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
A B C D E
less = gr. less = gr. less = gr. less = gr. less = gr.
R. (a) 2 0 23 0 0 25 4 4 17 3 1 21 0 1 24
(b) 3 1 21 1 0 24 5 3 17 1 6 18 0 2 23
F. (a) 1 4 20 3 0 22 8 6 11 0 5 20 2 0 23
(b) 2 3 20 2 1 22 6 7 12 1 4 20 0 3 22
K. (a) 4 2 19 4 0 21 2 7 16 0 7 18 0 0 25
(b) 1 0 24 2 6 17 8 0 17 2 6 17 1 0 24
-------- -------- -------- -------- --------
13 10 127 12 7 131 33 27 90 7 29 114 3 6 141
TABLES IV.-VIII.
The first line in column _A_ (Table IV.) signifies that out of 10
judgments, comparing an open space 4 cm., total weight 20 gr., with a
filled space of 4 points, total weight also 20 gr., the filled space
was judged less 7 times, equal 2 times, and greater once.
III.
The results of the investigation, thus far, point to the conclusion
that short filled spaces are underestimated, that long spaces are
overestimated, and that between the two there lies what might be
called an 'indifference zone.' This unexpected outcome explains, I
think, the divergent opinions of the earlier investigators of this
problem. Each theory is right in what it affirms, but wrong in what it
implicitly or openly denies.
I next set out to determine as precisely as possible how far the
factor of fusion, or what Parrish has called irradiation, enters into
the judgments. It was evident from the beginning of this whole
investigation that fusion or displacement of the points was very
common. The term 'irradiation' is, however, too specific a term to
describe a process that works in these two opposite directions. The
primary concern of these next experiments was, therefore, to devise
means for preventing fusion among the points before the subject
pronounced his judgment. With our apparatus we were able to make a
number of experiments that show, in an interesting way, the results
that follow when the sensations are not permitted to fuse. It is only
the shorter distances that concern us here. The longer distances have
already been shown to follow the law of optical illusion, that is,
that filled space is overestimated. The object of the present
experiments is to bring the shorter distances under the same law, by
showing, first, that the objective conditions as they have existed in
our experiments thus far are not parallel to those which we find in
the optical illusion. Second, that when the objective conditions are
the same, the illusion for the shorter distances follows the law just
stated.
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