SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS— J. 377 



(d) Variations in the after-image responses of different individuals to colour 

 stimulation. The after-excitation effects were shown to lower the colour 

 discrimination of some subjects. 



Dr. M 



inaiion ui some suujccis. 



Collins. — Variations of colour memory with wave-length. 

 ries of exneriments has been carried out over a period o 



A series of experiments has been carried out over a period on colour 

 memory. Colours of different wave-length, ranging over the entire 

 spectrum, were learned and tested at intervals for immediate and permanent 

 memory. Difficulties in learning were encountered at various wave-lengths. 

 If the results are graphed, the graph shows a peak of difficulty beginning at 

 X 670 and rising higher at X 660, a greater peak about X 545 with its summa- 

 tion at X 535, and a third smaller peak in the region of blue. Representative 

 colours in the red, green, blue and yellow regions were also tested under 

 conditions of dark adaptation, the eye being dark-adapted (a) for five 

 minutes, (b) for thirty minutes. 



Friday, September 2. 



Dr. W. Brown. — Suggestion, hypnotism and the will. 



The contrast between will and suggestion is brought to a point in the 

 so-called law of reversed effort — ' Where the will and the imagination are 

 in conflict, the imagination always wins.' In this statement the word ' will ' 

 must refer to ' effortful wish,' rather than to the completed act of will, and 

 it is found that suggestion treatment can often strengthen will-power by 

 contributing to an adequate control of the imagination, enabling the indi- 

 vidual to envisage and imagine success with an adequate degree of vividness. 

 Autosuggestion, in a state of mental and physical relaxation, can in some 

 cases bring about a remarkable facilitation of the will-act, followed by per- 

 manent effects. This is due to its influence on deep-seated springs of 

 action in the subconscious. 



In a still more striking way hypnotism may in certain instances reorientate 

 subconscious psychical forces to produce a transformation of character and 

 a corresponding enhancement of will-power in certain directions. 



Prof. R. H. Wheeler. — A comparison of Gestalt with other modern trends. 



Part I deals with the historical background of Gestalt psychology, 

 emphasising the reasons, both theoretical and experimental, why a revolution 

 is occurring in the science. 



Part II contrasts Gestalt psychology with associationism, conation 

 psychology, Freudian psychology, neogenetic psychology, self-psychology, 

 and behaviourism. In this section, also, it is explained why Gestalt psycho- 

 logy has been so universally misunderstood and, therefore, misrepresented 

 by its critics. 



Part III contains a brief summary of the principles of the new psychology, 

 and an effort to correlate it with developments among other sciences, 

 including physics, general biology, physiology, neurology, and social 

 science. Many modern writers are sensing a new era in human thought 

 which will express itself in the recovery of orthodox scientific and social 

 theory from its present chaos. Gestalt psychology is presented as one 

 phase of a new enlightenment, going back in part, but not wholly, to the 

 point of view of the ancient Greeks, 



