[Illustration: FIG. 2.--READING COLORS. Time of record,
95 seconds. Position of colors →. Subject facing →.
In all the figures A represents the beginning of
the record, and Z the end. The arrows are used to
indicate the direction in which the object attended
to was situated, and also the direction in which the
subject was facing. The tracings are permanently fixed
by coating them with a weak solution of shellac in
alcohol.]
We may now consider a few typical results. Fig. 2, an ordinary
average result, was obtained while the subject was calling out the
names of a series of small patches of color, displayed on the wall
facing him, about eight feet distant. It will be observed that the
movement (which in all the illustrations has its beginning marked
by an A and its end by a Z) proceeds irregularly but decidedly
_towards_ the object upon which the attention was fixed. As a rule
the subject is unaware of the movement which his hand has made, and
exercises no essential control over the results; indeed it is likely
that he is considerably surprised when the results are first shown
to him. At times he becomes conscious of the loss of equilibrium of
the apparatus, but the indication is rarely sufficiently definite
to inform him of the direction of the movement. Not infrequently,
the movement is performed with complete unconsciousness, and is
accompanied by a strong conviction that the apparatus has been
stationary. In several cases an intentional simulation of the
movements was produced for comparison with the involuntary records;
the result was quite generally a very different and coarser type of
movement, readily distinguishable from the involuntary writings. A
prominent characteristic of practically all of the movements is their
irregular and jerky character; the hand for a time oscillates about
uncertainly, and then moves rather suddenly and quickly in a given
direction; then another period of hesitation, again a more or less
sharp advance, and so on. It is probable that it is these repeated
brief movements of more vigorous indication of the direction of the
subject's attention, that the muscle-reader waits for and utilizes.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--READING COLORS ARRANGED IN
THREE ROWS. Time of record, 90 seconds. The first
line was read in the direction ↓; the second in the
direction ↑; and the third again ↓. At the turn from
the second to the third line the record is interrupted.
Shows movement of the hand parallel with the movement
of the attention.]
It is obvious enough that the results of a test of this kind cannot
be anticipated, not alone because there are marked differences
between individuals in the readiness with which they will manifest
involuntary movements, but also because the intensity of the
attention and the momentary condition of the subject are important
and variable factors in the result. With very good subjects it
becomes quite safe to predict the general nature of the tracing;
and the different tracings of the same subject often bear a family
resemblance. We must now learn what we can of the various factors
which influence these subconscious handwritings. That indefinitely
complex combination of natural and nurtural circumstances, to which
we give the name of character, or individuality, or personality,
doubtless presents the most striking factor in this, as it does in
normal handwriting; and in both cases analyses are inevitably vague
and confined to prominent points of difference. Extreme types are
always interesting and at times instructive. The tracing of Fig.
3 was obtained under the same circumstances as Fig. 2, but with a
subject whose tendency towards involuntary movements is far more
marked, is indeed unusual. The total extent of the movement is
more than three times as great as in the former case, and it twice
changes its direction. This latter characteristic is the noteworthy
one, for it is due to the fact that the colors which the subject
was reading were arranged in three rows; the first row was read
from left to right (corresponding to a downward direction in the
figure); the second row was read in the reversed direction; and
the third row in the original direction again. The completeness of
correspondence between the movements of the hand and of the attention
leaves nothing to be desired. This subject yielded the most extensive
and predictable involuntary movements of any whom I tested. A
satisfactory impression of the variety and range of the individual
differences which subjects, chosen somewhat at random, are likely
to present, may be gathered from the series of records which will be
reproduced as illustrative also of other influences. In Fig. 4 is
represented another average record quite similar to that of Fig. 2
but produced by another subject, while reading from a printed page
for three-quarters of a minute; as before the hand moves towards the
focus of attention. It would be easy to present both more decided
and extensive, and more uncertain involuntary records of still other
subjects; while negative or quite indeterminate tracings are by no
means uncommon.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--READING FROM PRINTED PAGE. Time
of record, 45 seconds. Direction of the attention →.
Subject facing →.]
