Habit Formation : The Labyrinth Habit 215 



of this labyrinth was 52 cm. and the passages were 2.5 cm. 

 wide and 10 cm. deep. Dancing in these narrow alleys was 

 practically impossible, for the mice could barely turn around 

 in them. In the case of all except the common mice and 

 two dancers, a depth of 10 cm. was sufficient to keep the 

 animals in the maze without the use of a cover. 



As an account of the behavior of the dancer in labyrinth 

 B has already been given in Chapter XI, I may now state 

 the general results of the experiments. In all, thirty indi- 

 viduals were trained in this labyrinth. Each individual 

 was given tests at the rate of one per minute until it had suc- 

 ceeded in following the correct path five times in succession. 

 The weak electric shock, which was given as a punishment for 

 mistakes, provided an activity-impelling motive for escape to 

 the nest-box. 



An idea of the extreme individual difference in the rapidity 

 with which the labyrinth- B path was learned by these dancers 

 may be obtained by an examination of Table 38, from which 

 it appears that the smallest number of training tests neces- 

 sary for a successful or errorless trip through the maze was 

 one and the largest number fourteen. It is to be remembered 

 that each mouse was given an opportunity to pass through 

 the labyrinth once without punishment for errors, and thus 

 to discover, before the training tests were begun, that a way 

 of escape existed. This first test we may designate as the 

 preliminary trial. Table 38 further indicates that the females 

 acquired the labyrinth habit more quickly than did the males. 



A graphic representation of certain of the important features 

 of the process of formation of the labyrinth-B habit is fur- 

 nished by Figure 26 in which the solid line is the curve of 

 learning for the ten males of Table 38, and the broken line 

 for the ten females. These two curves were plotted from the 

 number of errors made in the preliminary trial (P in the figure) 



