What did Titchener ask his subjects to do during his structuralist research?

Titchener's approach in his structuralist research was centered around the concept of introspection, which involved asking subjects to describe their immediate sensations in response to various stimuli. This method aimed to explore the structure of the mind by breaking down mental processes into their most basic components. Subjects were trained to focus on their sensory experiences, such as what they saw, heard, or felt, and to report these sensations in detail. This emphasis on direct experience and self-reporting was fundamental to the study of consciousness in the structuralist framework, aligning with Titchener's goal to map the elements of the mind similarly to how chemists might analyze compounds.

The other options reflect approaches not central to Titchener's structuralist methodology. Analyzing historical experiences relates more closely to other psychological frameworks, such as psychodynamic perspectives, rather than the immediate sensory experiences Titchener was focused on. Writing down dreams is more aligned with Freudian psychoanalysis, which seeks to uncover the unconscious mind through dream interpretation. Performing physical tasks to measure reaction times pertains to behaviorist methodologies, which emphasize observable behavior rather than introspection.