Experimental Study of Associative Processes 103 



that door to get fish, not what it remembered, had a repre- 

 sentation of. 



Still more noteworthy evidence is found in the behavior of 

 cats and dogs who were put in these boxes, left one or two 

 minutes, and then put through the proper movement. 

 For example, a cat would be put in B (O at back) and left 

 two minutes. I would then put my hand in through the 

 top of the box, take the cat's paw and with it pull down the 

 loop. The cat would then go out and eat the fish. This 

 would be done over and over again, and after every ten 

 or fifteen such trials the cat would be left in alone. If in 

 ten or twenty minutes he did not escape, he would be taken 

 out through the top and not fed. In one series of experi- 

 ments animals were taken and thus treated in boxes from 

 which their own impulsive activity had failed to liberate 

 them. The results, given in the table below, show that no 

 animal who fails to perform an act in the course of his own 

 impulsive activity will learn it by being put through it. 



In these experiments some of the cats and all of the dogs 

 but No. i showed no agitation or displeasure at my handling 

 from the very start. Nor was there any in Dog i or the other 

 cats after a few trials. It may also be remarked that in 

 the trials alone which took place during and at the end of 

 the experiment the animals without exception showed that 

 they did not fail to perform the act from lack of a desire to 

 get out. They all tried hard enough to get out and would 

 surely have used the association if they had formed it. 



Now, the only difference between the experiences of the 

 animals in these experiments and their experiences in those 

 where they let themselves out, is that here they only saw 

 and felt themselves making the movement, whereas in the 

 other case they also felt the impulse, gave the innervation. 

 That, then, is the essential. It may be objected that the 



