Functional periodicity : an experimental study of the mental and motor abilities of women during menstruation / by Leta Hollingworth.

  • Hollingworth, Leta Stetter, 1886-1939.
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Functional periodicity : an experimental study of the mental and motor abilities of women during menstruation / by Leta Hollingworth. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    hand. The apparatus seemed to be perfectly satisfactory for this purpose, and failure to record a tap was never observed. If the will power of an individual were remitted during an affected period, if muscular tonus were lowered, or the general motor ability decreased, this test would be expected to reveal the condition. Hollingworth^ found it to be sensitive to so small an influence as i to 2 grains of caffein. The complete daily records of the seven subjects are given in Table I, and require no comment. Table II gives the daily records converted into averages of five-day periods each. The five-day periods are determined in the case of the women by counting backward and forward from physiological periods. Thus a few blocks are formed by four or six days, instead of five, since the number of days between periods is not always exactly divisible by five. In the case of Mi and M2, the five-day blocks are determined by beginning to average parallel to the records of Fi and of F4, respectively. Thus are yielded two controls composed of five-day blocks arbitrarily determined, from records made by human beings not subject to the phenomenon in question. Examining the contents of Table II, we find that the records marked (*) form a consistent part of an ordinary practice curve. They show no tendency to rise above the records preceding, and thus to cause breaks of inefficiency in the down-sweeping practice curve. The record made by Fi on January 12-16 is an exception, however, this being 53.1* as compared with 50.9 and 51.2 for the two five-day periods preceding. Fi shows no such tendency in the other two critical periods included in her record, and F2, F3, F4 and F6 show no such tendency whatever. The control records also reveal averages which revert to a level of efficiency attained ten and fifteen days previously. The mean variation (M. V.) of records made during periods presumably affected shows no uniform tendency. It may be observed in passing that the M. V.'s for this test are very small, re'idering the figures exceedingly reliable. Table III gives the results of treating the figures as follows: The records are averaged in fives as in Table II, except that only three groups of periods are considered, i. e., the five days 8 H. L. Hollingworth, op. cit., p. 43.