Hi Journal of Comparative Neurology. 



The Psychology of Attention. 



This is the third revised edition of the authorized translation pub- 

 Hshed by the Open Court Co., Chicago. There is perhaps no writer 

 who has done more to popularize the idea that a neurological founda- 

 . tion is essential to the full comprehension of the higher mental activi- 

 ties than Professor Ribot. Of the value of this standpoint we have no 

 better proof than the stimulus which has been given to recent research 

 by Professor Ribot's own works. Even those who cannot accept all of 

 their conclusions are ready to acknowledge their indebtedness to them 

 for many pregnant ideas. 



We can summarize the present book no better than in the author's 

 own words. " Attention depends on emotional states ; emotional states 

 are reducible to tendencies ; tendencies are fundamentally movements 

 (or arrested movements) and may be conscious or unconscious. Atten- 

 tion, both spontaneous and voluntary is, accordingly, from its origin on, 



bound up in motor conditions." 



c. J. H. 



Studies from the Yale Psychological Laboratory, 



Volumes I and III of these studies are on our table. Volume 11 

 has already been noticed. The first volume is concerned mainly with 

 investigations in reaction time. The most extensive article is the thesis 

 of Dr. Bliss on " Reaction-time and Attention." Throughout this 

 series of many hundreds of reactions especial attention was paid to the 

 subjective state of the reagent. After having demonstrated that per- 

 fect darkness in the reacting room is in no way preferable to a uniform 

 illumination, the reagent — in most cases Dr. Bhss himself — sat with 

 pencil and paper at hand and at the close of each series of experiments 

 annotated them. In many respects the most valuable part of the pa- 

 per is the analysis of the reactions in the light of the data of introspec- 

 tion. This principle, which has been more recently recommended and 

 practiced at the Paris laboratory, is one of great importance. The 

 prevaihng German tendency to reduce the reacting subject to a mere 

 automaton, while in many experiments useful, can never give the whole 

 truth. 



Not the least valuable part of the paper by Dr. Bliss is the very 

 full description of the apparatus and the details of the connections em- 

 ployed. Indeed this is an important feature of nearly all of the stud- 

 ies included in these three volumes. From the inauguration of the 

 Yale laboratory the devising of new apparatus and laboratory conveni- 

 ences has been given a prominence which puts all other workers under 



