Harvard Psychological Studies Part 38

This progressive extension of the rhythm period is to be explained by the mechanical conditions imposed on the expression of rhythm by processes of muscular contraction and release. Were it possible freely to increase the rate of such successive innervations, we should expect to find a much greater constancy in the whole period occupied by the series of reactions which composes the unit. The comparatively unsatisfactory quality of these larger series, and the resolution of them into subgroups described elsewhere in this paper, are due to this inability to accommodate the series of motor reactions to the subjective rhythm period.

On the other hand, the temporal value of the unit which appears as the result of subjective rhythmization undergoes a progressive decrease in absolute magnitude as the rate of succession among the undifferentiated stimuli is accelerated. The series of values for units containing from two to eleven const.i.tuents is given in the following table:

TABLE III.

No. of Elements. Duration in Seconds.

Two, 2.00 Three, 1.75 Four, 1.66 Seven, 1.75 Nine, 1.50 Eleven, 0.97

If the time-value of the simple rhythm group here depended solely on the relation of the successive stimuli to the subjective rhythm period, no progressive diminution should be presented, for in proportion as the absolute value of the separating intervals decreases the true nature of this period should be more clearly manifested. It is scarcely to be doubted that the complexity of its content is likewise a determinant of the temporal value of this period, and that to this factor is to be attributed the changes which are here presented.[4]

[4] Bolton reports a similar decrease in the temporal value of the unit, and gives the following quant.i.tative relations:

Average length of 2-group, 1.590 secs.

" " " 3-group, 1.380 "

" " " 4-group, 1.228 "

" " " 6-group, 1.014 "

" " " 8-group, 1.160 "

In subjective rhythmization the number of elements which compose the unit is dependent solely on the relation of the subjective rhythm period to the rate of succession among such elements. In objective rhythm, as has been pointed out, a free treatment of the material is rendered impossible by the determination of specific points of increased stress, in virtue of which a new unit of change appears, namely, the whole period elapsing from any one occurrence of accentuation to its return.

But this is not the sole determinant of the numerical limits of the simple group in such objective rhythms. The structural unit must indeed adhere to the scheme given by the period of the recurrent accentuation; but the point at which simple successions of this figure give place to complex structures (at which >q. q q_ is replaced by >q. q q;_q. q q_ , for example) may conceivably be hastened or r.e.t.a.r.ded by other factors than that of the simple rate of succession.

The degrees of segregation and accentuation which characterize the rhythmic unit are elements which may thus affect the higher synthesis.

Increase in either of these directions gives greater definition to the rhythmic figure and should tend to preserve the simple group in consciousness. The latter relation was not made the subject of special investigation in this research. The former was taken up at a single point. The sounds were two in number, alternately accented and unaccented, produced by hammer-falls of 7/8 and 1/8 inch respectively.

These were given at three rates of succession, and three different degrees of segregation were compared together. In the following table is given, for six subjects, the average number of elements entering into the group-form, simple or complex, under which the rhythm was apprehended:

TABLE IV.

Ratio of Beat-interval Value in Seconds of Average Interval, to Group-interval. 5/12 3/12 2/12 1.000: 1.400 3.5 5.3 9.0 1.000: 1.000 4.0 5.4 9.6 1.000: 0.714 5.2 8.4 10.8

The quant.i.tative relations presented by these figures are consistent throughout. For every rate of speed the average rhythmic group is smallest when the interval separating the successive groups is at its maximum; it is largest when this interval is at its minimum; while in each case a median value is presented by the relation of uniformity among the intervals. In the second as well as the first of the ratios included in the foregoing table the interval which separates adjacent groups is felt to be distinctly longer than that internal to the group; in the third the relative durations of the two intervals are those which support psychological uniformity. In the latter case, in consequence of the freer pa.s.sage from group to group, the continuity of the rhythmical series is more perfectly preserved than in the former, and the integration of its elements into higher syntheses more extended.

The extension of the numerical limits of the rhythm group in subjective rhythm which appear in consequence of progressive acceleration in the rate of succession is given for a series of six different values of the separating intervals in the following table, the figures of which represent the average for six observers:

TABLE V.

