JOURNAL OF ANI MAL BEHAVIOR 



Vol. 7 MARCH-APRIL No. 2 



THE DELAYED REACTION WITH SOUND AND 



LIGHT IN CATS 



JOSEPH U. YARBROUGH 



From the Psychological Laboratory of the University oj Texas 



The experiments herein reported on the delayed reaction in 

 cats were carried out during the session 1915-16 in the Psycho- 

 logical Laboratory of the University of Texas under the direc- 

 tion of Prof. W. S. Hunter. The purpose of the work was: 

 first, to determine the limits of the period of delay; second, to 

 ascertain definitely the behavior during delay; and third, to 

 describe as nearly as possible the method of reaction which 

 leads to success. Careful records were kept of the behavior 

 during the period of delay, and particularly of the bodily atti- 

 tudes maintained and of the orientations. Associations were set 

 up between movements that led to food and a light or buzzer, 

 as the case might be, which could be in either of three boxes. 

 With this association well established, tests were instituted in 

 which the stimulus was cut off before the reaction was com- 

 pleted. And throughout the remaining experiments the subject 

 had to respond in the absence of the stimulus that until now 

 had been present at the moment of response. 



It was my purpose to use in this problem a method of pro- 

 cedure sufficiently similar to those already used with other 

 animals,— raccoons, rats, dogs, and children — that by comparison 

 the relative ranking of the cat in the solution of the problem 

 could be ascertained. 



