Experimental Study of Associative Processes in 



if present, will lead to C just as the sense-impression B did. 

 Now, if the chance to associate B with A has been improved, 

 you ought, when the animal is confronted with the sense- 

 impression A, to get a revival of B and so the act C. Such 

 a result would, if all chance to associate C with A had been 

 eliminated, demonstrate the presence of representations 

 and their associations. I performed such an experiment 

 in a form modified so as to make it practicable with my 

 animals and resources. Unfortunately, this modification 

 spoils the crucial nature of the experiment and robs it of 

 much of its authority. The experiment was as follows : - 



A cat was in the big box where they were kept (see p. 90) 

 very hungry. As I had been for a long time the source 

 of all food, the cats had grown to watch me very carefully. 

 I sat, during the experiment, about eight feet from the box, 

 and would at intervals of two minutes clap my hands four 

 times and say, "I must feed those cats." Of course the 

 cat would at first feel no impulse except perhaps to watch me 

 more closely when this signal was given. After ten seconds 

 had elapsed I would take a piece of fish, go up to the cage 

 and hold it through the wire netting, three feet from the 

 floor. The cat would then, of course, feel the impulse to 

 climb up the front of the cage. In fact, experience had 

 previously established the habit of climbing up whenever 

 I moved toward the cage, so that in the experiment the 

 cat did not ordinarily wait until I arrived there with the 

 fish. In this experiment 



A = The sense-impression of my movements and voice 

 when giving the signal. 



B = The sense-impression of my movements in taking 

 fish, rising, walking to box, etc. 



C = The act of climbing up, with the impulse leading 

 thereunto. 



