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CULTIVATED MOTOR AUTOMATISM; A STUDY OFCHARACTER IN ITS RELATION TOATTENTION.
1
BY GERTRUDE STEIN.
In the
PSYCHOLOGICAL REVIEW
for September, 1896, Mr.Solomons and I reported on the work done that year on the ten-dency to motor automatism in normal subjects. The only sub-jects we had were ourselves. This year it has been my aim tocontinue this work by using a large number of subjects.I have attempted
to
examine the phenomena of normal autom-atism by a study of normal individuals, both in regard to thevariations in this capacity found in a large number of subjects,and also in regard to the types of character that accompany agreater or less tendency to automatic action. Incidental to thismain question have arisen the further questions of comparisonbetween male and female subjects, and the variations of thefemale subjects in fatigue.For these experiments the most convenient instrument Ifound to be a planchette suggested by Mr. Delabarre. We sus-pended from a high ceiling a board just large enough to sup-port the forearm, the hand hanging over and holding a pencil.This planchette responded to very slight movements, couldbe readily adjusted, and allowed the operator to move it, andguide the subject without his knowledge. By lightly resting myhand on the board after starting
a
movement I could deceive thesubject, who sat with closed eyes, as
to
whether he or I was mak-ing the movement, and I could judge also how readily he yieldedto a newly suggested movement, or if he resisted it strongly.My method was as follows
:
My subject, after adjusting hisarm and getting perfectly comfortable, would close his eyes andI would then direct him to keep his mind off the experiment andoff his arm. Sometimes I would talk to him, sometimes get
1
From the Harvard Psychological Laboratory. Communicated by ProfessorE. B. Delabarre.295
 
296
GERTRUDE
STEIN.
him to talk to me, or to think of a definite object, or to lose him-self in a day-dream.The movements taught, with the exception of one or two of
my
best subjects, had to be of
a
decidedly rhythmic character, suchas circles, the figure eight, a long curve, or an m-figure. Themajority of the subjects were either readily taught some rhyth-
mic
movement or had some spontaneous movement of their own;either a rhythmical one or indefinite lines and curves. Withsome few subjects it took several sittings before any movementcould be induced.The method of teaching a new movement was as follows :When the subject's attention
was
fully distracted I would gently,at first slowly, then more rapidly, guide the planchette into themovement I wished to teach; then after a while I would releasethe board. The subject the first few times would either cometo a standstill or return to the old movement. I would guideagain, and then release, keeping this up till the new movementwas learned. At first there was a continued return to the oldmovement or to no movement, but gradually came an aimlessindefinite movement, then again the old, then the new, and thenagain an uncertain movement, then a more decided revision ofthe new, then a slight return to the old, like the struggle be-tween two themes in a musical composition, until at last the newmovement conquered and was freely continued.In many cases it was hard to get the subject started. OftenI succeeded in doing so by giving deceptive suggestions as tomy guidance by letting my hand rest lightly on the edge of theboard. Sometimes I would let the board hit my hand to givethe same effect, or suggest the movement by following thecurve with a pencil on another piece of paper, or let my sleevebrush the table to suggest my movement and so get the desiredresponse from the subject.The subjects used in this experiment were members of Har-vard University and Radcliffe College. The large majoritywere taught some form of automatic movement. Out of 41male subjects I found only 5 from whom in two sittings I wasnot able to get any kind of automatic response, and out of 50female subjects only 4. There was a great deal of variation in
 
CULTIVATED MOTOR AUTOMATISM.
297
the ability to learn movements and write spontaneously. Thesubjects who did the best writing fall into two large groups verydifferent both in characteristics and method of response. Letus call them Type I. and Type II.Type I. This consists mostly of girls who are found natu-rally in literature courses and men who are going in for law.The type is nervous, high-strung, very imaginative, has thecapacity to be easily roused and intensely interested. Their at-tention is strongly and easily held by something that intereststhem, even to the extent quite commonly expressed of beingoblivious to everything else. But, on the other hand, they findit hard to concentrate on anything that does not catch the atten-tion and hold the interest. The nature and fashion of their au-tomatic responses accord with these characteristics. I couldnever get them to write well unless I got them distracted bytalking to them or making them talk to me. The more inter-ested and excited they got the more their hands would write.Their results in writing were of two kinds
:
either they wouldbe taught a movement and then hold
itjirmly
until the next onewas taught, or else, being taught one movement, they wouldstick to that resolutely, and it was not possible to draw themaway from it. As soon as they stopped talking, or their inter-est flagged, there was a strong tendency for the movement toslow up and soon stop. This type, although in some cases sug-gestible, is on the whole auto-suggestible rather than responsiveto influences from without, unless the appeal is directed com-pletely to the automatic personality. The subjects usually ex-pressed themselves at first as having an impersonal feelingtoward their arm and then becoming oblivious of it. Their armstarted, kept going when they were forgetful of it, and whenthey thought of it, it stopped.Type II. is very different from Type I., is more varied, andgives more interesting results. In general, the individuals, oftenblonde and pale, are distinctly phlegmatic. If emotional, de-cidedly of a weakish sentimental order. They may be eitherlarge, healthy, rather heavy and lacking in vigor, or they maybe what we call anaemic and phlegmatic. Their power of con-centrated attention is very small. They describe themselves as
of 00

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