Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 33.djvu/624

606 of the several senses in this respect, and thus register the degree to which one is a "visionaire," "auditaire," and so on.

III. These form the most difficult as well as most interesting tests. Two paragraphs (of course, the same can be done with syllables, numerals, words, and so on), of equal difficulty are chosen, and, while one is read by the subject, the other is read aloud to him. The reading must not be especially loud or pronounced, but neither must it be monotonous. It is very important that, in repeating as much as possible of the contents of both paragraphs, one should as often repeat first what has been read as what has been heard. The amount of forgetting of the other paragraph that goes on while you repeat what you can of the one, is surprising. In this performance, appealing simultaneously to eye and ear, the "auditaire" is attracted to what he hears, the "visionaire" to what he sees, and the former knows more of what has been read, the latter of what he has read. A strong "visionaire" may, at times, know nothing of the passage read to him, while the "auditaire" may listlessly let his eye wander across the page, his attention being involuntarily chained to what he hears.

A modified form of this test can be adopted by finding the limit of words, etc., that can be perfectly learned by the eye and ear simultaneously. While the "auditaire" can listen to and retain six words, he may be able to read and retain (at the same time) only two or three words; while with the "visionaire" the propositions will be reversed. That it is possible to do these two things at once is shown by some ingenious experiments of M. Paulhan. This observer finds that the more disparate the faculties used in doing two things at once, the better can they be done; and that the simpler the processes, the less the difference between the sum of the times necessary to do each separately and the time to do both at once, this difference failing entirely in very simple processes. When the two sentences get confused it is suggestive to note whether a heard word creeps into the passage read, or vice versa.

If a person is an "auditaire," a further test of the degree of this trait can be thus made: While a passage is being read to him, let him copy a sentence or two from a book. If a strong "auditaire," he will find that he has been writing automatically, knows little of what he has written, and can tell more or less of what he has heard. The "visionaire," on the other hand, knows what he has written almost word for word, and less than usual of what has been read to him. That is, with a strong "auditaire," hearing outweighs sight even when supported by the muscular sense; while, when thus supported, sight more than usually outweighs hearing for the "visionaire."