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MEMOIRS NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



[Vol. XV, 



or runs, or red, or tail, or animal, or any word that happened to come into your mind. If I should say tree, you might 

 answer oak, or leaves, or green, or anything like that. Don't waste time hunting around for some especially good 

 word. It doesn't make any difference whether I see any connection or not. Try a few to start with." 



Then give sample words for, apple, fork, cure, quick, grass, as far as necessary for illustration. Ordinarily one or 

 two will be enough. As soon as subject has the idea, proceed with the experimental series. Speak stimulus words 

 distinctly and with falling inflection. Start stop watch on beginning stimulus word and stop it on hearing the response. 



Scoring. — Write each response legibly in the column provided for it, and immediately after it, in the same column, 

 write the time in fijths of a second. Thus 1 2/5 seconds is written as 7. If no response is obtained in 30 seconds leave 

 a blank and proceed to next stimulus word. If a response is not clearly heard, ask subject to repeat, spell, or otherwise 

 indicate it clearly. If subject misunderstands a stimulus word, note what was understood. A seeming irrelevance 

 may have been caused in this way. If subject asks to change a response previously given, the first is scored as actual 

 response, but the second should be noted. 



In recording the responses, note and mark tendencies to perseveration, sound association, or other responses of 

 nonsense character. In large numbers these have been found indicative of psychopathic conditions. 



Reaction times being distributed, their median should not be over 15 (3 seconds). Other indications of abnormal 

 condition are: (1) Many inordinately long reaction times not explained by unintelligibility of the stimulus word to 

 subject; and (2) predominance of "predicate" reactions with special value content, such as religion-uncertainty, 

 work-distasteful, lion-frightful, and the like. 



For numerical scoring of responses, use abridged Kent-Rosanoff frequency tables (supplied separately). The fre- 

 quency of each response in a thousand cases is recorded from these tables in the column of the test blank provided for 

 it. Score 5 for each response not found in abridged tables. If the median of these quantities is less than 20, abnormal 

 mental processes are indicated. 



Test I, digits backward. 



Materials. — Series of digits for group test 2 (p. 127), forms A, B, etc. 



Directions. — Examiner selects a particular series of digits (as for instance, those of form A), designates it by its 

 appropriate letter on the record blank, and proceeds with the test. Each group of digits is read distinctly at the rate 

 of one per second and recorded in the space provided, as reproduced by subject orally. 



To subject, examiner says, "I am going to read some numbers to you. I want you to listen carefully and then 



say them backward, — this way — iflsay3 — 5 — 1 you should say 1 — 5 — 3. Now try this one. Listen! 5 — S — 1 " 



Response "and this: 9 — 4 — 6 "Response 



Examiner now presents the several parts of the test in order until subject has failed on four parts in succession 

 or finished. 



(a) Examiner says to subject, "Listen carefully. I am going to say four numbers. 'When I stop, you say them 

 backward. Ready!" 



Examiner should state each time the number of digits to be given. 



Test J, vocabulary . 



Materials. — Accompanying five series of words. 



Directions. — Place the list so that subject may see the words and pronounce them if he wishes. If a word is pro- 

 nounced incorrectly, examiner should give the correct pronunciation. Formula: "What does the word mean?" 



If subject hesitates or seems to think that he must give a formal definition, examiner says, "It doesn't matter how 

 you say it. All I care for is to find out whether you know what the word means. Tell me the meaning any way you 

 want to express it." Subject is encouraged as liberally as necessary . 



Ordinarily it will not be necessary to secure responses to all of the 40 words in a series, as some will obviously be too 

 hard or too easy for the subject being tested. This is especially true in series 1, the words of which have been graded 

 accurately according to difficulty. In each series, however, the testing should be over a wide enough range to secure 

 an accurate score. 



Scoring. — Credit each response as + or — . Occasionally half credits may be given, but in general thiB should be 

 avoided. 



The score is -4- if the response shows that subject knows at least one approximately correct meaning of the word. 

 It is not necessary that the meaning given be the most common one. The form of definition is disregarded in com- 

 putation of score, but for clinical purposes it is well to designate especially superior definitions by -f +. 



Series 1. 



1 lecture 11 forfeit 21 conscientious 31 gelatinous: 



2 guitar 12 majesty 22 philanthropy 32 milksop 



3 scorch 13 shrewd 23 exaltation 33 declivity 



4 bonfire 14 Mars 24 frustrate 34 irony 



5 misuse 15 dilapidated 25 flaunt 35 incrustation 



6 haste 



7 puddle 



8 skill 



9 impolite 

 10 juggler 



16 hysterics 



17 priceless 

 IS tolerate 



19 disproportionate 



20 repose 



26 promontory 



27 infuse 



28 lotus 



29 avarice 



30 embody 



36 artless 



37 laity 



38 precipitancy 



39 perfunctory 



40 retroactive 



