Harvard Psychological Studies, Volume 1: Containing Sixteen Experimental Investigations from the Harvard Psychological Laboratory.
Science
Harvard Psychological Studies, Volume 1: Containing Sixteen Experimental Investigations from the Harvard Psychological Laboratory.
Psychology, Experimental
The time relations of such smaller and larger units are dependent on
the relative inertia of the mechanism involved. A definite subjective
rhythm period undoubtedly appears; but its constancy is not maintained
absolutely, either in the process of subjective rhythmization or in
the reproduction of ideal forms. Its manifestation is subject to the
special conditions imposed on it by such apprehension or expression.
The failure to make this distinction is certain to confuse one's
conception of the temporal rhythmic unit and its period. The
variations of this period present different curves in the two cases of
subjective rhythmization and motor expression of definite rhythm
forms. In the former the absolute duration of the unit-group suffers
progressive decrease as the rate of succession among the stimuli is
accelerated; in the latter a series of extensions of its total
duration takes place as the number of elements composing the unit is
increased. The series of relative values for units of from two to
eight constituents which the finger reactions presented in this
investigation is given in the following table:
TABLE II.
No. of Elements. Proportional Duration.
Two, 1.000
Three, 1.109
Four, 1.817
Five, 1.761
Six, 2.196
Seven, 2.583
Eight, 2.590
This progressive extension of the rhythm period is to be explained by
the mechanical conditions imposed on the expression of rhythm by
processes of muscular contraction and release. Were it possible freely
to increase the rate of such successive innervations, we should expect
to find a much greater constancy in the whole period occupied by the
series of reactions which composes the unit. The comparatively
unsatisfactory quality of these larger series, and the resolution of
them into subgroups described elsewhere in this paper, are due to this
inability to accommodate the series of motor reactions to the
subjective rhythm period.
On the other hand, the temporal value of the unit which appears as the
result of subjective rhythmization undergoes a progressive decrease in
absolute magnitude as the rate of succession among the undifferentiated
stimuli is accelerated. The series of values for units containing from
two to eleven constituents is given in the following table:
TABLE III.
No. of Elements. Duration in Seconds.
Two, 2.00
Three, 1.75
Four, 1.66
Seven, 1.75
Nine, 1.50
Eleven, 0.97
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