| N. | O. | V. | M. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M. | 81 | per cent. | 73 | per cent. | 56 | per cent. | 69 | per cent. |
| Mo. | 31 | " | 46 | " | 40 | " | 93 | " |
| S. | 14 | " | 63 | " | 40 | " | 60 | " |
| Hu. | 50 | " | 75 | " | 29 | " | 92 | " |
| B. | 69 | " | 88 | " | 56 | " | 88 | " |
| Ho. | 58 | " | 92 | " | 50 | " | 85 | " |
| —————— | —————— | —————— | —————— | |||||
| Av. | 51 | per cent. | 73 | per cent. | 45 | per cent. | 81 | per cent. |
Av. gain in object couplets, 22 per cent.
Av. gain in movement couplets, 36 per cent.
Before asking whether the results of the C set confirm the conclusions already reached, we must compare the conditions of the three sets to see whether the changes in the conditions in the C set have rendered it incomparable with the other two. The first change was the substitution of dissyllabic words in the verb and the movement series in the place of monosyllabic words. Since the change was made in both the verb and the movement series their comparability with each other is not interfered with, and this is the point at issue. Preliminary tests, however, made it highly probable that simple concrete dissyllabic words are not more difficult than monosyllabic in 5 secs. exposure. This change is therefore disregarded.
The first important change introduced in the C set was the reduction of the intervals between the tests for four subjects. The second was the lengthening of the exposure from 3 to 5 secs. These changes also do not lessen the comparability of the noun, object, verb and movement series with one another, since they affected all series of the C set.
The third change in the conditions was the substitution in the movement series of movements employing objects for movements of the body alone, and the consequent placing of objects on the table in the movement and in the object series of which the subject obtained a single mental image. All of the subjects were of the opinion that this single mental image was an aid in recall. Each of the objects contributing to form it was individualized by its spatial order among the objects on the table. The objects shown through the aperture were connected merely by temporal contiguity. On this account the object and the movement series of the C set are not altogether comparable with those of the A and the B sets. We should expect a priori that the object and the movement series in the C set would be much better recalled than those of the A and the B sets.
The fourth change was from imaged or made movements of the body alone to imaged or made movements employing objects. If, as the A and the B sets have already demonstrated, the presence of objects at all is an aid to recall, the movement series of the C set should show a greater gain over their corresponding verb series than the simple movements of the body in the A and the B sets showed over their corresponding verb series. For, employing objects in movements is adding the aid of objects to whatever aid there is in making the movements.
Turning to the results, we consider the C set by itself with reference to the effect of the use of objects vs. images in general. The summary from Table IV. shows that under the conditions given, after intervals of from slightly less than one day to two days, five of the six subjects recall object couplets better than noun couplets. One subject, M recalls noun couplets better. It also shows that under the conditions and after the intervals mentioned all six subjects recall movement couplets better than verb couplets. In view of the small difference here and of his whole record, however, M is probably to be classed as indifferent in both substantive and action series.
RECALL AFTER NINE AND SIXTEEN DAYS.
Thus far recall after these longer intervals has not been discussed. The experiment was originally devised to test recall after two days only, but it was found that with two of the subjects, M and Mo, recall for greater intervals could be obtained with slight additional trouble. This was accordingly done in the B and C sets. The results of the four other subjects in the B set are not so satisfactory on this point, because not enough was recalled.
The most interesting fact which developed was an apparently slower rate of forgetting, in many cases, of the nouns and verbs than of the objects and movements. In the noun-object group of the B set it is noticeable in three out of the four possible subjects, viz., B, Ho, and Mo. M alone does not show it. The two other subjects, S and B, did not recall enough for a comparison. In the verb-movement group of the B set it is also marked in three out of the four possible subjects, viz., M, Ho, and Mo. B alone does not show it. It is also seen in the C set in the results of M and Mo, in both the noun-object and the verb-movement groups. With the four other subjects in the C set it could not be noticed, since the series ran their course in a day. In M (verb-movement group, C set) and Mo (noun-object group, C set) the originally higher object or movement curves actually fall below their corresponding noun or verb curves.