MAZE STUDIES WITH THE WHITE RAT 261 



varied by inducing a condition of dizziness just before placing 

 the animals in the maze. The rats were held at arm's length 

 and whirled rapidly around in horizontal and vertical circles 

 and then placed in the maze. The dizziness effects were evident 

 in the animal's behavior. They experienced difficulty in stand- 

 ing erect, crouched down on the floor of the maze, and waited 

 for the effects to disappear before attempting to run. Twelve 

 animals were employed and no disturbances were present. 



Position of Cage. After the maze was learned, the living cage 

 was transported to a new position in the laboratory, care being 

 taken to preserve its original cardinal orientation. This alter- 

 ation introduces two new features, a new route to the cage, and 

 a new sensory environment previous to the maze reaction. 

 Since variations in the route are without effect, this aspect of 

 the alteration may be neglected. The duration of the exposure 

 to the novel environment prior to the test was varied; the 

 animals were tested either 15 minutes or 24 hours after the 

 alteration. The distance over which the cage was moved also 

 varied. Ten animals were tested. Seventy per cent of these 

 were affected, and the disturbance was present in but 41 per 

 cent of their trials. The degree of disturbance varied with the 

 degree of alteration. One group of six rats was subjected to 

 alternating small and large shifts in the position of the cage and 

 the resulting average error records were .58 and 1.75 respectively. 

 The animals quickly adapt themselves to these changes. Most 

 of the disturbances resulted from the 15 minute exposures and 

 in this case the disturbing effect had generally disappeared on 

 the subsequent day's test. There was no evidence that the 

 effects persisted for any length of time after a return to normal 

 conditions. 



Covering Cage. After the maze was mastered, the living cage 

 was entirely covered with several thicknesses of canvas. This 

 substituted a homogeneous for a heterogeneous visual environ- 

 ment and reduced the illumination of the cage very appreciably. 

 The animals were kept in this environment for a day before the 

 first test. Forty-five animals were subjected to the experiment. 

 But one rat exhibited signs of disturbance and the effect was 

 present only in the first day's test. 



Rotation of Cage. The living cage was rotated in reference 

 to the cardinal positions while remaining in the same position. 



