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Charles H. Judd.
cases in which the hand movements are underdeveloped as shown in
figure 3. There will he cases in which the finger movement will be
less pronounced as in figure 4. These accidents of individual develop¬
ment are the more difficult to overcome because they are due to the
dropping away of conscious control rather than to its presence. With¬
draw the visual pattern even in a measure, and there is left behind
a certain residuum of established movement which asserts itself. This
residuum of established movement is, then, in a very proper sense of
the word an epitome of past experience. It contains the visual ex¬
periences so far as these have actually succeeded in modifying and
guiding the combination of complex movements, but it contains these
visual experiences rather in the form of their effects than in the form
of their first original presentation. And as such an epitome of past
experience the writing movement does not itself require or receive
attention. Indeed, that which has survived in the experience is the
factor which all along was not conspicuous in consciousness.
Introspective analysis shows clearly enough that the sensations of
movement which come from the hand and arm are vague and relati¬
vely unrecognized. The value of the movements lies in the fact that
they may go on without conscious control and with a minimum of
attention.
Any change in the condition of writing, as, for example, that
illustrated in figures 5 and 6, or in the other cases mentioned in
later paragraphs, will tend to center attention again on the conscious
factors. It is important to note that such attention always gives
rise to greater efforts of movement. This means, not that the writer
has turned attention to the movement as such, for if movement
and its resulting sensations were the guides of action there would be
no necessity of the exclusive and wholly unnecessary movements which
appear in abundance. The meaning of excess movement is that the
subject is striving, just as in the first stages of development, to hit
upon some movement that will satisfy his visual control. The excess
movement is then the expression of an absence of conscious attention
to the movement itself, and of very marked attention directed to the
end aimed at. The reduction of the excess movement to orderly and
appropriate form relieves consciousness of attention just in the degree
in which it succeeds.