TABLE LXII.
| Proportional. | Single Beat. | 2-Beat Group. | 4-Beat Group. | 8-Beat Group. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M.V. | 1.000 | 0.512 | 0.480 | 0.320 |
The persons taking part in the investigation were next required to make a series of reactions composed of unit groups of two beats, in each of which the first member received accentuation, a simple trochaic rhythm. In this type the relation of intra-group to inter-group interval remains unchanged. In all subjects but one the mean variation of the first interval exceeds that of the second in the average ratio 1.722:1.000. The amount of difference is less than in the preceding type of reaction. In the former there is presented not an intensively uniform series, but an irregularly rhythmical grouping of intensities, in dependence on the well-defined parallel types of temporal differentiation; in the latter such intensive differentiation is fundamental and constant in its form. Assuming the character of the second interval to remain unchanged, there is in the intensive fixity of the initial accented element, on the one hand, and the alternate assertion of the impulse to accentuation and repression of it in the attempt to preserve uniformity, on the other, an occasion for the difference in the relation of the mean variation of this interval to that of the following in the two cases. It is to be expected that there should be less irregularity in a series of reactions each of which represents an attempt to produce a definite and constant rhythmical accent, than in a series in which such an accent is spasmodically given and repressed.
For a like reason, the difference in value between the mean variations of the elementary interval and the unit group should be less in the case of the positive rhythm form than in that of a series which combines a definite temporal segregation with an attempt to maintain intensive uniformity. The mean variation of the interval is still of greater value than that of the unit group, but stands to it in the reduced ratio 1.000:0.969.
The relations of higher groups present certain departures from the preceding type. In three cases out of five the unit has a greater fixity than its immediate compound
, with an average ratio of 0.969:1.072. The original relation, however, is reëstablished in the case of the next higher multiple, the eight-beat group, the whole series of values, arranged on the basis of unity for the simple interval, being as follows:
TABLE LXIII.
| Proportional. | Single Beat. | 2-Beat Group. | 4-Beat Group. | 8-Beat Group. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M.V. | 1.000 | 0.969 | 1.072 | 0.859 |
An analysis of the material in successive pairs of two-beat groups revealed a pronounced rhythm in the values of the mean variations of the first and second members of the pair respectively, the fixity of the second group being much greater than that of the first, the mean variation having a ratio for all subjects of 0.801:1.000. The interpretation of this rhythmical variation, as in the preceding reaction series, must be speculative in the absence of quantitative measurement of intensive changes, but is still not left in doubt. The rhythmic material is combined in larger syntheses than the groups of two beats, alternately accented and unaccented, which were avowedly in mind. This secondary grouping appears in at least a measure of four beats, into which the unit group enters as the elementary interval entered into the composition of that unit. In this larger group the initial period, or element of stress, is characterized by a greater mean variation than the unaccented period which follows it. There are present in this first interval two factors of instability: the factor of accent, that element which receives the stress, being in general characterized by a greater mean variation than the unaccented; and the factor of position, the initial member of a rhythmical group, independent of accentuation, being marked by a like excess of mean variation over those which follow it. The interpretation of the latter fact lies in the direction of a development of uniformity in the motor habit, which is partially interrupted and reëstablished with the ending and beginning of each successive group, large or small, in the series of reactions.