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 number of elements in the simple groups of which these higher
units are composed, and their average duration, are also given in the
table. These likewise show a progressive increase in number, but of a
much slower rate than that manifested by the total synthesis of
elements. That is to say, in subjective rhythm as well as in
objectively figured series, subordinate rhythmical differences in the
material sink out of consciousness less rapidly than the inclusion of
fresh elements takes place; in other words, the organic complexity of
the rhythmic unit increases with every acceleration in the rate of
succession. The duration of these simple structural groups, as may be
inferred, decreases with such acceleration, but at a much more rapid
rate than is the case with the total reach of rhythmical apprehension,
the value of that unit which appears in connection with the highest
speed here included being less than half a second. The 'liveliness' of
such rapid measures is thus a resultant of several factors. It is not
a consequence solely of the more rapid rate at which the individual
stimuli succeed one another, but depends also on the shortening of the
periods of both these rhythmical units and on the progressive
divergence of the simple from the complex group.
The influence of the rate of succession on the rhythmical unit is not
confined to its segregation from adjacent groups, but affects the
internal configuration of the measure as well. With every acceleration
in rate the relative preponderance of the interval following the
accented element (in rhythms having initial stress) increases; as the
rate is retarded, smaller and smaller degrees of difference in the
values of accented and unaccented intervals are discriminated. In this
regard the influence of reduction in the absolute value of the
separating intervals is analogous to that of increased accentuation
within the group. In fast tempos and with high degrees of emphasis the
interval following the initial accent is relatively longer, that
following the unaccented relatively shorter, than at slow tempos and
with weak emphasis. This is but another way of expressing the fact
that as the elements of the auditory series succeed one another more
and more slowly the impression of rhythm fades out and that as their
succession increases in rapidity the impression becomes more and more
pronounced. The following table presents these relations in a
quantitative form for trochaic rhythm. The figures represent the
number of times the second, or group interval, was judged to be
greater than, equal to, or less than the first or internal interval of
the group. Three rates were compared together, having average
intervals of 5/12, 3/12 and 2/12 sec. Six observers took part, but
only a small number of judgments was made by each, to which fact is
probably to be attributed the irregularities of form which appear in
the various curves:
TABLE VI.
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