786 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXV. No. 645 



It is quite inevitable that sueli of the topics as 

 are not divided by fairly settled contours of 

 material should largely encroach upon one 

 another's field. Attention can not be con- 

 sidered without equally considering the asso- 

 ciative processes, the memory, perception, 

 imagination and the other accepted rubrics of 

 an academic psychology. It is accordingly the 

 attentive side of consciousness, the attentive 

 aspect of the mental moment and the mental 

 movement that is thus singled out for mono- 

 graphic presentation. Professor Pillsburya 

 presentation and his conclusions alike bring 

 this relation prominently before the reader, 

 and produce the feeling of studying interest- 

 ing aspects of a natural psychic species, not of 

 a dissected specimen. 



The volume falls into two portions ; the ona 

 concerned with the exposition of the data, the 

 other with their theoretical interpretation. In 

 the former portion the essentially psycho- 

 logical Leitmotiv is well maintained, and phys- 

 iological data (or suppositions) are never 

 allowed to obscure or replace the essential 

 fact that our knowledge of the attentive life 

 is introspectively derived, though exercised 

 upon objectively definite situations and 

 measurably subject to verifiable experimenta- 

 tion. Attention is an expression of the em- 

 phasis and selection of the possible stimuli or 

 occupations of consciousness by which the 

 mental movement takes its direction, guides 

 its course and shapes its progress. It bright- 

 ens and clarifies a portion of the field, cre- 

 ates momentary foci, gives definiteness and 

 contouring to the mental play, converts it 

 from a nebulous monotone to a significant 

 though shifting chiaroscuro. It is not a 

 vague, formal or abstract concept, but is em- 

 bodied in the mode of action of the nervous 

 system as the mechanism of the mind. It 

 thus has interesting motor accompaniments, 

 that adjiist the perceptive mechanism to finer, 

 more discerning service, that quicken the in- 

 tensity of the mental moment, and reveal their 

 existence in independence or defiance of voli- 

 tion. Attention finds its course determined 

 by all sorts of conditions; yet notably these 

 divide according as they are objectively char- 

 acteristic (the intensity and accumulative 



force of the appeal) or, more influentially, by 

 the subjective factors. These really sum- 

 marize the entire life history of the race and 

 the individual, his heredity and social herit- 

 age, his temperament and naturally his- 

 momentary condition of mind and body. In- 

 terest is but a gauge, not a creator of atten- 

 tion; and to say that we attend to what is- 

 interesting but calls attention to the underly- 

 ing community of many of these factors. 

 Nor is attention explained by its motor accom- 

 paniments and expression. These, like the 

 Bcope of the attentive searchlight, like the- 

 fluctuations under fatigue, reflect its close de- 

 pendence upon physiological conditions. At- 

 tention guides and selects in the sensory as in 

 the intellectual field, and thus becomes an- 

 expression of the mental totality or conscious- 

 ness. It plays a like part in the representa- 

 tive field of memory and association as in the 

 presentative field of sensation and perceptions 

 for in truth all these processes shade into one 

 another; and their composite nature char- 

 acterizes the whole mental life. 



On the side of theory the most important 

 issue is the role of apperception, whose func- 

 tional efficiency is recognized by the sub- 

 jective aspects of the attentive process. The- 

 varieties of formulation of the ' apperception ' 

 theories are so various and the difi^erenees 

 between them so elusive, that the reader wiU 

 be grateful for Professor Pillsbury's guidance, 

 which includes as well a survey of the his- 

 torical field. Next in importance is the motor 

 theory of attention; while each of these types 

 and their varieties takes note of — as certain- 

 theories exclusively consider — the physio- 

 logical bases of attention. Professor Pills- 

 bury's view has the merit of merging the 

 points of emphasis of the several explanations 

 and of presenting the attentive process not 

 as an isolated faculty or function, but as an 

 aspect of the totality of the natural mental 

 state. 



Reduction of these conclusions to a phrase 

 or an outline is impossible; and the reader 

 must be referred to Professor Pillsbury's brief 

 resumes for a suggestion of the theoretical 

 and controversial aspects of the attention. 

 These, when closely considered, reveal their 



