III
Fig. 2.—Reading colors. Time of record, 95 seconds. Position of colors →. Subject facing →. In all the figures A represents the beginning of the record, and Z the end. The arrows are used to indicate the direction in which the object attended to was situated, and also the direction in which the subject was facing. The tracings are permanently fixed by coating them with a weak solution of shellac in alcohol.
We may now consider a few typical results. Fig. 2, an ordinary average result, was obtained while the subject was calling out the names of a series of small patches of color, displayed on the wall facing him, about eight feet distant. It will be observed that the movement (which in all the illustrations has its beginning marked by an A and its end by a Z) proceeds irregularly but decidedly towards the object upon which the attention was fixed. As a rule the subject is unaware of the movement which his hand has made, and exercises no essential control over the results; indeed it is likely that he is considerably surprised when the results are first shown to him. At times he becomes conscious of the loss of equilibrium of the apparatus, but the indication is rarely sufficiently definite to inform him of the direction of the movement. Not infrequently, the movement is performed with complete unconsciousness, and is accompanied by a strong conviction that the apparatus has been stationary. In several cases an intentional simulation of the movements was produced for comparison with the involuntary records; the result was quite generally a very different and coarser type of movement, readily distinguishable from the involuntary writings. A prominent characteristic of practically all of the movements is their irregular and jerky character; the hand for a time oscillates about uncertainly, and then moves rather suddenly and quickly in a given direction; then another period of hesitation, again a more or less sharp advance, and so on. It is probable that it is these repeated brief movements of more vigorous indication of the direction of the subject's attention, that the muscle-reader waits for and utilizes.
Fig. 3.—Reading colors arranged in three rows. Time of record, 90 seconds. The first line was read in the direction ↓; the second in the direction ↑; and the third again ↓. At the turn from the second to the third line the record is interrupted. Shows movement of the hand parallel with the movement of the attention.
It is obvious enough that the results of a test of this kind cannot be anticipated, not alone because there are marked differences between individuals in the readiness with which they will manifest involuntary movements, but also because the intensity of the attention and the momentary condition of the subject are important and variable factors in the result. With very good subjects it becomes quite safe to predict the general nature of the tracing; and the different tracings of the same subject often bear a family resemblance. We must now learn what we can of the various factors which influence these subconscious handwritings. That indefinitely complex combination of natural and nurtural circumstances, to which we give the name of character, or individuality, or personality, doubtless presents the most striking factor in this, as it does in normal handwriting; and in both cases analyses are inevitably vague and confined to prominent points of difference. Extreme types are always interesting and at times instructive. The tracing of Fig. 3 was obtained under the same circumstances as Fig. 2, but with a subject whose tendency towards involuntary movements is far more marked, is indeed unusual. The total extent of the movement is more than three times as great as in the former case, and it twice changes its direction. This latter characteristic is the noteworthy one, for it is due to the fact that the colors which the subject was reading were arranged in three rows; the first row was read from left to right (corresponding to a downward direction in the figure); the second row was read in the reversed direction; and the third row in the original direction again. The completeness of correspondence between the movements of the hand and of the attention leaves nothing to be desired. This subject yielded the most extensive and predictable involuntary movements of any whom I tested. A satisfactory impression of the variety and range of the individual differences which subjects, chosen somewhat at random, are likely to present, may be gathered from the series of records which will be reproduced as illustrative also of other influences. In Fig. 4 is represented another average record quite similar to that of Fig. 2 but produced by another subject, while reading from a printed page for three-quarters of a minute; as before the hand moves towards the focus of attention. It would be easy to present both more decided and extensive, and more uncertain involuntary records of still other subjects; while negative or quite indeterminate tracings are by no means uncommon.
Fig. 4.—Reading from printed page. Time of record, 45 seconds. Direction of the attention →. Subject facing →.
