The Principles of Psychology, Volume 2 (of 2)James, William
Science
The Principles of Psychology, Volume 2 (of 2)
James, William
Psychology
To which the answer is that it _is_ a datum of sensation, but a datum
which, like many other data, must first be _discriminated_. As a
rule, no sensible qualities are discriminated without a motive.[239]
And those that later we learn to discriminate were originally felt
confused. As well pretend that a voice, or an odor, which we have
learned to pick out, is no sensation now. One may easily acquire
skill in discriminating double images, though, as Hering somewhere
says, it is an art of which one cannot become master in one year or
in two. For masters like Hering himself, or Le Conte, the ordinary
stereoscopic diagrams are of little use. Instead of combining into
one solid appearance, they simply cross each other with their doubled
lines. Volkmann has shown a great variety of ways in which the addition
of secondary lines, differing in the two fields, helps us to see
the primary lines double. The effect is analogous to that shown in
the cases which we despatched a moment ago, where given lines have
their space-value changed by the addition of new lines, without our
being able to say why, except that a certain mutual adhesion of
the lines and modification of the resultant feeling takes place by
psychophysiological laws. Thus, if in Fig. 70, _l_ and _r_ be crossed
by an horizontal line at the same level, and viewed stereoscopically,
they appear as a single pair of lines, _s_, in space. But if the
horizontal be at different levels, as in _l', r',_ three lines appear,
as in _s'_'.[240]
Let us then say no more about double images. All that the facts prove
is what Volkmann says,[241] that, although there may be sets of retinal
fibres so organized as to give an impression of two separate spots,
yet the excitement of other retinal fibres may inhibit the effect
of the first excitement, and prevent us from actually making the
discrimination. Still farther retinal processes may, however, bring the
doubleness to the eye of attention; and, once there, it is as genuine a
sensation as any that our life affords.[242]
* * * * *
_(c) These groups of illusions being eliminated,_ either as cases of
defective discrimination, or as changes of one space-sensation into
another when the total retinal process changes, _there remain but two
other groups to puzzle us._ The first is that of the after-images
distorted by projection on to oblique planes; the second relates to the
instability of our judgments of relative distance and size by the eye,
and includes especially what are known as pseudoscopic illusions.
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