14 Effect of Alcohol on Psycho-Physiological Functions. 



served primarily as a test of the technique to be subsequently employed 

 in the alcohol investigation. 1 



The material given in section in of the table was obtained in the 

 repetition series of experiments and is published in the present report. 

 These data are comparable with each other. At the commencement of 

 this second series of experiments it may be supposed that the subject 

 was thoroughly familiar with the conditions of the various techniques 

 employed, having had a rather extensive experience scattered over a 

 period of months. Any interest due to the novelty of the measure- 

 ments must have been lost by this time. As the disposition of the 

 apparatus had not been altered and the general laboratory conditions 2 

 were the same in both series, the subject understood from the beginning 

 the adjustments to be made on his part. None of the measurements 

 were entirely new to him, and every effort was made to have the in- 

 structions identical in the two series. Whereas in the first series only 

 three or four of the tests were given on any one experimental day, ac- 

 cording to the grouping described by Dodge and Benedict on pages 14 

 and 15 of their report, in the second set all the measurements were used 

 daily, thus providing a greater variety but necessitating longer experi- 

 mental periods. 



While Subject VI served willingly 3 and seemed to cooperate in the 

 measurements, one constantly had the impression that he was not try- 

 ing hard in the tests in which voluntary functions were involved, such 

 as finger movements, word reactions, memory, and general tetanus for 

 producing rapid changes in pulse rate. He of course had little, if any, 

 personal interest in the experiments as such. The only records he ever 

 saw were those on the kymograph, and these, to mere inspection, 

 showed no indication of the effect of alcohol. This tendency to take 

 things easy was natural with this subject and was favored, no doubt, 

 by the previous experience, with its many repetitions of instructions 

 and measurements. The use of consecutive experimental days inten- 

 sified this difficulty. While familiarity with the conditions, by pro- 

 ducing greater relaxation, theoretically might favor such measurements 

 as patellar reflex and pulse, frequent repetition, as, for illustration, of the 

 list of 24 words used in the word reactions at the rather slow rate of one 

 word every 10 seconds, with the considerable demand made upon the 

 subject's attention, no doubt grew tedious. With practice there devel- 

 oped some habits of reaction to the experimental situations which are 

 not the most favorable to the comparison of these results with the 

 former series, in spite of our every effort to make the conditions iden- 

 tical. It is not possible to equate the results for these factors, and 



1 Dodge and Benedict, Carnegie Inst. Wash. Pub. No. 232, 1915, p. 17. 



2 Ibid., p. 30 ff. Also consult fig. 1 for the general plan of the psychological laboratory and 

 apparatus. 



8 He was paid by the hour for his services, as were all t he subjects used by Dodge and Benedict, 

 excepting No. X. 



