130 The Dancing Mouse 



by being in a strange place. It did not seem much afraid, 

 and usually did not hesitate long before entering one of the 

 boxes. The first choice often determined the majority of 

 the choices of the preference series. If the mouse happened 

 to enter the left box, it kept on doing so until, having become 

 so accustomed to its surroundings that it could take time from 

 its strenuous running from A by way of the left box to the 

 alley and thence to A, to examine things in B a little, it ob- 

 served the other entrance and in a seemingly half-curious, 

 half -venturesome way entered it. In the case of other in- 

 dividuals, he cardboards themselves seemed to determine the 

 choices from the first. 



The electric shock, as punishment for entering the wrong 

 box, came as a surprise. At times an individual would per- 

 sistently attempt to enter, or even enter and retreat from the 

 wrong box repeatedly, in spite of the shock. This may have 

 been due in some instances to the effects of fright, but in 

 others it certainly was due to the strength of the tendency to 

 follow the course which had been taken most often previously. 

 The next effect of the shock was to cause the animal to hesitate 

 before the entrances to the boxes, to run from one to the other, 

 poking its head into each and peering about cautiously, 

 touching the cardboards at the entrances, apparently smelling 

 of them, and in every way attempting to determine which 

 box could be entered safely. I have at times seen a mouse 

 run from one entrance to the other twenty times before mak- 

 ing its choice ; now and then it would start to enter one and, 

 when halfway in, draw back as if it had been shocked. Pos- 

 sibly merely touching the wires with its fore paws was respon- 

 sible for this simulation of a reaction to the shock. The 

 gradual waning of this inhibition of the forward movement 

 was one of the most interesting features of the experiment. 

 Could we but discover what the psychical states and the 



