L. (the most extreme of the temporal type) agreed with R. that the
lines inside the group were perceived and enjoyed _temporally_, as well
as the groups as a whole. There was no experiencing the groups _at
once_. He felt that he moved regularly across the field encountering
five lines, one after the other, then an empty space, then five lines
more. The only meaning which the group as such had for him was the
five accents which came near one another in time. He could feel no
unity whatever apart from this. He was even certain that his pleasure
would be identical if in some mechanical way the same figure could be
pushed forward, so that the same amount of time and movement would be
necessary to reach it that was required to move from one figure to
the next on the field. The experience was in every way analogous to
auditory rhythm with him, and he was unable to express himself in other
than temporal terms. Immediate perception, repose on the object, or
groupings, had no significance for him.
The other two subjects were links between the extremes already
described. They could feel each group, and sometimes even the whole
series _at once_ apparently, and yet were all the time conscious of
a certain rhythm in going from one to the next. The whole experience
seemed immediate at first, but on reflection a certain alternate
rhythm was felt to be present, which was too rapid to take any
considerable time, but yet had to be included as a factor in the
experience. These introspections I believe to throw light on the nature
of the whole experience of repetition. Since there are two methods
of apperception so extreme, but moreover certain subjects partake of
the characteristics of both, it might seem that both types represent
but _one_ side of the experience. Since both are enjoying the same
objective series, but in their description of their feeling in face of
it emphasize such different sides (leaving at the same time the other
side unaccounted for), and since certain subjects share the experience
of both, it might be that the sum of both methods of apperception was
necessary to the fullest appreciation of the repetition in question,
only in certain subjects one aspect of it was so much stronger that the
other possible factors in the experience were overlooked.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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