The Philosophical Review/Volume 1/Summary: Angell and Pierce - Experimental Research upon the Phenomena of Attention
In the experiments considered, Wundt's question is whether disparate simultaneous impressions can be interpreted as simultaneous, and, if not, how errors should be explained. A bell is rung mechanically at adjustable positions of a pointer moving over a dial, and the subject fixes the location of the hand when the sound is heard. The results are called correct, positive displacements, or negative displacements according as the pointer is seen at, beyond, or before the correct position when the sound is heard. Wundt recorded least errors when the revolutions occurred once a second; faster rate giving a predominance of positive, slower rate, of negative errors. The variations he explains by the changing relation of the rate to the ripening of apperception peculiar to the subject. James interprets the results differently. The subject has to interrupt a continuous sensation of motion by a fleeting perception of position, while he gets simultaneously a third sensation of sound. It is harder to 'fix' the index at the instant the sound is caught than to note it a moment before, if the impressions come slowly and attention is ready in advance; a moment after, if the case is reversed. In the Harvard experiments, made with an improved machine, Messrs. Angell and Pierce find a preponderance of positive errors without any constant influence due to alterations of speed. Differing from both Wundt and James, they base their interpretation on the vibratory movement of attention. The experiment assumes the form of apperceptive reaction, in which the positive errors are due to the time consumed in transforming the auditory sensation into a motor act. Negative errors are referred to several causes, viz.: unconscious correction through experience become automatic; attention transferred from visual element to auditory without being shifted back, the sound occurring so soon as to be supposed simultaneous with the position just noted; effect due to hearing being more rapid than sight. Correct results are ascribed to chance arrangement of the heterogeneous factors involved, which may at any time so combine as to produce either sort of error. The mind has apparently no criterion by which to distinguish coincidence of disparate stimulations from rapid sequence of the same.