Study of Association in Insanity | Page 9

word, for which, as already stated, a special place in the classification has been provided.
Neologisms might be divided into three types, as follows: (1) those which arise from ignorance of language (_comfort--uncomfort, short--diminiature_); (2) distortions of actual words, apparently of pathological origin and not due to ignorance (_hungry--foodation, thief--dissteal_); and (3) those which seem to be without any meaning whatever (_scack, gehimper, hanrow, dicut_). It is, however, impossible to draw clear-cut distinctions between these types, and for this reason we have made no provision in our classification for such division.
*Unclassified Reactions.*--This group is important, in the first place, because it is numerically a large one, and in the second place, because it contains certain fairly definite types of reactions which are placed here for the sole reason that we have not been able to find strictly objective criteria for their differentiation from other types.
It has already been stated that the frequency tables, even together with the appendix, fail to exhaust all normal possibilities of association, so that a certain small number of perfectly normal reactions must fall into the unclassified group. We submit the following examples:
_music--listen_ _smooth--suave_ _sour--curdled_ _earth--mound_
Another type of reactions found in the unclassified group, though also normal, yet not obviously so until explained by the subject, is represented by those which originate from purely personal experiences, such as the following, given by normal subjects:
_blossom--T....._ _hammer--J....._
The first of these reactions is explained by the subject's acquaintance with a young lady, Miss T...., who has been nick-named "Blossom," and the second is explained by the subject's having among her pupils at school a boy by the name of J.... Hammer.
It would be difficult to estimate the proportion of such reactions in the unclassified group, but we have gained the general impression that it is small. An attempt to place them in a separate group could be made only with the aid of explanations from the subjects; such aid in the case of insane subjects is generally unreliable. Moreover, to class these reactions as strictly normal would perhaps be going too far, since their general value is obviously inferior to that of the common reactions; and in any case in which they are given in unusually large numbers they must be regarded as manifestation of a tendency to depart from the normal to the extent to which they displace common reactions. The next type of reactions met with in the unclassified group is characterized by a peculiarly superficial, or non-essential, or purely circumstantial relationship to the stimulus. Such reactions, though occasionally given by normal subjects, are more often given by insane ones, and seem to be somewhat characteristic of states of mental deterioration which are clinically rather loosely described as puerilism. We offer the following examples, given by normal subjects:
_music--town_ _sickness--summer_ _child--unknown_ _house--enter_
Still another type of reactions to be considered in this connection consists of words which are in no way related to the corresponding stimulus words, but which arise from distraction of the subject by surrounding objects, sounds, and the like. In some cases the experimenter may be able to judge from the direction of the subject's gaze, from a listening attitude, and so on, that certain reactions are due to distraction. In other cases, particularly in cases of normal subjects, the fact that certain reactions are due to distraction may be determined by questioning the subject on this point immediately after making the test; In work with insane subjects, as we have several times had occasion to point out, such aid is generally not available.
The group of unclassified reactions includes also one more type of reactions which are of great importance both numerically and otherwise. These are the *incoherent reactions*, that is to say, reactions which are determined neither by the stimulus words, nor by the agency of perseveration, nor by distraction.
Although the occurrence of incoherent reactions is hardly subject to doubt, yet in no instance is it possible to establish with certainty that a given reaction is of this type, for in no instance can a remote, or an imagined, or a merely symbolic relationship between stimulus and reaction be positively excluded. Some, indeed, would assert that some such relationship must necessarily exist in every instance, at least in the domain of the subconscious. This circumstance necessitates the placing of this type of reactions in the unclassified group.
In practice it may be found advisable in some cases to analyze the unclassified reactions with a view to ascertaining to what extent each of the various types is represented among them. But one here treads on slippery ground, and one must be continually warned against the danger of erroneous conclusions.

§ 5. ORDER OF PREFERENCE.
After having developed the classification here proposed we found that there was still considerable room for difference of opinion in the placing of many reactions, owing