Complication Pendulum
date: label: date made
content: 1890s
name: label: used at
content: Cornell University
label: maker
content: Krille, Carl
notes: label: Description
content: Wilhelm Wundt, the influential professor of psychology at the University of Leipzig, conducted early and important studies of the time that different people took to respond to different stimuli. For this he developed a complication pendulum. As Stoelting would later explain, this instrument presented “a series of visual stimuli, any series of which may be accompanied by some disparate stimulus, such as sound, pressure, etc.” Stoelting went on to say that the observer’s task “is to determine the position of the pointer on the scale the instant the bell or other stimulus is brought into action. The speed of the pointer is governed by the position of the pendulum bob, and may be set to actuate the stimulus at any point on the dial.”
label: Description
content: This example was made by Krille. Only a few parts of the original remain.
label: Description
content: Ref: C. H. Stoelting Co., <i>Psychological and Physiological Apparatus and Supplies</i> (Chicago, 1930), p. 165.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Science & Scientific Instruments
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Cornell University Department of Psychology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MG.300427.005.02
label: accession number
content: 300427
label: catalog number
content: 300427.005.02
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Apparatus, Testing, Psychological
label: Object Name
content: complication pendulum, parts
label: Object Name
content: complication pendulum
label: Other Terms
content: Apparatus, Testing, Psychological; Medicine
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal, brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 15 in x 23 9/16 in x 14 5/16 in; 38.1 cm x 59.90006 cm x 36.39998 cm
label: Measurements
content: weight: 6 1/8 in x 1 1/2 in; 15.5575 cm x 3.81 cm