learning of any series as compared with the work necessary for memorising a similar but entirely new series.
The interval of time between the two processes of memorisation is of course a matter of choice. I chose 24 hours.
Since in the case of this definition we are not trying to settle a matter of general linguistic usage, it cannot be properly asked whether it is correct, but only whether it serves the purpose, or, at the most, whether it is applicable to the indefinite ideas connected with the notion of different depths of mental impression. The latter will probably be granted But nothing can be said in advance as to how well it fulfills its purpose. That can be judged only after more extensive results have been obtained. And the character of the judgment will depend to a great extent on whether the results obtained with the help of this means of measurement fulfill the primary demand which we make with reference to any system of measurement. It consists in this,—that if any change whatever is made in the controllable conditions of that scale, the results obtained by the scale in its new form can be reduced to those of the old form by multiplication by some one constant. In our present case, for example, it would consequently be necessary to know whether the character of the results would remain the same if any other interval had been employed instead of that of 24 hours, arbitrarily chosen for measuring the after-effect of repetitions, or whether as a consequence the entire rationale of the results would be different, just as the absolute values are necessarily different. Naturally, this question cannot be decided a priori.
For ascertaining the relation of dependence between the increase in the number of repetitions of a series and the ever deeper impression of it which result, I have formulated the problem as follows: If homogeneous series are impressed to different extents as a result of different numbers of repetitions, and then 24 hours later are learned to the point of the first possible reproduction by heart, how are the resulting savings in work related to each other and to the corresponding number of former repetitions?
Section 23. The Tests and their Results
In order to answer the question just formulated, I have carried out 70 double tests, each of six series of 16 syllables each.
