Sixteen Experimental Investigations from the Harvard Psychological Laboratory - Hugo Münsterberg (best life changing books txt) 📗
- Author: Hugo Münsterberg
- Performer: -
Book online «Sixteen Experimental Investigations from the Harvard Psychological Laboratory - Hugo Münsterberg (best life changing books txt) 📗». Author Hugo Münsterberg
and then dies away during the relaxation phase. The sensations from
this positive muscle set have the principal place in consciousness
during the rhythm experience. The curve below the base line represents
the contraction of the extensors, the negative muscle set. The
contraction of the negative muscles reaches its climax very soon after
the maximum contraction of the positive muscles, in the contraction
phase. The sharp tension between the two opposing sets of muscles at
the limiting sensation may be made very apparent if the finger beats
the rhythm entirely in the air; in that case the limiting sensation
consists entirely of the feeling of a sudden increase of tension
between the positive and negative muscle sets. During the relaxation
phase the contraction of the negative muscles continues, but the
tension between the two sets grows less and less, for the positive
muscles are rapidly relaxing. At the highest point in the movement
either muscle set is exerting but very little strain; the condition is
represented in the figure by the approach of either curve to the
base-line; the amount of tension between the two sets is figured by
the distance of the two curves from each other.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.]
Assuming such a movement cycle, in which the tension between the two
opposing sets never comes to zero until the close of the series, it is
not difficult to arrange many of the facts of rhythmic perception
under the motor theory.
1. The feeling of rhythm is more definite as we proceed in a verse, or
a series of simple sound sensations. At first the cycle is not
perfectly adjusted and complete automatism established.
2. If an observer is listening to a series, and an unusually long
pause is introduced between two beats, there is always a feeling of
suspense or tension during the ‘lag.’ As long as the tensions are
maintained there is a rhythmic continuity; the feeling of tension is
the strain of opposition between the opposing muscle sets.
3. The continuity of the rhythmic series, whereby all the beats of a
period seem to belong to a single whole, is due to the continuity of
the muscle sensations involved and the continuous feeling of slight
tension between the positive and negative muscle sets; nowhere within
the period does the feeling of strain die out.
4. But at the close of the period we have a pause which is
demonstrably not a function of any of the intervals of the period.
During this pause the tension between the two sets ‘dies out,’ and we
have a feeling of finality. This gradual dying out of the tension is
clearly seen in the constant appearance of the cone-shaped final
syllable at the end of each nonsense verse.
5. The period composed of a number of unit groups (the verse, in
nonsense syllables) has a general form which suggests strongly that it
has the unity of a single coördinated movement. There is no more
reason for assuming a transcendental mental activity in the case of a
rhythmic period than in the case of a single act which appears in
consciousness as a unity. Undoubtedly the breathing is correlated with
the rhythmic movements and may be a factor in determining the verse
period. Meumann’s principal accent, about which a number of
subordinate accents are grouped, is characteristic not only of poetry
but of the simplest rhythms. At some point in the period there is a
definite climax, a chief accent; the movement ‘rises’ to that point
and then falls off. This is strikingly seen in nonsense verses spoken
with a heavy accent within the verse. The accent does not stand out
from a dead level, but the verse culminates at that point.
Unfortunately very little is known of the mechanism of so simple a
coördinated muscular activity as that necessary for a simple rhythm.
Sherrington[17] and Hering[18]have pointed out the primary character
of the grouping of the muscles in opposing sets and the reciprocal
nature of almost all muscular activity, but in a review of the work of
coördinated movements Hering denies any simultaneous stimulation of
the two sets and considers the question of the innervation mechanism
of opposing muscle-sets entirely unsettled.
[17] Sherrington, C.S.: Proceedings Royal Soc., 1897, p. 415.
[18] Hering, H.E.: Archiv f. d. ges. Physiol. (Pflüger’s),
1897, Bd. 68, S. 222; ibid., 1898, Bd. 70, S. 559.
That the connection between the positive and negative set of muscles
in a rhythmic movement is very close, and that the reaction is of the
circular type, is evident from the automatic character of all rhythmic
movements, and it is evident that the limiting sensation is the
primary cue in the reaction. Anything further is mere hypothesis.
Robert Müller’s[19] thorough criticism of the Mosso ergograph throws
great doubt on the present methods of investigation and invalidates
conclusions from the various curves of voluntary movements which have
been obtained.
[19] Müller, R.: Phil. Stud., 1901, Bd. 17, S. 1.
The curve of contraction and relaxation of a simple muscle is well
known and is not affected by Müller’s criticism. Its chief
characteristic, with or without opposing tension, is the inequality
of the intervals of the contraction and relaxation phases. As one
might expect, since a single set of muscles dominates in a rhythmic
movement, the typical rhythmic curve has the general character of the
curve of the simple muscle. The average values of the phases of curves
of simple rhythmic movement obtained by A. Cleghorn[20] from a large
number of observations with at least three subjects, are as follows:
phase of contraction, .44 second; phase of relaxation, .54 second. It
is very significant for a motor theory of rhythm that this general
form of the curve of rhythmic movement may easily be altered in all
sorts of fashions by unusual stimuli to the two muscle sets.