HIGHEST UNITS WHICH APPEAR.

Value of interval in secs.: 12/12 7/12 5/12 3/12 2/12 1/12 No. of el's in rhythm group: 2.5 3.0 4.0 7.0 9.0 11.0 Average duration of group: 2.500 1.750 1.666 1.750 1.500 0.917

SIMPLE UNITS.

No. of els. in simplest group: 2.5 2.3 2.9 3.7 4.7 5.0 Duration of simplest group: 2.50 1.34 1.21 0.92 0.78 0.41

The rate of increase here presented in the number of elements is not sufficiently rapid to counterbalance the acceleration of speed and maintain a constancy in the duration of the group. The greatest value of this period is coordinated with the slowest rate of succession, the lowest with the most rapid. As the speed increases, the duration of the rhythmic unit is shortened. Its average duration for all rates here included is 1.680 sec., or, without the first of the series (one-second intervals, at which only two of the observers received the impression of rhythm), 1.516 sec. These values are not for the simplest combinations, but for the highest synthetical unit which was immediately apprehended in the series of stimulations. This compounding becomes more p.r.o.nounced as the rate of succession is accelerated, but even at intervals of 5/12 and 7/12 sec. it is the characteristic mode of apprehension.

The number of elements in the simple groups of which these higher units are composed, and their average duration, are also given in the table. These likewise show a progressive increase in number, but of a much slower rate than that manifested by the total synthesis of elements. That is to say, in subjective rhythm as well as in objectively figured series, subordinate rhythmical differences in the material sink out of consciousness less rapidly than the inclusion of fresh elements takes place; in other words, the organic complexity of the rhythmic unit increases with every acceleration in the rate of succession. The duration of these simple structural groups, as may be inferred, decreases with such acceleration, but at a much more rapid rate than is the case with the total reach of rhythmical apprehension, the value of that unit which appears in connection with the highest speed here included being less than half a second. The 'liveliness' of such rapid measures is thus a resultant of several factors. It is not a consequence solely of the more rapid rate at which the individual stimuli succeed one another, but depends also on the shortening of the periods of both these rhythmical units and on the progressive divergence of the simple from the complex group.

The influence of the rate of succession on the rhythmical unit is not confined to its segregation from adjacent groups, but affects the internal configuration of the measure as well. With every acceleration in rate the relative preponderance of the interval following the accented element (in rhythms having initial stress) increases; as the rate is r.e.t.a.r.ded, smaller and smaller degrees of difference in the values of accented and unaccented intervals are discriminated. In this regard the influence of reduction in the absolute value of the separating intervals is a.n.a.logous to that of increased accentuation within the group. In fast tempos and with high degrees of emphasis the interval following the initial accent is relatively longer, that following the unaccented relatively shorter, than at slow tempos and with weak emphasis. This is but another way of expressing the fact that as the elements of the auditory series succeed one another more and more slowly the impression of rhythm fades out and that as their succession increases in rapidity the impression becomes more and more p.r.o.nounced. The following table presents these relations in a quant.i.tative form for trochaic rhythm. The figures represent the number of times the second, or group interval, was judged to be greater than, equal to, or less than the first or internal interval of the group. Three rates were compared together, having average intervals of 5/12, 3/12 and 2/12 sec. Six observers took part, but only a small number of judgments was made by each, to which fact is probably to be attributed the irregularities of form which appear in the various curves:

TABLE VI.

Ratio of 1st to 2d 5/12 3/12 2/12 Interval + = - + = - + = - 1.000: 1.057 95.0 0.0 5.0 100.0 0.0 0.0 100.0 0.0 0.0 1.000: 1.000 94.7 5.3 0.0 86.0 10.5 3.5 87.5 12.5 0.0 1.000: 0.895 40.0 60.0 0.0 46.2 49.6 3.3 74.1 18.5 7.4 1.000: 0.846 41.0 50.0 9.0 39.4 54.6 6.0 40.0 52.0 8.0 1.000: 0.800 20.0 60.0 20.0 13.0 70.0 17.0 53.8 46.2 0.0 1.000: 0.756 29.4 23.5 47.1 21.8 43.4 34.8 28.0 72.0 0.0

