We measure with a stopwatch in fifths of a second the time for the whole process from the subject’s looking at the first card to his laying down of the last card, and, secondly, we record the number and the character of his mistakes, if cards are put into wrong piles.  I have made the experiment with very many persons, and results show that those various mental traits which have been observed in the practical ship service come clearly to light under the conditions of this experiment.  Some of the persons lose their heads entirely, and for many of them it is a painful activity for which they require a long time.  Even if the number of mistakes is not considerable, they themselves have the feeling that they are not coming to a satisfactory decision, because their attention is pulled hither and thither so that they feel an inner mental paralysis.  Some chance letters stand out and appear to them to be predominant, but in the next moment the attention is captured by some other letters which bring the suggestion that they are in the majority and that they present the most important factor.  The outcome is that inner state of indecision which can become so fatal in practical life.  Other subjects distribute the cards in piles at a relatively high speed, and they do it with the subjective feeling that they have indeed recognized at the first glance the predominant group of letters.  The exact measurement of the results, however, shows that they commit many errors which would have been improbable after quiet consideration.  Any small group of letters which catches their eye makes on them, under the pressure of their haste, such a strong impression that all the other letters are inhibited for the moment and the wrong decision is quickly made.  Finally, we find a group of persons who carry out the experiment rather quickly and at the same time with few mistakes.  It is characteristic of them to pass through it with the feeling that it is an agreeable and stimulating mental activity.  In all cases the subjects feel themselves under the unified impression which results from all those 48 letters of the card together; and this is the reason why the qualitative manifoldness of a practical life situation can be compared with these intermingled, quantitatively determined groups of letters.

If I consider the general results of these experiments only with reference to the time-measurement, I should say that a person who completes the distribution of the cards in less than 80 seconds is quick in his decisions; from 80 to 150, moderately quick; from 150 to 250, slow and deliberate and rather too deliberate for situations which demand quick action; over 250 seconds, he would belong among those wavering persons who hesitate too long in a life situation which demands decision.  The time which is needed for the mere distribution of the cards themselves plays a very small role compared with the time of the whole process, and can be neglected.  In order to determine this,