MENTAL IMAGES 23
ceased to be. But such a notion is untenable, according to
modern conceptions of mental processes. The image is a
fact, a functioning of consciousness, and when it disappears
it has by the very definition ceased to be. The conscious
ness is no longer functioning that way. If the image is " re
called," where has it been in the meantime? A very ques
tionable metaphysic underlies this terminology. But these
terms are in such common use and it is so difficult to dis
pense with them without substituting for them cumbersome
and awkward phrases, that I shall continue, after entering
the foregoing caveat, to make use of them.
i. Conditions of recall. The possibility of recalling the image after its disappearance is conditioned in several ways. First, an impression, if it is not reinforced by repeated ex periences or by repeated revivals of the image, tends to fade with the lapse of time. Hence, as a rule, the difficulty of recalling an image increases with time. Second, the impres sion, which is supposed to be made upon the brain, must be strong enough to effect in the brain cells a modification of sufficient depth not to be totally effaced by succeeding im pressions. There are many facts which seem to show that subsequent impressions do modify and weaken preceding ones. As a result the power to recall any image decreases with the number and strength of the impressions made sub sequently. An apparent exception to this rule is seen in the relative ease with which old persons recall the experiences of early life. But the exception is only apparent. We must remember that, other things being equal, the impressions made early in life are written more deeply into the organiza tion of the brain than those made later in life. Relatively speaking, the earlier impressions find the ground unoc cupied, and in a certain measure pre-empt it; and the or ganism is then more resilient and responsive and the ex periences, therefore, more intense and vivid. When, there fore, the disorganization of the brain takes place in age, the impressions of later years, not being so deeply organized in the nervous constitution as those of youth, go first.
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