Sixteen Experimental Investigations from the Harvard Psychological Laboratory - Hugo Münsterberg (best life changing books txt) 📗
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six-letter nonsense word. The position in the series occupied by each
kind was constantly varied. In all other respects the same principles
were followed in constructing the B set as were observed in the A
set with the following substitutions:
No two foreign symbols of a series and no two terms of a couplet
contained the same sounded vowel in accented syllables.
The rule for the avoidance of alliteration, rhyme, and assonance was
extended to the foreign symbols, and to the two terms of a couplet.
The English pronounciation was used in the nonsense words. The
subjects were not informed what the nonsense words were. They were
called foreign words.
Free body movements were used in the movement series as in the A
set. Rarely an object was involved, e.g., the table on which the
subject wrote. The movements were demonstrated to the subject in
advance of learning, as in the A set.
The following are typical B series:
B2. Nonsense words and objects.
quaro rudv xem lihkez
lid cent starch thorn
B3. Nonsense words and verbs.
dalbva fomso bloi kyvi
poke limp hug eat
B4. Nonsense words and movements.
ohv wecolu uxpa haymj
gnash cross frown twist
The time conditions for presenting a series remained practically the
same. In learning, the series was shown three times as before. The
interval between learning and testing was shortened to 4 seconds, and
in the test the post-term interval of A^{13-16} retained (6 secs.).
This allowed the subject 9 secs. for recalling and writing each term.
The only important change was an extension of the number of tests from
two to four. The third test was one week after the second, and the
fourth one week after the third. In these tests the familiar word was
always the term required, as in A^{1-4}, on account of the
difficulty of dealing statistically with the nonsense words. The
intervals for testing permanence in the B set may be most easily
understood by giving the time record of one subject.
TIME RECORD OF Hu.
Series. Im. Rec. Two Days. Nine Days. Sixteen Days.
B^{1-4} Feb. 12 Feb. 14 Feb. 21 Feb. 28
B^{5-8} Feb. 19 Feb. 21 Feb. 28 Mch. 7
B^{9-12} Feb. 26 Feb. 28 Mch. 7 Mch. 14
B^{13-16} Mch. 5 Mch. 7 Mch. 14 Mch. 21
The two half-hours in a week during which all the work of one subject
was done fell on approximately the same part of the day. When a number
of groups of 4 series each were to be tested on a given day they were
taken in the order of their recency of learning. Thus on March 7 the
order for Hu was B^{13-16}, B^{9-12}, B^{5-8}.
Henceforth there was also rotation within a given four series. As
there were always sixteen series in a set, the effects of practice and
fatigue within a given half-hour were thus eliminated.
In the following table the results of the B set are given. Its
arrangement is the same as in Table 1., except that the figures
indicate the number of absent terms correctly recalled out of four
couplets instead of seven or five. Where blanks occur, the series was
discontinued on account of lack of recall. As in Table 1., the tables
in the first, third and fifth columns show successive stages of the
same series. Immediate recall is omitted because with rare exceptions
it was perfect, the test being given merely as an aid in learning.
TABLE II.
SHOWING RECALL AFTER TWO, NINE, AND SIXTEEN DAYS.
Days. Two. Nine. Sixteen. Two. Nine. Sixteen.
N. O. N. O. N. O. V. M. V. M. V. M.
Series. M.
B^{1-4} 2(1) 4 1(1) 2 1(1) 2 4 4 4 2 4 2
B^{5-8} 3 1 2 1 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 1
B^{9-12} 2 3 0 3 0 2 3 2 2 0 2 2
B^{13-16} 2(1) 3 2(1) 0 2(1) 0 1 2 1 0 1 0
Total 9(2) 11 5(2) 6 4(2) 5 10 10 9 3 8 5
Per cent. 64 69 36 38 29 31 63 63 56 19 50 31
S.
B^{1-4}¹ 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 1
B^{5-8} 0 0 0 0
B^{9-12}¹ 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0
B^{13-16}² 0(2) 1 0(2) 1 0(2) 1 0 0(1) 0 0(1) 0 0(1)
Total 0(2) 4 0(2) 1 0(2) 1 0 2(1) 0 1(1) 0 0(1)
Per cent. 0 25 0 6 0 6 0 13 0 7 0 0
Hu.
B^{1-4} 1(1) 4 0(1) 1 0(1) 2 1 3 0 2 0 0
B^{5-8} 0 1(1) 0 0(1) 0 0(1) 0 1 0 1 0 1
B^{9-12} 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0
B^{13-16} 0(1) 0 0(1) 0 0(1) 0 0 4 0 0 0 0
Total 1(2) 6(1) 0(2) 1(1) 0(2) 3(1) 1 8 0 4 0 1
Per cent. 7 40 0 7 0 20 6 50 0 25 0 6
B.
B^{1-4} 1 1(1) 0 0 0 0(1) 0 0
B^{6-8} 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0
B^{9-12} 0 2(1) 0 0(1) 0 0(1) 0(1) 2 0 2 0 1
B^{13-16} 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 2 0 1 0 1
Total 3 8(2) 2 3(1) 2 2(1) 2(1) 4(1) 1 3 1 2
Per cent. 19 57 13 21 13 13 13 27 7 20 7 13
Ho.