Av. for all ratios, 53.3 33.1 13.5 51.1 38.0 10.8 63.9 33.5 2.6

Within the limits of its appearance, as the figures just presented indicate, the force, definition and persistency of the rhythmical impression do not continue uniform. At the lowest rates at which rhythm appears the integration of the successive groups is weak and their segregation indistinct. As the rate increases the definition of the rhythmic form grows more precise, group is separated from group by greater apparent intervals, and the accentuation of the groups becomes more p.r.o.nounced. In subjective rhythmization of an undifferentiated series, likewise, the impression of segregation and periodic accentuation grows more forcible and dominating as the rate increases. The sensitiveness to form and dynamic value in the successive groups also increases up to a certain point in the process of acceleration. As expressed in the capacity to discriminate departures from formal equivalence among the groups, this function reached its maximum, for those concerned in this investigation, at rates varying individually from 0.3 sec. to 0.6 sec. in the value of their intervals.

It is in virtue of its nature as an impression, as opposed to a construction, that every structural unit, and every rhythmical sequence into which it enters, possesses a distinct individual quality, by which it is immediately apprehended and discriminated from other forms, as the face of an acquaintance is remembered and identified without detailed knowledge of the character of any feature it possesses. For what persists from the reception of a rhythm impression and becomes the basis of future recognition and reproduction of it, is not the number of beats in a unit or sequence, nor the absolute or relative intensity of the components of the group; it is the quality of the groups as individuals, and the form of the sequence as a whole. The phrase and verse are as vividly conceived as the unit group; the stanza or the pa.s.sage is apprehended as immediately and simply as the bar or the measure. Of the number and relation of the individual beats const.i.tuting a rhythmical sequence there is no awareness whatever on the part of the aesthetic subject. I say this without qualification. So long as the rhythmical impression endures the a.n.a.lytic unit is lost sight of, the synthetic unit, or group, is apprehended as a simple experience. When the rhythm function is thoroughly established, when the structural form is well integrated or familiar, it becomes well-nigh impossible to return to the a.n.a.lytic att.i.tude and discern the actual temporal and intensive relations which enter into the rhythm. Even the quality of the organic units may lapse from distinct consciousness, and only a feeling of the form of the whole sequence remain. The _Gestaltsqualitat_ of the pa.s.sage or the stanza is thus frequently appreciated and reproduced without an awareness of its sequential relations, though with the keenest sense of what is necessary to, or inconsistent with, its structure; so that the slightest deviation from its form is remarked and the whole sequence accurately reproduced.

In order to isolate and exhibit the tendency toward rhythmization in regularly repeated motor reactions, one should examine series of similar movements made at different rates both as an accompaniment to a recurrent auditory stimulus and as free expressions of the motor impulse independent of such objective control. In the former of these cases the series of stimuli should be undifferentiated in quality as well as uniform in time. The rhythm which appears in such a case will contradict the phases of an objective series which prescribes its form, and the evidence of its existence, presented under such adverse conditions, should be indubitable.

As preliminary to their special work the members of the experimental group were tested in regard to the promptness and regularity of their reactions (by finger flexion) in accompanying a periodically recurrent stimulus given by the beating of a metronome; records were taken also of their capacity to estimate and maintain constant time relations by freely tapping at intervals of one, two and five seconds. Of the latter type of reaction the records show that a temporal grouping of the reactions is presented in every rate of tapping. This, owing to the large absolute intervals, is uniformly in groups of two, the first member of which is of shorter, the second of longer duration. There is likewise an intensive differentiation of the alternate reactions. Thus a double rhythmical treatment appears, but while with intervals of two seconds the phases of temporal and intensive rhythm coincide, at rates of one and five seconds they are opposed, that is, the accentuation falls on the initial reaction which is followed by the shorter interval. This doubtlessly marks the emergence of that tendency to initial accentuation which was subsequently found to prevail in all expression of rhythm.

