Memory. 67 



His best effort was made at the first and the last of the experimental 

 days. He was capable of very rapid responses. In the measurement 

 as used he did better after alcohol, except that the alcohol served to 

 decrease the speed of reaction in the measurements which came ap- 

 proximately 15 minutes after the taking of the dose. It is not for the 

 writer to pronounce at present whether the alcohol produced a speed- 

 ing up of the reaction process or a relief from what the subject regarded 

 as the tedium of the experiments, which change in attitude allowed him 

 more naturally to do his best. The results from the other measure- 

 ments must help to answer this question. 



MEMORY. 



The memory measurement was a modified form of the common 

 method of measuring the total number of repetitions required for a 

 subject to learn a series of words so as to recall them in order. The 

 difficulty in the actual use of the method was a common one; that is, 

 that the different series of words did not offer comparable memory 

 material. This condition existed in spite of all precautions. 1 As a 

 result of the experience of Dodge and Benedict, it seemed that more 

 consistent results might be obtained from the use of one group of word 

 series. Accordingly the same series of words was used in the first 

 period of each day, and another series of words for the second period 

 of each day, and so on. The practice of the previous authors had been 

 to use a different series of words for each period of experimentation, 

 without repetition in other periods of the same series. 2 In the repe- 

 tition experiments with Subject VI, word series No. 11 was used in the 

 first period on each of the six experimental days, word series No. 12 

 in the second period on each day, and so on. 



On July 2 series 14 was inadvertently omitted and hence the remain- 

 ing series were moved forward one period each on that date. The 

 word series employed and the order used on each experimental day 

 are as follows : 



Series No. 11, period 1. — nose pest stem wool prow barb star cord hail fool hash rain. 

 Series No. 12, period 2. — surf debt verb fork tent kale unit case year bell wick hall. 

 Series No. 14, period 3. — dose ring wave grip turf bone must host crow pane lake sign. 

 Series No. 15, period 4. — arch gone lump quip mole gold brat rail word bill soul clot. 

 Series No. 16, period 5. — wire town page feet mill inch wine neck surf road lion door. 

 Series No. 17, period 6. — pond knot desk blow fact alum seed loot clay gate moth rack. 



Each horizontal line of 12 words was carefully printed on a strip of 

 paper which, when used, was fastened around the kymograph drum. 

 From the beginning of one word to the beginning of the next was a dis- 

 tance of 4 cm., representing a time duration of 4 seconds when the 

 kymograph was in motion. The individual word itself occupied a 



1 Dodge and Benedict's report, p. 130. 



2 Dodge and Benedict's report, p. 132. The numbers for the word series are given in table 20 

 (p. 131) in a separate column. 



