Schumann's Wheel Tachistoscope: Its Reconstruction and Its Operation (2014)
Stock, Armin (Author)
History of Psychology
Volume: 17, no. 2
Issue: 2
Pages: 149-158
Edition Details: Part of a special section, “On the Occasion of the Centenary of Max Wertheimer's Article on the “Phi Phenomenon””
Language: English
In the fall and winter of 1910, Max Wertheimer (1880--1943) performed his famous experiments on perceived motion, published in 1912. Besides slider experiments he mainly used a wheel tachistoscope developed by Friedrich Schumann (1863--1940) at the end of the 19th century. The Adolf-Wuerth-Center for the History of Psychology has several wheel tachistoscopes in its collection of instruments. Their provenance can be traced back to the Institute of Psychology of the University of Frankfurt and the University of Zurich. It is very plausible that Wertheimer, who performed his experiments at the Frankfurt Institute, used one of them. But the wheel tachistoscope alone is not sufficient to reconstruct Wertheimer's original experiments. As always, the devil is in the details. Wertheimer's descriptions of the necessary accessories, a prism, a viewing device, and an electric motor to move the wheel, are rather sparse. This article describes the results of a search for traces in the literature, in archives, and in literary depositories to shed some light on Wertheimer's experimental equipment. As a result, it was possible to reconstruct the entire apparatus and to obtain the same optical impressions with the reconstructed devices as Wertheimer's observers reported. In addition, one of his results was replicated with new participants exactly 100 years after its first publication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved)
...MoreArticle Wertheimer, Michael (2014) Max Wertheimer Centennial Celebration in Germany. History of Psychology (pp. 129-130).
Similar Citations
Article
Gundlach, Horst;
(2014)
Max Wertheimer, Habilitation Candidate at the Frankfurt Psychological Institute
(/isis/citation/CBB001214432/)
Chapter
Ash, Mitchell G.;
(2009)
Max Wertheimer und Wolfgang Köhler: Gestalttheorie als dritter Weg zwischen Natur- und Geisteswissenschaft
(/isis/citation/CBB001023718/)
Article
Wertheimer, Michael;
(2014)
Max Wertheimer Centennial Celebration in Germany
(/isis/citation/CBB001214430/)
Book
Max Wertheimer;
Viktor Sarris;
(2020)
Max Wertheimer Productive Thinking
(/isis/citation/CBB044488405/)
Article
Klaus Staubermann;
(2018)
Investigating Vision: Scientific Instruments as Historiographic Tools for the Understanding of the Development and Establishment of Colour, Perception and Performance Research at Edinburgh University, 1850–1950
(/isis/citation/CBB605108867/)
Article
King, D. Brett;
Wertheimer, Michael;
Keller, Heidi;
Crochetière, Kevin;
(1994)
The legacy of Max Wertheimer and Gestalt psychology
(/isis/citation/CBB000047593/)
Book
Murray, David J.;
(1995)
Gestalt psychology and the cognitive revolution
(/isis/citation/CBB000070927/)
Article
Lothar Spillmann;
Su-Ling Yeh;
Chien-Chung Chen;
Keng-Cheng Liang;
Shojiro Sakurai;
(2017)
The Collection of Historical Instruments at National Taiwan University
(/isis/citation/CBB075290324/)
Book
Schirmacher, Wolfgang;
Nebelung, Sven.;
(2001)
German Essays on Psychology
(/isis/citation/CBB000102540/)
Book
King, D. Brett;
Wertheimer, Michael;
(2004)
Max Wertheimer and Gestalt Theory
(/isis/citation/CBB000500365/)
Article
Tom Quick;
(2017)
Disciplining Physiological Psychology: Cinematographs as Epistemic Devices in the Work of Henri Bergson and Charles Scott Sherrington
(/isis/citation/CBB958326622/)
Article
Wertheimer, Michael;
(2014)
Music, Thinking, Perceived Motion: The Emergence of Gestalt Theory
(/isis/citation/CBB001214431/)
Article
Linn, Mott;
(2005)
Photographs from 1892: Clark University's New Laboratories for Biology and Psychology
(/isis/citation/CBB000650150/)
Article
Dror, Otniel E.;
(1999)
The Scientific Image of Emotion: Experience and Technologies of Inscription
(/isis/citation/CBB000111099/)
Book
Paulitsch, Christian;
(2011)
Psychological Instruments
(/isis/citation/CBB001213788/)
Article
Frank W. Stahnisch;
(2014)
„Schwellenwerte und Normwerte“: Untersuchungen zur psychophysiologischen Schmerzforschung zwischen Johannes Müller und Max von Frey aus den Neurowissenschaften des Neunzehnten Jahrhunderts (1840 bis 1890)
(/isis/citation/CBB888591496/)
Article
Feest, Uljana;
(2010)
Concepts as Tools in the Experimental Generation of Knowledge in Cognitive Neuropsychology
(/isis/citation/CBB001023802/)
Article
Leo, Angela de;
(2006)
The Origin of Graphic Recording of Psycho-Physiological Phenomena in Germany
(/isis/citation/CBB001023631/)
Article
Sturm, Thomas;
Ash, Mitchell G.;
(2005)
Roles of Instruments in Psychological Research
(/isis/citation/CBB000630271/)
Article
Staubermann, Klaus;
(2003)
Investigating Vision and the Reversion Spectroscope: Early Astronomical Colour Studies in Experimental Psychology
(/isis/citation/CBB000770277/)
Be the first to comment!