[Factor analytical approach to the functional structure of the properties common to crossmodal senses].
In place of actual psychophysical measurements, a checklist with 58 items was compiled, in order to ask the subject's preferences among environmental stimuli in vision, audition, tactile sense and olfaction, and to estimate the extent of their subjective sensitiveness to intense or weak sensory stimuli. The 229 male undergraduate students subjects participated in this research.


RESULTS
By VARIMAX rotation, the following six factors were obtained, 1st General sensitivity, 2nd Orientation to the weak stimuli, 3rd Orientation to the intense and prolonged stimuli, 4th Sensory-motor reactivity to the intermittent or rhythmical stimuli, 5th Activation level, and 6th Temporal sensitivity. The 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 6th factors agreed well with the theoretically predicted properties, while the 5th was not necessarily similar to the properties on the hypothesis. The 2nd, and 3rd factors were the factors related to "the culture bounded behavior", on the other hand, the 1st and 6th ones related to "the culture-free behavior." The 5th, Activation level, stand in need of further research.
D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D006309:Hearing / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D012677:Sensation / Q000502:physiology*; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology; D014785:Vision, Ocular / Q000502:physiology