ATTENTION. 433 



the reacter had to use a different finger according as the 

 signal was of one sort or another. Thus when a word in 

 the nominative case was called out he used the thumb, for 

 the dative he used another finger ; similarly adjectives, 

 substantives, pronouns, numerals, etc., or, again, towns, 

 rivers, beasts, plants, elements ; or poets, musicians, phi- 

 losophers, etc., were co-ordinated each with its finger, so 

 that when a word belonging to either of these classes was 

 mentioned, a particular finger and no other had to perform 

 the reaction. In a second series of experiments the reac- 

 tion consisted in the utterance of a word in answer to a 

 question, such as " name an edible fish," etc. ; or " name 

 the first drama of Schiller," etc. ; or " which is greater, 

 Hume or Kant?" etc. ; or (first naming apples and cherries, 

 and several other fruits) " which do you prefer, apples or 

 cherries ?" etc. ; or " which is Goethe's finest drama ?" etc. ; 

 or " which letter comes the later in the alphabet, the letter 

 L or the first letter of the most beautiful tree?" etc. ; or 

 " which is less, 15 or 20 minus 8 ?" * etc. etc. etc. Even in 

 this series of reactions the time ivas rmich quicker when the 

 reacter turned his attention in advance towards the ansiver than 

 when he turned it towards the question. The shorter reaction- 

 time was seldom more than one fifth of a second ; the 

 longer, from four to eight times as long. 



To understand such results, one must bear in mind that 

 in these experiments the reacter always knew in advance 

 in a general way the kind of question which he was to re- 

 ceive, and consequently the sphere ivithin lohich his possible 

 answer lay.f In turning his attention, therefore, from the 

 outset towards the answer, those brain-processes in him 

 which were connected with this entire * sphere ' were kejDt 

 sub-excited, and the question could then discharge with a 

 minimum amount of lost time that particular answer out of 

 the * sphere ' which belonged especially to it. When, on the 

 contrary, the attention was kept looking towards the ques- 

 tion exclusively and averted from the possible reply, all 



*Beitrage zur ExperimentelleQ Psychologie, Heft i. pp. 73-106 (1889). 



t To say the very least, he always brought his articulatory innervation 

 close to the discharging point. Herr M. describes a tightening of the head- 

 muscles as characteristic of the attitude of attention to the reply. 



