STUDYING CONTROLLED WORD ASSOCIATIONS 383 



results for nouns, in regard to the increase in reaction time 

 with increase in the number of syllables, agrees with those 

 for subjects II and III. The reverse order for adjectives 

 is to be explained by the fact that at the beginning of the 

 work the subject was not in good health. This was not 

 realized by the experimenter until the subject was well started 

 in the work, and then it was thought interesting to see 

 the effect of improvement in health on the reaction time. It 

 will be observed how slow his reaction tune is for one syllable 

 adjectives as compared to the other subjects, and how much it 

 dropped for the two syllable adjectives. It was in the middle 

 of this group of words that his poor health, which manifested 

 itself in extreme nervousness, suddenly improved after being 

 treated by a physician. This continued throughout the remainder 

 of the adjectives; it could hardly be said that his reactions were 

 perfectly normal until this time, which was about a month later. 

 From then on during the noun series there was nothing con- 

 spicuous in his behavior or reactions. Notes taken during his 

 period of disturbance may prove of interest in emphasizing the 

 dependence of the reverse order of reaction times upon his health 

 at the time. 



Subject I. November 18. A tendency today to respond to an ad- 

 jective with a noun cognate to it, e.g., awkward-awkwardness. When 

 questioned in regard to this, says he has a feeling of going along the line 

 of least resistance, which he can not control. Went to see Dr. X. last 

 Friday about his nervousness. Dr. X. gave him some bitter medicine 

 and it made him better the next day, and he has felt better ever since. 

 Subject I looks better and is much less nervous. Face not so scratched 

 scratches it when nervous. Has, he says, especially hard attacks twice 

 a year. Has been playing heretofore during experiment with a collec- 

 tion of clamps, bars, wire, etc., collected from what is within his reach. 

 No such behavior today. 



November 19. Some tendency to react as on yesterday, e.g., peevish, 

 peevishness. Some tendency to repeat the response of the previous 

 stimulus word. Much repetition of "being" as reaction word. Nerv- 

 ousness present again today. Medicine taken last Friday was nux 

 vomica has been taking it every day, but not today, because "effect 



