Studies in auditory and visual space perception / by Arthur Henry Pierce.
- Pierce, Arthur Henry, 1867-1914.
- Date:
- 1901
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Studies in auditory and visual space perception / by Arthur Henry Pierce. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![proof that primarily sound is known as pure sensa- tion.” [!] Bam (47) keeps up the traditional opinion, displaying by his language a woeful lack of acquaintance with the facts of the case. Distance is spoken of as “ a purely intellectual sensation,” and the opinion is approved that “the knowledge of it is owing to a process of reasoning applied to the [auditory] sensation.” Then he com- placently adds : “ We can readily judge whether a voice be before or behind, right or left, up or down ; but if we were to stand opposite to a row of persons, at a distance, say, of ten feet, we should not be able, I apprehend, to say which one emitted a sound.” Other writers both in England and America may be re- ferred to briefly. Lloyd Morgan (59) affirms that localiza- tion of sound is not much better than that of taste and smell. Ladd (54) says : “The surrounding space is not a con- struction, either immediate or indirect, of the ear,” and “ It is by tactual and muscular exercises, and practice gained by such exercises, that our auditory sensation-complexes are localized in a space already constructed by activity of eye, muscles, and skin.”—And Titchener (68) writes : “ auditory sensations, which have no spatial attribute, contribute nothing directly to our ideas of space.” And referring to the same sensations again, he speaks of the “impossibility of their spatial arrangement.” Among the German writers too expressions of the same general tenor as the above are to be found. Lotze (56) showed a fondness for speaking of tones as “ ortlos,” and this to him obvious character of auditory impres- sions is seized upon for purposes of illustration, mere](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2805250x_0025.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
