RECORDS. 169 



in which the percentage lay clearly above the threshold of 75. If 

 a true perceptual process be involved, the percentage of correct 

 responses should be a function of the absolute differences be- 

 tween the objects discriminated. This was found to be the case 

 in the present set of experiments, but not in preceding investi- 

 gations. In work published heretofore the perception was 

 reported to be mediated solely by sensations of sound, but in 

 the present investigation the shutting off of auditory stimu- 

 lation made practically no reduction in the percentage of correct 

 responses. 



Professor E. H. Sneath said that the Washington meeting, if 

 compared with a possible meeting of psychologists twenty-five 

 years ago, shows the lines along which progress has been made. 

 Such a comparison demonstrates clearly (i) the special training 

 required of the psychologists of to-day ; (2) the position of 

 psychology among the sciences ; (3) the growth of produc- 

 tive scholarship ; (4) the differentiation of the work into ex- 

 perimental, genetic, comparative, abnormal, educational, etc. ; 

 (5) the development of new methods of approach. 



The paper of Professor Cattell treated the accuracy with 

 which grades can be assigned for college studies, and the 

 methods to be employed in assigning grades. Those who do 

 well in one study or have one trait in excess are likely to do 

 well in other studies and to have other traits in excess, and they 

 are more likely to succeed in after life. It was shown, however, 

 that the grades assigned to students have not very great valid- 

 ity. It was recommended that grades be assigned in a scale 

 of ten and that a probable error be attached to the grade. The 

 grades should represent groups of equal size rather than equal 

 differences in merit. The paper also discussed the grade as- 

 signed to large groups for mental, moral and physical traits, 

 and gave some of the results that the writer had obtained. 



James E. Lough, 



Secretary. 