When, to vary the nature of the impression to which the attention is directed, a metronome is used, and to insure attention on the part of the subject he is required to count the strokes, it may be that another form of involuntary movement appears. The tendency to beat time to enlivening music by tapping with the hands, or stamping with the feet, or nodding with the head, is most familiar; and Dr. Lombard has shown that music is capable of effecting such thoroughly involuntary movements as the sudden rise of the leg that follows reflexly upon a blow on the patella of the knee. It is not surprising, therefore, to find evidences of periodic movements in these automatograms; and in some instances, such as Fig. 5, this pervades the whole record. Here the hand moves to and fro, keeping time—not accurately at all, but in a general way—with the strokes of the metronome.
Fig. 5.—Counting the strokes of a metronome. Shows the oscillations of the movements with the strokes of the metronome.
Fig. 6.—Counting the oscillations of a pendulum. Time of record, 45 seconds. Direction of the attention →. Subject facing →. The points 1, 2, 3, show the positions of the writing-point, 15, 30, and 45 seconds after the record was started.
To obtain similar results for a visual impression a silently swinging pendulum is used, the subject following the oscillations with his eyes and counting them. The result is more frequently simply a movement towards the pendulum, Fig. 6; but occasionally there appear periodic movements induced by those of the pendulum. A very excellent instance of the latter appears in Fig. 7 (p. 318).
Fig. 7.—Counting pendulum oscillations. Time of record, 80 seconds. Shows movement at first toward the pendulum, and then synchronous with its oscillations.
Fig. 8.—Thinking of a hidden object. Time of record, 30 seconds. Direction of the attention →.
Fig. 9.—Reading from printed page. The page was moved about the subject in the direction of the arrows.
→
3
↑ 24 ↑
1
←
We may more closely approximate the ordinary experiment of the muscle-reader by giving the subject some object to hide, say a knife, and then asking him to place his hand upon the automatograph, and to think intently of the place of concealment. As before there is a movement of the hand; and on the basis of the general direction of this movement one may venture a prediction of the direction in which the knife lies. The results will show all grades of success, from complete failure to an accurate localizing of the object; but as good a record as Fig. 8 is not infrequent. As indicated by the letters and the arrow, the hand moved irregularly toward the hidden knife. In this case the eyes are closed, and the concentration of the attention is maintained by a mental effort without the aid of the senses. The peculiar line of Fig. 9 was obtained in an experiment in which a book was slowly carried about the room, the subject being required to read continuously from the page. It is evident that the hand followed the movement of the attention, not in a circle but in an irregular outline closing in upon itself; the change in posture which this process involved has an undoubted influence upon the result.
Fig. 10.—Counting pendulum oscillations. Time of record, 120 seconds. Direction of the attention →. Subject facing →. Illustrates slow and indirect movement. The points, 1, 2, 3, 4, indicate the position of the writing-point, 30, 60, 90, and 120 seconds after the record was started.
Fig. 11.—Counting the strokes of a metronome. Time of record, 70 seconds. The points, 1, 2, 3, 4, indicate the positions of the writing point at 15, 30, 45, and 60 seconds after the record was begun. Direction of the attention →. Subject facing →. Illustrates slight hesitation at first and then a rapid movement toward the object of attention. Reduced to ¾ size.
Fig. 12.—Counting the strokes of a metronome. Time of record, 90 seconds. Direction of attention →. Subject facing →. Illustrates initial directness of movement followed by hesitancy.
Before passing to a more specific interpretation of the data, it may be interesting to illustrate more fully the scope of individual variations; for the great difference in availability of subjects to the muscle-reader is equally prominent in tests with the automatograph. Some movements are direct and extensive, others are circuitous and brief. Fig. 10 is a good type of a small movement, but of one quite constantly toward the object of the attention. This may be contrasted with an extreme record, not here reproduced, in which there is a movement of six and a half inches in forty-five seconds; or with a fairly extensive movement as in Fig. 11. In some cases the first impulse carries the hand toward the object of thought, and is followed by considerable hesitation and uncertainty; a marked example of this tendency may be seen in Fig. 12. There is, too, an opposite type, in which the initial movements are variable, and the significant movement toward the object of thought comes later, when perhaps there is some fatigue. This tendency appears somewhat in Figs. 11 and 13.
Fig. 13.—Thinking of a locality. Time of record, 120 seconds. Direction of the attention ←. Subject facing ←. Illustrates initial hesitancy followed by a steady movement toward the object thought of.