MUSCLE READING
Muscle Reading : Ger. Muskellesen, Ge¬
dankenlesen (thought reading) ; Fr. lecture de
la pensée (thought reading) ; Ital. lettura del
pensiero (thought reading). The interpreta¬
tion through contact, such as grasping the
hand, of slight involuntary movements or mus¬
cular contractions, and the detection thereby
of the direction or object of another’s thoughts.
The basis of muscle reading rests upon the
tendency—a marked one in some individuals,
and less so in others—of involuntary move¬
ments and impulses to motor expression to
accompany mental operations. Such move¬
ments find most ready expression in the con¬
traction of delicate and specialized muscle
groups, of which the hand is a familiar
example. Such involuntary movements,
particularly of the hand, were offered in ex¬
planation of the phenomena of spiritualism,
such as the rappings, table turning, and
planchette writing. The phenomena of the
divining rod have also been referred to
involuntary movements (see letter of Chevreul,
1852, in Binet, Alterations of Personality,
Eng. trans., 221). The experimental de¬
monstration of these movements has been
frequently made. For such purpose an ap¬
paratus is necessary by which the movements
may be rendered visible. Such apparatus have
been devised by Jastrow (Fact and Fable in
Psychol., 130) and Sommer [Zeitsch. f Psychol.,
xvi. 275). See Automatograph, under Labo-
KATOKY AND APPARATUS, II, B, (c), (5).
In this way it has been proved that the
thought of a particular corner of the room
is likely involuntarily to direct the hand to¬
wards that corner, the direction of the atten¬
tion towards a sound is apt to start a move¬
ment towards the locality of the sound, and so
on. In brief, the local direction of the atten¬
tion is more or less readily reflected in the
accompanying involuntary movement. More
recently it has been shown that involuntary
whispering may also occur ; and the move¬
ments of the larynx accompanying reading
to oneself, the active thinking of certain
sounds, &c., have been recorded. While the
mere fact of movement not infrequently rises
into consciousness, the directions and details
of the movements remain unconscious and
wholly involuntary. When, in susceptible
persons, these movements become pronounced
and directive, they develop into Automatic
Whiting (q. v.), planchette writing, &c.
Ordinarily the movements fundamental to
muscle reading involve only direction and
local indication ; but truly ‘ automatic ’ move¬
ments convey by symbols, such as writing,
an indication of the content of the mover’s
thoughts.
Muscle reading as an expert performance
has been exhibited by various performers
from about 1874; it is often misleadingly
termed mind reading and heralded as depen¬
dent upon a mysterious power to divine
another’s thoughts. The usual procedure is
for the muscle reader to place the hand of his
subject against his own forehead, and by
noting the indications of the movements and
of their direction and the moments of in¬
creased excitement, to find a hidden object, to
select from a group of numbers the digits
which compose the number of a bank-note of
which the subject is thinking, and other more
elaborate variations of such pi'ocedures. The
skill with which such involuntary indications
can be interpreted by an expert muscle reader
—combined with a more general shrewdness
and alertness—is remarkable, and many
striking feats have been recorded. It may
be stated as probable that, apart from
general shrewdness, such performances (feats
involving collusion or fraud are not considered
in this connection) involve nothing more than
the skilful interpretations of involuntary mus¬
cular contractions ; but with this must be
included not only definite movements, but
exhibition of excitement (change of respira¬
tion, flushing, the hush of the audience when
the muscle reader approaches the hiding-
place, &c.), and all the various accompani¬
ments of intense concentration. The process
on the part of the muscle reader requires an
extreme and wearing concentration, and some
performers are only dimly conscious of their
modus operandi. The difference in the readi¬
ness with which various subjects become
helpful to a muscle reader is very great ; but
nothing more than general correlations of
such motor tendencies with other nervous
dispositions may be postulated.
We may name Cumberland, Bishop, Brown,
Onofroff, Capper, Pikman, Dalton, Caselli,
and others as expert performers.
Literature (on involuntary movements) :
Jastbow, Amer. J. of Psychol., iv. (1892)
398 ff., v. (1892) 223 ff. ; Preyek, Die
Erklärung des Gedankenlesens (1886) ; Han¬
sen and Lehmann, Ueher unwillkürliches
Flüstern, Philos. Stud., xi. (1895) 471-530;
Cubtis, Automatic Movements of Larynx,
Amer. J. of Psychol., xi. (1900) 237-40.
On muscle-reading performances : articles on
Muscle Reading, Mind Reading, or Thought
120