The types of reaction which these records afford leave no doubt that a fuller investigation of the matter would show the constant presence, in all such forms of activity, of a rhythmical automatization of the series. The special problems which such an investigation should first resolve, relate to the dependence of the amount of rhythmical differentiation on the rate of succession among the reactions; the relation of the form of this reaction series to factors of attention and control; and the significance, in connection with the process of rhythmization, of auditory stimuli produced by and accompanying the reaction series, that is, the comparison of soundless and sounded reactions.

In the second set of experiments the reactor was directed simply to accompany the beating of a metronome by a light tapping with the forefinger on a rubber-surfaced tambour connected with a pneumographic registering pen, with which was aligned an electrical time-marker also actuated by the metronome. Three rates of tapping were adopted, 60, 90 and 120 beats per minute. No specific instructions were given as to direction or keenness of attention on the part of the reactor; the most natural and simple accompaniment was desired. Occasionally, for comparison, the reactor was directed to attend closely to each successive beat as it occurred.

Certain questions as to the applicability of the material here interpreted to the point in question, and as to its relation to the objective conditions of experimentation, must be met at the outset.

The first of these is as to the actual uniformity of the metronome series. Objective determination of its temporal regularity is unnecessary (in so far as such a determination looks toward an explanation of the form of tapping by reference to inequality in the metronomic intervals). That the rhythmical phases which appear in the accompaniment are not due to inequality in the stimulation intervals, is shown by the reversal of relations between the metronome and its accompaniment which occur in the midst of a continuous series of taps.

To speak roughly, a break occurs every twentieth beat. I do not refer to minor irregularities occurring within the single group but not affecting the form of the rhythmical accompaniment. The latter appeared with surprising rarity, but when found were included in the continuous calculation of averages. But in every score or so of beats a stroke out of series would be interpolated, giving the form 1 >2 [1] 2 >1 ; the accompaniment being coordinated during the second portion of the whole series with opposite phases of the metronome from those with which its elements were connected in the earlier part. Moreover, the dependence of this grouping of the sounds on subjective att.i.tudes may readily be made to appear. When attention is turned keenly on the process its phases of rhythmical differentiation decline; when the accompaniment becomes mechanical they mount in value. When the observer tries to mark the ticking as accurately as possible, not only does the index of his motor reactions become more constant, but the sounds of the instrument likewise appear more uniform. The observers report also that at one and the same time they are aware of the regularity of the metronome and the rhythmical nature of their tapping, while yet the conviction remains that the accompaniment has been in time with the beats. Furthermore, if the phases of ticking in the metronome were temporarily unlike, the motor accompaniment by a series of observers, if accurate, should reproduce the time-values of the process, and if inaccurate, should present only an increase of the mean variation, without altering the characteristic relations of the two phases. On the other hand, if the series be uniform and subjectively rhythmized by the hearer, there should be expected definite perversions of the objective relations, presenting a series of increasing departures from the original in proportion as the tendency to rhythmize varied from individual to individual.

On the other hand, a rhythm is already presented in the sounds of the metronome, occasioned by the qualitative differentiation of the members of each pair of ticks, a variation which it was impossible to eliminate and which must be borne in mind in estimating the following results.

Five reactors took part in the experiment, the results of which are tabulated in the following pages. The figures are based on series of one hundred reactions for each subject, fifty accompaniments to each swing and return of the metronome pendulum. When taken in series of ten successive pairs of reactions, five repet.i.tions of the series will be given as the basis of each average. The quant.i.tative results are stated in Tables VII.-XIV., which present the proportional values of the time intervals elapsing between the successive reactions of an accompaniment to the strokes of a metronome beating at the rates of 60, 90 and 120 per minute.

TABLE VII.

I. AVERAGES ACCORDING TO REACTORS OF ALL RATES FOR BOTH PHASES.

(_a_) In Series of Ten Successive Pairs of Beats.

Subject. I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X

J. 1.000 1.005 1.022 1.053 1.044 1.116 1.058 1.061 1.055 1.052 K. 1.000 1.027 1.057 1.111 1.093 1.086 1.074 1.096 1.093 1.071 N. 1.000 1.032 1.062 0.990 1.009 0.980 1.019 1.040 1.067 1.040

Aver. 1.000 1.021 1.047 1.051 1.049 1.061 1.050 1.066 1.072 1.054