The “Fluctuations of Attention” Between Physiology, Experimental Psychology and Psycho-technical Application

In the summer of 1875, Viktor Urbantschitsch (1875) reported in the Centralblatt fuer die medicinischen Wissenschaften, “Ueber eine Eigenthümlichkeit der Schallempfindungen geringster Intensität” (On a peculiarity of sound sensations of smallest intensity): “The ticking of a watch, at some distance to the ear, is not at all perceived consistently, but the perception of sound occasionally shows ups and downs”1 (p. 625).