Principles of Physiological Psychology, Volume 1 |
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abrogation alba anatomy animals appear body brain callosal cells central organ centromotor cerebellum cerebral cortex cerebral hemispheres cerebrum chemical cinerea columns complex compounds concepts conduction paths connexion consciousness course decussation dendrites diencephalon direct disgregation dorsal elements excitation experimental experiments external f. d. ges fact faculty fibres fibrils fissure frontal ganglia ganglion gyre hemispheres hippocampal hypothesis idea inhibition inhibitory lateral lobe localisation longitudinal mechanical mediated mental mesencephalon molecular molecules motor movements muscle muscular myel myelinic nerve nerve-cells nerve-fibres nervous system neurite neurone nidi oblongata observed occipital occipital lobe olfactory optic origin paracele peripheral organs phenomena phrenology physical Physiol physiological physiological psychology portion posterior principle processes prosencephalon psychical psychology psychophysical pyramidal cells RAMON Y CAJAL reflex regard region relations retina sensations sense sensory centres sheath side stimulation structure substance substrate Sylvian fissure symptoms termed terminal thalami tion tissue transverse vertebrates visual centre
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Page 17 - Mind,' will accordingly be the subject, to which we attribute all the separate facts of internal observation as predicates. The subject itself is determined wholly and exclusively by its predicates; and the reference of these to a common substrate must be taken as nothing more than an expression of their reciprocal connexion. In saying this, we are declining once and for all to read into the concept of ' mind ' a meaning that the na1ve linguistic consciousness always attaches to it.
Page 5 - But conscious contents are at the opposite pole from permanent objects; they are processes, fleeting occurrences, in continual flux and change. In their case, therefore, the experimental method is of cardinal importance; it and it alone makes a scientific introspection possible. For all accurate observation implies that the object of observation (in this case the psychical process) can be held fast by the attention, and any changes that it undergoes attentively followed. And this fixation by the...
Page 4 - There are thus two problems which are suggested by the title "physiological psychology": the problem of method, which involves the application of experiment, and the problem of a psychophysical supplement, which involves a knowledge of the bodily substrates of the mental life. For psychology itself, the former is the more essential; the second is of importance mainly for the philosophical question of the unitariness of vital processes at large. As an experimental science, physiological psychology...
Page 3 - exact science of the functional relations or relations of dependency between body and mind." It would not be fair to say that the book burst upon a sleeping world. Fechner was not popular. Nanna, Zend-Avesta and similar writings had caused the scientists to look askance at him, and he was never accepted as a philosopher. No one suspected at the time what importance the book would come to have.
Page 1 - ... inner" experience, the events of our own consciousness. On the contrary: just as one and the same thing, eg, a tree that I perceive before me, falls as external object within the scope of natural science, and as conscious contents within that of psychology, so there are many phenomena of the physical life that are uniformly connected with conscious processes, while these in turn are always bound up with processes in the living body. It is a matter of every-day experience that we refer certain...
Page 5 - ... process at a given moment. In the second place, it makes the observer so far master of the general situation, that the state of consciousness accompanying this process remains approximately unchanged. The great importance of the experimental method, therefore, lies not simply in the fact that, here as in the physical realm, it enables us arbitrarily to vary the conditions of our observations, but also and essentially in the further fact that it makes observation itself possible for us.
Page 2 - Psychology," p. 10 (Eng. trans.). 4 Philos. Studien, I., p. 4. of connection peculiar to them. It is not a province of physiology; nor does it attempt, as has been mistakenly asserted, to derive or explain the phenomena of the psychical from those of the physical life. We may read this meaning into the phrase "physiological psychology...
Page 31 - ... which possess a determining activity not explainable by physicochemical influences. It is evident that mental characteristics other than voluntary cannot be demonstrated in these lower forms of life where there are no means of communication. Thus Wundt says that from the standpoint of observation we must regard it as a highly probable hypothesis that the beginnings of the mental life date from as far back as the beginnings of life at large. Fechner goes even further in expressly attributing consciousness...
Page 4 - From one point of view, indeed, the change wrought is still more radical: for a while in natural science it is possible, under favourable conditions, to make an accurate observation without recourse to experiment, there is no such possibility in psychology. It is only with grave reservations that what is called "pure self-observation" can properly be termed observation at all, and under no circumstances can it lay claim to accuracy. On the other hand, it is...
Page 2 - We may read this meaning into the phrase ' physiological psychology,' just as we might interpret the title ' microscopical anatomy' to mean a discussion, with illustrations from anatomy, of what has been accomplished by the microscope; but the words should be no more misleading in the one case than they are in the other. As employed in the present work, the adjective ' physiological' implies simply that our psychology will avail itself to the full of the means that modern physiology puts at its disposal...