When, to vary the nature of the impression to which the attention
is directed, a metronome is used, and to insure attention on the
part of the subject he is required to count the strokes, it may be
that another form of involuntary movement appears. The tendency
to beat time to enlivening music by tapping with the hands, or
stamping with the feet, or nodding with the head, is most familiar;
and Dr. Lombard has shown that music is capable of effecting such
thoroughly involuntary movements as the sudden rise of the leg that
follows reflexly upon a blow on the patella of the knee. It is not
surprising, therefore, to find evidences of periodic movements in
these automatograms; and in some instances, such as Fig. 5, this
pervades the whole record. Here the hand moves to and fro, keeping
time--not accurately at all, but in a general way--with the strokes
of the metronome.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--COUNTING THE STROKES OF A
METRONOME. Shows the oscillations of the movements with
the strokes of the metronome.]
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--COUNTING THE OSCILLATIONS OF
A PENDULUM. Time of record, 45 seconds. Direction of
the attention →. Subject facing →. The points 1, 2, 3,
show the positions of the writing-point, 15, 30, and 45
seconds after the record was started.]
To obtain similar results for a visual impression a silently swinging
pendulum is used, the subject following the oscillations with his
eyes and counting them. The result is more frequently simply a
movement towards the pendulum, Fig. 6; but occasionally there appear
periodic movements induced by those of the pendulum. A very excellent
instance of the latter appears in Fig. 7 (p. 318).
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--COUNTING PENDULUM OSCILLATIONS.
Time of record, 80 seconds. Shows movement at first
toward the pendulum, and then synchronous with its
oscillations.]
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--THINKING OF A HIDDEN OBJECT.
Time of record, 30 seconds. Direction of the attention
→.]
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--READING FROM PRINTED PAGE. The
page was moved about the subject in the direction of
the arrows.
→
3
↑ 2 4 ↑
1
← ]
We may more closely approximate the ordinary experiment of the
muscle-reader by giving the subject some object to hide, say a knife,
and then asking him to place his hand upon the automatograph, and
to think intently of the place of concealment. As before there is a
movement of the hand; and on the basis of the general direction of
this movement one may venture a prediction of the direction in which
the knife lies. The results will show all grades of success, from
complete failure to an accurate localizing of the object; but as good
a record as Fig. 8 is not infrequent. As indicated by the letters and
the arrow, the hand moved irregularly toward the hidden knife. In
this case the eyes are closed, and the concentration of the attention
is maintained by a mental effort without the aid of the senses. The
peculiar line of Fig. 9 was obtained in an experiment in which a book
was slowly carried about the room, the subject being required to read
continuously from the page. It is evident that the hand followed
the movement of the attention, not in a circle but in an irregular
outline closing in upon itself; the change in posture which this
process involved has an undoubted influence upon the result.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--COUNTING PENDULUM
OSCILLATIONS. Time of record, 120 seconds. Direction
of the attention →. Subject facing →. Illustrates slow
and indirect movement. The points, 1, 2, 3, 4, indicate
the position of the writing-point, 30, 60, 90, and 120
seconds after the record was started.]
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--COUNTING THE STROKES OF A
METRONOME. Time of record, 70 seconds. The points, 1,
2, 3, 4, indicate the positions of the writing point
at 15, 30, 45, and 60 seconds after the record was
begun. Direction of the attention →. Subject facing →.
Illustrates slight hesitation at first and then a rapid
movement toward the object of attention. Reduced to ¾
size.]
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--COUNTING THE STROKES OF A
METRONOME. Time of record, 90 seconds. Direction of
attention →. Subject facing →. Illustrates initial
directness of movement followed by hesitancy.]
Before passing to a more specific interpretation of the data, it
may be interesting to illustrate more fully the scope of individual
variations; for the great difference in availability of subjects
to the muscle-reader is equally prominent in tests with the
automatograph. Some movements are direct and extensive, others are
circuitous and brief. Fig. 10 is a good type of a small movement, but
of one quite constantly toward the object of the attention. This may
be contrasted with an extreme record, not here reproduced, in which
there is a movement of six and a half inches in forty-five seconds;
or with a fairly extensive movement as in Fig. 11. In some cases the
first impulse carries the hand toward the object of thought, and
is followed by considerable hesitation and uncertainty; a marked
example of this tendency may be seen in Fig. 12. There is, too, an
opposite type, in which the initial movements are variable, and the
significant movement toward the object of thought comes later, when
perhaps there is some fatigue. This tendency appears somewhat in
Figs. 11 and 13.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--THINKING OF A LOCALITY. Time
of record, 120 seconds. Direction of the attention
←. Subject facing ←. Illustrates initial hesitancy
followed by a steady movement toward the object thought
of.]