig. 1, Plate IX.) about 50 c. in diameter,

rotating on a vertical pivot, was driven by a pulley-cone underneath

mounted on the same spindle (not shown in the figure). On the face of

the disc were four concentric rings of regularly spaced holes, which

received pegs of uniform height and provided with a shoulder.

Corresponding holes of each circle lay on the same radius. On a plate

supported by a bracket were mounted four levers whose heads stood in

line radially to the movable disc. When the disc rotated to the right

under the levers, the pegs forced up the lever heads and made an

electric contact. The dip of the levers was controlled by a screw

adjustment. The apparatus was driven by a motor and reducing gear,

which were isolated in a sound-proof box. The rate of speed was

controllable.

The apparatus was built for use with sounders connected with the

binding-posts, but in this investigation sounders were dispensed with,

and the clicks from the apparatus itself were used, since but one

qualitative difference was introduced. As a rule, the objective accent

of the foot was not given; the subjective accentuation was nearly

always sufficient. Subjects were quite unable to say whether the

accent was objective or not. If necessary, an accentuation was

produced by raising the pegs representing the accentuated part of the

foot. The group elements were represented by single, simple clicks

made by a brass screw on the lever arm striking an iron plate (the

noise of the brass peg striking the lever head was eliminated by

damping with cloth). The rhyme was represented by a compound noise

consisting of a click higher in pitch than the verse element click,

made by the peg striking the lever head, and an almost simultaneous

click lower in pitch than the verse element click, made by the screw

of the lever arm striking another iron plate. The rhyme noise was not

louder than the verse element click, and as a whole gave the

impression of being a lower tone because the first click was very

brief. Subjects did not analyze the rhyme noise, and had no difficulty

in making it represent rhyming syllables. The pauses throughout had

no filling.

The subject was always given a normal series until the type was

clearly established, and when the variations to be judged were

introduced his attention was directed as far as possible to the factor

to be introduced. This seemed the only way to obtain trustworthy

judgments. If the subject waits blindly for some perceptual change in

the whole complicated mass of sensations which the simplest rhythmic

series constitutes, he is apt to fit his attention on some irrelevant

detail, and the change may not be noted until greatly exaggerated, and

he may not judge that particular factor at all.

The subject was always asked to choose a rate of delivery which would

correspond to his natural rate of reading nonsense verse, and the

clicks were always associated with syllables, though not with words.

An effort was made to keep the series as colorless and devoid of

content as possible, to eliminate uncertain association. Beyond

suppressed articulation, the subject was not encouraged to mark the

rhythm with any part of the body, but a number of involuntary

movements of neck, body, hand, or foot were nearly always observed.

Occasionally, when a subject’s expression was doubtful, he was asked

to say a nonsense series with the clicks.

The nomenclature to be used in this paper is that of meter, but it is

always subject to the reservation that the material is only analogous

to series of nonsense syllables.

Records were kept in terms of the intervals on the revolving disc; the

time of revolution was also taken, so that the figures may be

translated in time intervals if desired. Thus, 34, 34, 34, 34, 34

represents a series of iambs in which the unaccented click has the

length of three, and the accented click the length of four spaces

between pegs. A uniform verse represented by a digit giving the number

of feet, followed by digits in parenthesis giving the character of the

foot, e.g., 4 (34), is an iambic tetrameter.

For convenience, the verse pause is written independently of the last

foot of the verse, e.g., 4 (34) p. 7 represents a tetrameter line

having the intervals 34, 34, 34, 37. The interval of the last accented

syllable is counted twice.

Occasionally this is disregarded and vs. p. equals o is written to

indicate that the vs. p. is equal to the foot pause.

The results of the experiments may be grouped under three heads:

1. Why does a synthesizing factor such as rhyme occur at the end of

the verse?

2. What is the relation between the verse pause and the rhyme?

3. What is the relation of rhyme to the cyclic movement of the unit

group and of the verse?

1. Why the Synthesizing Factor Occurs at the Close of the Verse.

To determine a possible difference in the sense of rhythm at the

beginning and the close of a verse, pauses (‘lags’) were introduced

into the earlier and later parts of the verse. These pauses were made

barely perceptible, i.e., barely perceptible in any part of the

verse. Usually in iambic verse the barely perceptible lag shows the

following proportions to the other pauses:

34 35 34 etc., or

47 48.5 47.

Most of the experiments were performed with iambic tetrameter. The

subject was told to note the lags in the verse: these were introduced

either in both parts of the verse or at its close only. At least three

verses were given, and records were kept of the false judgments. When

lags of identical duration were introduced between the first and

second and between the third and fourth feet, it was found that nearly

always the lag would not be detected in the earlier part of the verse

but would be detected in the later part. Out of eighty-two cases,

there were but six in which the same lag was recognized in the first

as well as in the last position. In two of these cases the subject’s

attention had been called to the first part of the verse; and in the

four other cases the lag was still found more marked at the close than

at the beginning.

There were no cases in which a lag detected in the earlier part of the

verse was not also detected in the later part. False judgments, when

they occurred, were made as to a lag in the earlier part of the verse.

One subject falsely located a lag in the first of the verse four

times. Judgments as to the earlier part of the verse were uncertain

and frequently changed.

The maximum lag possible without breaking the unity of the verse was

determined for the earlier and later parts of the verse. The verse

unity was tested by adding enough feet to make a full verse, after the

break, and asking the subject to mark the close of the verse. In every

case this irregularity was introduced into the second verse, and the

first verse was normal, e.g. (pentameter),

I. 5 (34).

II. 34 lag 34 34 34 34 34.

If the lag does not break the verse, the subject should hear the close

of the verse at the end of the fifth foot in II. If the verse is

broken he should ignore the first foot and make a new verse, ending

with the sixth foot.

J. Iamb. tet. 1st pause of verse, max. pos. lag 9

3d 7

L. 1st 9

3d 7

R. 1st 11

3d 9

G. 1st 9

3d 7

Mi. 1st 10

3d 8

B. 1st 7

H. 1st 10

3d 6

Later, in the attempt to determine natural divisions, or nodes in the

verse, the following were determined:

L. Max. pos. lags in f. p. of iamb. pent. in order 8 13 9 6

G. 10 11 9 8

Mi. 15 18 17 14

Me. 7.5 13