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
In the first of these experiments, in which two points of different
weight were used, the points were always taken safely outside of the
threshold for the discrimination between two points in the particular
region of the skin operated on. An inspection of the results shown in
Figs. 2 and 3 will indicate the marked tendency of the heavier point
to attract the lighter. In Figs. 2 and 3 the heavy curves were plotted
from judgments where both heavy and light points were given together.
The dotted curve represents the localization of each point when given
alone. The height of the curves at any particular point is determined
by the number of times a contact was judged to be directly under that
point. The fact that the curves are higher over the heavy points shows
that, when two points were taken as one, this one was localized in the
vicinity of the heavier point. When points were near the threshold for
any region, it will be observed that the two points were attracted to
each other. But when the points were altogether outside the threshold,
they seemed strangely to have repelled each other. As this problem lay
somewhat away from my main interest here, I did not undertake to
investigate this peculiar fluctuation exhaustively. My chief purpose
was satisfied when I found that the lighter point is displaced toward
the heavier, in short distances. A further explanation of these
figures will be given in connection with similar figures in the next
section.
[Illustration: FIG. 2. Back of hand.]
[Illustration: FIG. 3. Forearm.]
This attraction of the heavier for the lighter points is, I think, a
sufficient explanation for the variations in judgments upon filled
distances where changes are made in the place at which the pressure is
applied. I furthermore believe that an extension of this principle
offers an explanation for the underestimation of cutaneous
line-distances, which has been frequently reported from various
laboratories. Such a straight line gives a subjective impression of
being heavier at the center. I found that if the line is slightly
concave at the center, so as to give the ends greater prominence and
thereby leave the subjective impression that the line is uniform
throughout its entire length, the line will be overestimated in
comparison with a point distance. Out of one hundred judgments on the
relative length of two hard-rubber lines of 5 cm. when pressed against
the skin, one of which was slightly concave, the concave line was
overestimated eighty-four times. For sight, a line in which the shaded
part is concentrated at the center appears longer than an objectively
equal line with the shading massed towards the ends.
IV.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account