STUDYING CONTROLLED WORD ASSOCIATIONS 421 



number of syllables in the stimulus word. It is further insisted 

 that conclusions are valid only when drawn from extended data 

 using large groups of words as have been used in this investigation. 



FURTHER TECHNICAL PROBLEMS IN THE WORD ASSOCIATION METHOD 



In connection with the application of the Association Method 

 to practical problems, and for the further understanding of the 

 associative processes and conditions themselves, a considerable 

 number of special points remain to be investigated. Obviously, 

 the accurate use of the association-reaction as a tool for the 

 investigation of mental conditions demands the fullest possible 

 knowledge of the laws of the reaction itself. The problems 

 included in the following list have been formulated in this labora- 

 tory for experimental attack, and it is hoped that work on some 

 of them may be under way before long. 



1. A more detailed study of the course of the reaction time for repeti- 



tions of a group of stimulus words of different types, as sug- 

 gested in Experiment III. 



2. A more detailed study of double and triple associations along the 



line suggested in Experiment IV. 



3. The effect of suggestion on the reaction time variation for dif- 



ferent types of forward and backward controlled associations. 



4. Comparison of visual and auditory methods of presentation of 



stimulus words in the word association method. 



5. A comparison of spoken and written types of reaction in the word 



association method. 



6. The variation in reaction time for the adjective-noun and noun- 



adjective reaction in French, Italian, and Spanish subjects. 



7. A study of the emotions in the word association method, when 



supplemented by plethysmographic, cardiographic, sphygmo- 

 graphic, pneumographic, and galvanometric controls. 



8. Sex differences in various types of controlled word associations. 



9. Investigation into the comparative length of reaction times for the 



following types of controlled word associations; 

 (1) noun subject intransitive verb 



noun subject transitive verb 



noun subject verb (either v.i. or v.t.) 



