NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 617 



the interrelationship of these elements of good use. It is 

 possible to determine linguistic values of all sorts by statistical 

 methods, which give not only the most valid determination 

 possible, but also the measure of this validity. Determina- 

 tions of so apparently subjective a character as linguistic ^force 

 can be made with a validity that approximates practical cer- 

 tainty. These experimental determinations do not coincide 

 with any of the definitions of force which the introspective 

 grammarians have laid down. 



Dr. Hamilton reported that previous investigators of the 

 problem of reading have agreed upon the short exposure method 

 as best for psychological analysis. Introspection is facilitated ■ 

 most when the exposure is less than the shortest reading pause, 

 i. e. y when all eye movements are excluded. The apparatus 

 most generally used is the tachistoscope of the fall screen va- 

 riety. The word has been uniformly treated as the unit of 

 perception in reading, the effort being to determine the factors 

 or "cues" of word recognition — their character and order of 

 occurrence. 



Previous tachistoscopic studies have confined themselves 

 chiefly to the reading of isolated words; the present study 

 has attempted to adapt the method to reading in context. 



A second adaptation is its use in analyzing processes at the 

 threshold of word recognition by reducing the exposure time 

 to a period approximating the time differences of the percep- 

 tibility of their attributes, the presupposition being that various 

 attributes of objects lie at varying distances from the threshold. 



And still a third untried possibility of this method consists 

 in reports upon the marginal field of perceptual regard in addi- 

 tion to the reports upon the field of distinct vision. 



The experiments have already proceeded far enough to 

 give assurance that the completion of the study will shed addi- 

 tional light upon the questions of literal reading, reading cues, 

 value of context, etc. 



An attempt was made by Professor Woodworth to throw 

 some additional light on the question, first raised by Cattell, 1 

 as to what is seen during movements or jumps of the eye from 



1 Psychological Review, 1900, VII., pp. 3 2 5~343> 5°7 _ 5° 8 * 



