Spiller, Gustav (1864-1940)

The Mind of Man: A Text-book of Psychology

London

Swan Sonnenschein

1902

"The whole process, unless interrupted, would according to this hypothesis, run down like an alarm-clock; or it would be as with a row of bricks appropriately arranged: as the top portion of the first brick received a push in the direction of the other bricks, it would fall on the second brick, which would fall on the third, and so on until the last brick fell."

(3) It might seem a plausible surmise that every step in a routine process or habit is developed by the step which precedes it, and that on the first step being developed the others follow automatically. The whole process, unless interrupted, would according to this hypothesis, run down like an alarm-clock; or it would be as with a row of bricks appropriately arranged: as the top portion of the first brick received a push in the direction of the other bricks, it would fall on the second brick, which would fall on the third, and so on until the last brick fell. Facts, however, do not bear out this theory. It is not the outward stimulus that develops the reaction; for as the stimulus makes itself felt so, at the same time, the reaction begins to develop. The stimulus touches a brain area where both stimulus and reaction are implicated. It is not a case of one neural affection following another; there is but one neural affection as a result of which we both observe and act. And, likewise, along with the reaction there is already developing a tendency to prepare for a further stimulus. The disturbance, to state the thesis differently, is never strictly a local one. Hence we must reject the suggestion that routine process is a mechanical step-to-step process.*
(p. 101)

Machine::Alarm Clock

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Gustav Spiller. The Mind of Man: A Text-book of Psychology. London: Swan Sonnenschein, 1902. <Link to Google Books>

03/16/2009