closely into separate unities. By remaining attached at the bottom,
whatever variations might occur elsewhere in the figures, they could
not lose their individuality and become merged in each other as before.
They remained distinct groups without effort on the part of the subject.
[Illustration: Fig. 15]
With this I began as in the previous experiment. The subject was asked
to look at the series of repetitions, enjoy them as much as possible,
telling what was the pleasant factor in the experience, and how he
apperceived the series. The subjects separated into types as before;
the spatial type immediately grouping the elements into a larger
unity and enjoying the groups more for their own sake than for their
repetition, while the temporal type went from one to the next in the
series, enjoying the _rhythm_ more than the elements as such. (It may
be remarked here that the subjects were perfectly naïve as to their
apperception. They did not know they were separated into types, nor
were they urged to be consistent. Even the experimenter did not know
of the distinctness with which these types separated themselves, and
consistently held to their own method of apperception, until looking
over the records afterwards.)
With the temporal type the four-group was the major group. Some
expressed its prominence in terms of _time_, _i. e._, they spent more
time on it, and less on the three-group. One felt it as emphasized,
because he moved from one four-group to the next like it, and at each
step moved back and forth from left to right, to see the alternate
three-groups on each side, always _resting_ on the four-groups.
It is noticeable with these subjects, in whom the rhythmic element
was more strongly developed, that although they admitted that the
language of "temporal rhythm" did not adequately cover their experience
(because the element did not disappear after perception as in auditory
rhythm, but remained in the visual field), still they could not express
themselves in other terms. L., the most extreme of this type, insisted
that the experience of repetition would be exactly as pleasant if he
saw the elements pass one by one behind a moving window, with never
more than one in the field at once. In other words, their temporal
relations were all he felt.
The others did not go so far as this, and agreed to the significance of
the whole field, even while especially interested in passing from one
to the next. B. partook of the characteristics of both types, and by
combining the apperceptions of both bridged the chasm between them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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