A first book in psychology / by Mary Whiton Calkins.

  • Mary Whiton Calkins
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A first book in psychology / by Mary Whiton Calkins. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    through emotional thrill. Or, to take another illustration: if the sight of a surrey, with yellow awning, reminds me of the carriage in which I drove from landing-dock to hotel, in Gibraltar, this is because the Gibraltar experience was very vivid — sensationally novel and intense as well as markedly pleasant; if the surrey, however, reminds me of the rugged Maine farmer who drives it, this is because he yesterday drove me to Bar Harbor in it; if, finally, it reminds me of a prosaic train-hack, this is because my most frequent drives are to and from railway stations.* The practical applications of these principles of associa¬ tion will be referred to again in the concluding part of this chapter. The discussion of this section may be concluded by a brief statement about the probable physiological expla¬ nation of association. In a general way it may be said that the physiological condition of association is the excitation of intra-cortical fibres connecting different cerebral areas. The larger these connected brain-areas, the more nearly £total’ is the association; and the more continuous the cerebral ex¬ citation, the more persistent is the consciousness. It is also natural that connecting fibres which have been frequently or recently or strongly excited should offer little resistance to the excitation; and in this probability we have the suggestion of a physiological basis for the secondary laws of associative frequency, recency, and interest. IV. The Uses and Methods of Memorizing The functions of imagination are by this time evident. By reproductive imagination, or memory, I hold to my past; and * For experiment, cf. M. W. Calkins, “Association” (Psychological Review Monograph Supplement, No. 2), Titchener, § 52.
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