Study of Association in Insanity | Page 9

may be judged to exist without considerable doubt, the
reaction in question is also classed here. Example:
_priest--father_ _ocean--mother_
_Ocean--mother_ is an individual reaction; neither the word father nor
the word mother is among our stimulus words; but the association
between the words father and mother may be judged to exist without
considerable doubt; therefore, in this case mother is classed as an
association to preceding reaction.
In such cases as this personal equation must necessarily come into play;
comparative uniformity of judgment may, however, be attained by
systematically excluding any reaction the relationship of which to the
preceding reaction is subject to any considerable doubt and by placing
any such reaction in the unclassified group.
*Repetition of Previous Stimulus.*--Here we place any reaction which
is a repetition of any previous stimulus from amongst the ten next
preceding, at the same time placing *repetition of preceding stimulus*
under a separate heading.
*Neologisms.*--Here we place the newly coined words, so commonly
given by the insane, excepting such as possess a sound relationship to
the stimulus 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