Page 253 - Wilhelm Wundt zum siebzigsten Geburtstage

Fluctuations of Attention and After-images. 241

otlier, though the Stimulus, objectively regarded, has been continuously
acting, there is hardly a vestige of its effect. An allowable inference
is tbat, during the phase of invisibility, the retinal condition has
undergone a change, and this change, on the general theory, may
be interpreted as a restoration. So far as the after-image is a Symptom
of exhaustion, we may say that the exhaustion is greater at the
moment of disappearance and that it reaches a minimum at the
moment of reappearance.
Another comparison, on the same basis, is possible, The moment
of reappearance, which marks the close of one fluctuation, is also
the initial point in the next fluctuation. Now we cannot assume that
the retina is in absolutely the same condition at every one of these
initial points; for, though the Stimulus is of equal intensity all the
way through, we are unable to say whether the Sensation it produces
or the difference between that and the Sensation produced by the
larger field, is constant. The fact that the light-band is visible at
the beginning of fluctuation b does not necessarily imply that its
brightness subjectively considered, is the same as its briglitness
at the beginning of fluctuation a: and much less can we conclude
that it is still the same in fluctuations x and y. The intervening
phases of visibiHty and invisibility render a comparison between one
initial point and another impossible or worthless. Similarly, we
have no means of ascertaining whether the after-image, if it appear
at all, at the beginning of one fluctuation is of exactly the same
quaüty and strength as that which is seen at the beginning of another
fluctuation. Still, since we cannot get the after-image at the beginning
and at the end of one and the same fluctuation, we may reasonably
assume that the conditions at both points are relatively or approximately
the same; for at both points the Stimulus has just become, or is just
becoming, visible.
On this assumption, however, it is clear that we have the after-
image determined for these three moments: the beginning of the
fluctuation, the moment of disappearance, and the end of the fluc-
tuation. At the two extremes it is at its lowest value, while, at the
critical point, the vanishing of the Stimulus, it is very strong. And
this would point quite naturally to the conclusion that it gradually
increases during the phase of visibility, attains its maximal value at
Wnndt, Pliilos. Stadien. XX. 16