| Stress. | Initial. | Secondary. | Tertiary. | Final. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value, | 1.000 | 1.211 | 1.119 | 1.151 |
The first and third forms, which involve initial accents—in the relation of the secondary as well as primary accent to the subgroups—are both of lower average value than the remaining types, in which the accents are final, a relation which indicates, on the assumption already made, a greater ease and naturalness in the former types. Further, the second form, which according to the subjective reports was found the most difficult of the group to execute—in so far as difficulty may be said to be inherent in forms of motor reaction which were all relatively easy to manipulate—is that which presents the highest intensive value of the whole series.
In the next group of experiments, the subject was required to execute a series of reactions in groups of alternating content, the first to contain two uniform beats, the second to consist of a single reaction. This second beat with the interval following it constitutes a measure which was to be made rhythmically equivalent to the two-beat group with which it alternated. The time-relations of the series were therefore left to the adjustment of the reactor. The intensive relations were separated into two groups; in the first the final reaction was to be kept uniform in strength with those of the preceding group, in the second it was to be accented.
The absolute and relative intensive values for the two forms are given in the following table:
TABLE XXVI.
| Rhythm. | 1st Beat. | 2d Beat. | 3d Beat. | Value. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Syncopated Measures | 13.00 | 15.12 | 16.50 | Absolute. |
| Unaccented, | 1.000 | 1.175 | 1.269 | Relative. |
| Syncopated Measures | 10.95 | 11.82 | 16.11 | Absolute. |
| Accented, | 1.000 | 1.079 | 1.471 | Relative. |
These averages hold for every individual record, and therefore represent a thoroughly established type. In both forms the reaction of the syncopated measure receives the greatest stress. In the first form, while the stress is relatively less than in the second, it is at the same time absolutely greater. The whole set of values is raised (the ratio of average intensities in the two forms being 1.147:1.000), as it has already been found to be raised in other forms difficult to execute. To this cause the preponderance is undoubtedly to be attributed, as the reports of every subject describe this form as unnatural, in consequence of the restraint it imposes on an impulse to accent the final reaction, i.e., the syncopated measure.
In the next set of experiments the series of reactions involved the alternation of a syncopated measure consisting of a single beat with a full measure of three beats. The same discrimination into accented and unaccented forms in the final measure was made as in the preceding group. The series of absolute and relative values are given in the following table.
TABLE XXVII.
| Rhythm. | 1st Beat. | 2d Beat. | 3d Beat. | 4th Beat. | Value. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Syncopated Measures | 9.77 | 8.96 | 9.61 | 13.78 | Absolute. |
| Unaccented, | 1.000 | 0.915 | 0.983 | 1.165 | Relative. |
| Syncopated Measures | 11.57 | 11.07 | 11.5 | 21.50 | Absolute. |
| Accented, | 1.000 | 0.957 | 0.996 | 1.858 | Relative. |