(a) F. (80×10), V. Curve.
C puts V. farther than F., except for F. 200, V. 125 and X. O also, changing as usual at F. 120 to V. nearer than F.
(b) F. Curve, V. (80×10).
O puts V. always farther than F. O has V. farther for F. 40 and F. 80, then nearer than F. Refuses to choose for F. 200. Results exactly parallel with those of Curve IV.
Comparing all the results of this whole series of experiments on the suggestion of movement, we may conclude that movement, whether suggested by a whole line or part of a line, produces in terms of mechanical balance the same effect that the balanced object would produce after the completion of the suggested motion. This tendency to balance, it appears, lies at the basis of our preference; it often gives way, however, before considerations of space-filling, when the figure which on the scheme of mechanical balance is weaker, gains interest and so 'heaviness' by being brought nearer the center.
D. Experiments on Interest.
By intrinsic interest is meant the interest which would attach to an object quite apart from its place in the space composition. In a picture it would be represented by the interest in an important person, in an unusual object, or in an especially beautiful object, if that beauty were independent of the other forms in the picture—as, for instance, a lovely face, or a jeweled goblet, etc. When the question of the influence of interest on composition came to be discussed, it was found very difficult to abstract the form of the object from the content presented; still more difficult to obtain an effect of interest at all without the entrance of an element of form into the space arrangement. Disembodied intellectual interest was the problem, and the device finally adopted seemed to present, in as indifferent a form as possible, a content whose low degree of absolute interest was compensated for by constant change. Stamps of various countries in black and white reproductions and very small outline pictures on squares of the same size as the stamps were taken as material. The figures were so small in relation to the board that any influence on composition of the lines composing them was impossible; the outline pictures, indeed, gave to the eye which abstracted from their content an impression scarcely stronger than the neighboring blank square.
The first set of experiments (VI.) had a small outline picture on the side, and on the other a white paper square of the same size. The necessary interest was given in the form of novelty by changing the picture for every choice. The subjects were M, G and D. The results were of the same type for each subject and could therefore be averaged.
Exp. VI. (1).
(a) F. Picture, V. Blank. Eight choices for each.