[20] Cleghorn, A.: Am. Journal of Physiol., 1898, I., p. 336.
While it is well recognized that a rhythm does not consist necessarily
of sound sensations, the ‘rhythmization’ of a series of sound
sensations in the ordinary perceived rhythms is a matter of great
interest. Ewald found strong reasons for believing that the ear is
peculiarly connected with the motor apparatus. The experiments of
Hofbauer[21] and Cleghorn[22]show that any strong stimulus to either
eye or ear modifies decidedly the reactions of coördinated muscles.
How shall we assume that the automatic movement cycle necessary to
rhythmic perception is set up when one listens to a series of sounds?
[21] Hofbauer: Archiv f. d. ges. Physiol. (Pflüger’s), 1897,
Bd. 68, S. 553.
[22] Cleghorn, A.: op. cit.
It must be assumed that any chance sound sets up a contraction in a
set of muscles, however large or small. If but a single sound occurs,
the phase of contraction in that muscle set is followed by a longer
phase of relaxation, and the musculature is passive as before; it may
be that the stretching of the antagonistic set of muscles weakly
stimulates them, and they then contract during the relaxation phase
and assist in restoring the original condition.
But if a second sound occurs toward the end of the relaxation phase,
before the tension is quite exhausted, the movement will be repeated;
the negative set of muscles will be more definitely stimulated, for
the activity will not have been exhausted when the second sound
occurs. If the sound continues to recur at regular intervals, the
movement cycle thus established will rapidly become coördinated. The
positive set in its vigorous contraction furnishes a limiting
sensation which becomes a cue for its own relaxation and for the
reciprocal contraction of the negative muscle set. The contraction of
the negative muscle set and the resulting changes in tension may
become in turn a cue for the positive set. The reaction is now of the
circular type and the process has become self-regulative, though
constantly reinforced by the recurring sound (which has become a part
of the limiting sensation of the rhythmic movement cycle).
But it is very probable that the second sound may not be timed so as
to come at the close of the relaxation phase in the set of muscles
roused; moreover, in almost all rhythms there are secondary sounds
occurring between the main beats. What happens when a sound occurs out
of place, early in the phase of relaxation, or just before or just
after the climax in the contraction phase? Does it make it impossible
to establish the coördination, or destroy it if already established?
Hofbauer demonstrated that a stimulus which appears in close proximity
to the limiting sensation, either before or after, always increases
the force of the reaction, so that such a slight displacement could
not affect the rhythm, which would quickly readjust itself. The
possibility of a stimulus occurring in the relaxation phase is of much
more importance for a motor theory of the initiation of a rhythmic
movement. Cleghorn made the stimulus occur at the beginning of the
relaxation phase. Instead of prolonging or reinstating the contraction
phase, he found that the stimulus _intensified the relaxation process
and shortened its period_. “The stimulated relaxation is not only
quicker than the normal, but also more complete; the end of the normal
relaxation is slow; … relaxation under the influence of the
stimulus, on the contrary, shows nothing of this, but is a sudden
sharp drop directly to the base line and sometimes below it.” A
comparison of the normal phases with the same phases, when the
stimulus occurs within the relaxation phase, follows:
Normal: Contraction-phase, .44 sec.; relaxation-phase, .54 sec.;
total, .98 sec.
With stim.: Contraction-phase, .47 sec.: relaxation-phase, .30 sec.;
total, .77 sec.
It will be noticed that the total time of the movement cycle is
reduced. One may then assume that a sound which occurs too early to
become a factor in the limiting sensation, functions as a stimulus to
the relaxation process and shortens the interval between the limiting
sensations. Thus the movement cycle would be modified, but not
destroyed. It is impossible to say just how the relaxation process is
affected, and Cleghorn’s own conclusions are open to criticism in the
light of Müller’s comments on the method. The simplest assumption
would be that the stimulus acted on the negative set of muscles.
E.W. Scripture[23] objects to such a ‘tonus theory,’ because some
subjects regularly react before the signal. But in no case in the
published records to which he refers is the error more than.05 sec.
either before or after the signal. The investigation of Hofbauer shows
conclusively that in such cases the effect of the external stimulus
simply fuses with the limiting sensation. Scripture overlooks the
automatic character of the rhythmic movement.
[23] Scripture, E.W.: ‘The New Psychology,’ London, 1897, p. 182.
There is a striking difference between rhythmic movement from unit
group to unit group within a period, and movement from period to
period (i.e., from verse to verse of nonsense syllables). Each foot
is simply the repetition of the movement cycle; all the tensions are
maintained, and each foot is an integral part of a larger act. At the
close of the period (verse) the active tensions die out, either
because of the introduction of some unusual stimulus which causes the
positive muscle set to strike a heavy blow, and abruptly upset the
balanced tensions, or because a pause of indefinite length ensues in
which the tensions die out. This is the process which we call
‘finality.’
In the stanza there is evidently a different type of unity from that
in the single verse. When we hear the first verse of the stanza, we do
not know what the verse whole is, until the finality factor or the
verse pause is reached, at its close. Then the
Comments (0)