Page:Psychology and preaching.djvu/40

 22 PSYCHOLOGY AND PREACHING

dicates some obscure defect in the nervous organization by reason of which the visual impression, though it may be to some extent momentarily serviceable, is not definite and deep enough to be recalled.

In passing it is interesting to note the fact that the char acteristic form of one s mental imagery has an important in fluence upon his mental processes and modes of utterance. The visualist is likely to be slow and deliberate in speech, while the speaker who uses mainly or largely auditory or kinesthetic images is likely to be more rapid. And since vis ual images usually have greater distinctiveness and vividness than others or perhaps it is better to say, possess these qualities in greater degree for most minds the speaker who is particularly strong in this imaginal form is likely not only to be more deliberate in manner and utterance, but also to be regarded as clearer in statement ; and, since the logical arrangement of ideas is always spatially conceived, he is more likely to be a &quot; logical speaker.&quot; The jumbling of images is due to the fact that they are not clearly visu alized, and illogical arrangement is due to the same defect of imagination.

II. Recall of the image. It is as difficult to understand how the image, when once it has passed out of conscious ness, can be recalled, or revived, or reconstituted, as it is to conceive of its essential nature. The image, strictly speak ing, seems to cease to be. The physical counterpart, or co efficient, the brain modification, seems to persist; the image itself, however, as a modification or phase of consciousness, disappears. But under proper conditions it reappears ; though it is more accurate to say that another image like it appears on the basis of the impression on the nerve-sub stance, which probably has persisted. The &quot; revived &quot; or &quot; recalled &quot; image is a new fact or phase of consciousness ; and cannot, therefore, be identical with the original one. If they are thought of as identical, the implication is that the image is a distinct, substantive entity which disappears from consciousness for a time and reappears, without having

�� �