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
Next, experiments were made on two subjects, with conditions the same
as in the work corresponding to Table IV., except that the distance
between the fingers stimulated was only five inches. The results of
this work are given in Table V.
TABLE V.
_ST_= 5.0 SECS. TWO HANDS. 5 INCHES.
Subject RRL. RLL. No. of Series.
_Sh._ 5.32 5.32 60
_Hs._ 4.40 6.80 60
It will be noticed that _Hs_ shows a slightly wider divergence than
before, while _Sh_ pursues the even tenor of his way as usual.
Series were next obtained by employing the first and second fingers on
one hand in exactly the same way as the middle fingers of the two
hands were previously employed, the orders of stimulation being 1, 1,
2, and 1, 2, 2. The results of sixty series on Subject _Hs_ give the
values of average _ET_ as 4.8 secs. for 1, 1, 2, and 6.23 sees, for 1,
2, 2, _ST_ being 5.0 secs., showing less divergence than in the
preceding work.
These experiments were all made during the first year's work. They
show that in most cases a change in the locality stimulated influences
the estimation of the time interval, but since the details of that
influence do not appear so definitely as might be desired, the ground
was gone over again in a little different way at the beginning of the
present year.
A somewhat more serviceable instrument for time measurements was
employed, consisting of a disc provided with four rows of sockets in
which pegs were inserted at appropriate angular intervals, so that
their contact with fixed levers during the revolution of the disc
closed an electric circuit at predetermined time intervals. The disc
was rotated at a uniform speed by an electric motor.
Experiments were made by stimulation of the following localities: (1)
First and third fingers of right hand; (2) first and second fingers of
right hand; (3) first fingers of both hands, close together, but just
escaping contact; (4) first fingers of both hands, fifteen inches
apart; (5) first fingers of both hands, thirty inches apart; (6) two
positions on middle finger of right hand, on same transverse line.
A standard of two seconds was adopted as being easier for the subject
and more expeditious, and since qualitative and not quantitative
results were desired, only one _CT_ was used in each case, thus
permitting the investigation to cover in a number of weeks ground
which would otherwise have required a much longer period. The subjects
were, however, only informed that the objective variations were very
small, and not that they were in most cases zero. Tests of the two
types complementary to each other (_e.g._, _RRL_ and _RRL_) were in
each case taken alternately in groups of five, as in previous work.
TABLE VI.
_ST_= 2.0 SECS.
_Subject W._
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