Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1912-06-06

Usy NJ. Il. Haggerty, Director Psychologist
cal Laboratory, Indiana tniversity.p
The beginning of mentality IN the child
is Very simple. \. flash OF light. a feeling
of warmth. Il sensation from a moving
muscle, the feeling of contact OF Its lips.
the taste OF food. the viSceral sensations
including hunger, thirst and possibly pain,
the motions of the lips. tongue and cheeks
In feeding. the unco-ordinatcd movements
OF hands. feet and eyes, the faint re-
Spouse To auditory stimuli. u CLINT of odor
and "A transient ~taste-these passing In
rapid flow and with little or no connec-
t'on between succeeding stages of the
stream make up all that can bc called
mind in the iirSt days and weeks of child
hood.
Very soon. however. begins the process
or fusion of succeeding or contatnpotan-
e"lS states with one another. The flash
OF light is welded with the feelings from
the activity of the eye muscles: the touch
of the lips joins the taste of milk. the
movement of the arm and hand Is caught
up into relation with the touch OF the
end of the fingers and the palm of the
hand: the sight of the mother or nurse
grows together with the anticipation OF
food: the sound of a familiar voice is con
nected with pleasant experiences that
have followed that sound i'm the past: the
cry SO characteristic of infancy gets to
he the connecting link between Il state
w anu ltc IetItI vi tlc annoy =
ing state.
Infant Habits Quickly Formed.
How quickly these FIRST associations he
gin and attain strength amy nurse or
mother we'll knows. Persons experienced
i'm the care of children know that ii liz
important TO establish the feeding and
sleeping habits of an infant from the
very hour of its birth. by the end OF
Il fortnight such habits should lie we'll
i~A.l t> t. ,..,, ;r. No. "a .-;iI -.
ever after be the gamer thereby. Erob-
ably in this region OF funda mental pro-
cesses the act OF association is more rapid
than in the regions more distant from the
cllild's Immediate necessities. In every
place. however. the tendency toward as
s"ciati"n goes ON with terrific rapidity
IL is nothing short of astounding how
much really takes place i'm the mind OF
a child during the FIRST year and again
during the second and third year.
At first the associations group them
selves about different centers. The eye
Is one such center. The feelings from
the muscles of the eyes when they are
moved are at first undoubtedly without
any connection with the sensation of light
which is derived from the rctina. When
this feeling from the muscle occurs at the
same time as the fash OF light there is
the condition for an association. IY these
TWO experiences occur together for Il
number of times they will become so re-
lated To each other that when one occurs
tt will tend To revive the other even
though that other may not AT the time
be- present.
Thus the child will come to expect the
flash of light when he feels the move
m"nt of tn" eye muscles. by AN elah-
Grafton nf this association the two eyes
will conmr In work together and by a
further extension of this center of asso-
citation the things which n child sees will
com" to be related to the things that he
feels with his hands. He will through
TINS process come To know that the rattle
that he fccls with his hand is the same
rattle that he sees with his eyes. amy by
"A stun further extension OF the process liz.
Will como to understand that this rattle
which he sees and feels is tho same as
the one thar makes the noise which he
hears. These extensions OF child expe-
iicice are easily observed in the ward
behavior of amy growing child.
World Pours In On the Child.
rs the rlliid grows from Gay to day the
world outside polrs i'm upon him through
his sense organs its myriad motions. and
these h" mart relate to these association
groups. which he has begun thus early i'm
his life. This is not always am easy pro-
cess. a'd the imperative growth he makes
often comes with severe inner struggles.
New forms. new sights. new sounds. new
od"rS. new objects. new persons and nrw
Ideas come to him In such profusion and
c"'np!sXity that the unity to his mind is
over and over disrupted. He sees "a new
object and fries to relate it To the things
he already knows. IL will not fit. What
experience he has accumulated in the mast
he ,uay have been able to reduce to a con-
sistent whole. Here Is the new thing that
stands over against the old fund of ex-
i%'ciicnce as II stranger. Possibly il con-
taiils some aspect ike Il former experience.