B^{1-4}¹ 3 2(1) 2 2(1) 1 0(1) 1(2) 1(2) 1(2) 0(2) 0(2) 0(2)
B^{6-8} 1 1(1) 1 0(1) 1 0 0 1(1) 1 1 0 1
B^{9-12} 0(1) 1 0(1) 1 0(1) 0 1 1 1 1 0 0
B^{13-16}³ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0(1) 4 0(1) 2 0(1) 0
Total 4(1) 4(2) 3(1) 3(2) 2(1) 0(1) 2(3) 7(3) 3(3) 4(2) 0(3) 1(2)
Percent. 33 30 25 23 17 0 17 58 25 33 0 8
Mo.
B^{1-4} 3 3 3 1 4 1 0 2 0 2 0 2
B^{5-8} 1 4 1 1 1 2 1 2(2) 1 1(2) 1 1(2)
B^{9-12} 2 4 2 4 1 4 0(1) 3(1) 1(1) 3(1) 1(1) 2
B^{13-16} 2(2) 4 2(2) 4 2(2) 2 1 4 1 4 1 4
Total 8(2) 15 8(2) 10 8(2) 9 2(1) 11(3) 3(1) 10(3) 3(1) 9(2)
Percent. 57 94 57 63 57 56 13 85 20 79 20 69
¹Four presentations in learning.
²Five presentations in learning.
³Five days’ interval instead of two.
In the following summary the recall after two days is combined from
Tables I. and II. for the three subjects M, S and Hu, there
being no important difference in the conditions of experimentation.
For the three other subjects this summary is merely a résumé of Table
II. The recall after nine and sixteen days in Table II. is omitted,
and will be taken up later. The figures are in all cases based on the
remainders left after those couplets in which indirect associations
occurred were eliminated both from the total number of couplets
learned and from the total number correctly recalled. E.g., in the
case of nouns, M learned, in all, 42 couplets in the A and B
sets, but since in 3 of them indirect associations occurred, only 39
couplets are left, of which 21 were correctly recalled. This gives 54
per cent.
SUMMARY OF RECALL AFTER TWO DAYS.—FROM TABLES I. AND II.
N. O. V. M.
M. 54 per cent. 62 per cent. 63 per cent. 61 per cent.
S. 8 ” 21 ” 7 ” 12 “
Hu. 11 ” 30 ” 5 ” 59 “
B. 19 ” 57 ” 13 ” 27 “
Ho. 33 ” 30 ” 17 ” 58 “
Mo. 57 ” 94 ” 13 ” 85 “
Av. 30 per cent. 49 per cent. 20 per cent. 50 per cent.
Av. gain in object couplets, 19 per cent.
” ” ” movement couplets, 30 per cent.
The first question which occurs in examining the foregoing tables is
concerning the method of treating the indirect associations, i.e.,
obtaining the per cents. The number of couplets correctly recalled may
be divided into two classes: those in which indirect associations did
not occur, and those in which they did occur. Those in which they did
not occur furnish us exactly what we want, for they are results which
are entirely free from indirect associations. In them, therefore, a
comparison can be made between series using objects and activities and
others using images. On the other hand, those correctly recalled
couplets in which indirect associations did occur are not for our
purposes pure material, for they contain not only the object-image
factor but the indirect association factor also. The solution is to
eliminate these latter couplets, i.e., subtract them both from the
number correctly recalled and from the total number of couplets in the
set for a given subject. By so doing and by dividing the first
remainder by the second the per cents, in the tables were obtained.
There is one exception to this treatment. The few couplets in which
indirect associations occurred but which were nevertheless
incorrectly recalled are subtracted only from the total number of
couplets in the set.
The method by which the occurrence of indirect associations was
recorded has been already described. It is considered entirely
trustworthy. There is usually little doubt in the mind of a subject
who comprehends what is meant by an indirect association whether or
not such were present in the particular series which has just been
learned. If none occurred in it the subjects always recorded the fact.
That an indirect association should occasionally be present on one day
and absent on a subsequent one is not strange. That a second term
should effect a union between a first and third and thereafter
disappear from consciousness is not an uncommon phenomenon of
association. There were thirteen such cases out of sixty-eight
indirect associations in the A, B and C sets. In the tables they
are given as present because their effects are present. When the
reverse was the case, namely, when an indirect association occurred on
the second, ninth or sixteenth day for the first time, it aided in
later recall and was counted thereafter. There were eight such cases
among the sixty-eight indirect associations.
Is it possible that the occurrence of indirect associations in,
e.g., two of the four couplets of a series renders the retention of
the other two easier? This could only be so when the intervals between
two couplets in learning were used for review, but such was never the
case. The subjects were required to fill such intervals with
repetitions of the preceding couplet only.
The elimination of the indirect association couplets and the
acceptance of the remainders as fair portrayals of the influence of
objects and movements on recall is therefore a much nearer approach to
truth than would be the retention of the indirectly associated
couplets.
The following conclusions deal with recall after two days only. The
recall after longer intervals will be discussed after Table III.
The summary from Tables I. and II. shows that when objects and nouns
are coupled each with a foreign symbol, four of the six subjects
recall real objects better than images of objects, while two, M and
Ho, show little or no preference. The summary also shows that when
body movements and verbs are coupled each with a foreign symbol, five
of the six subjects recall actual movements better than images of
movements,
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