JOURNAL OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOR 



Vol. 3 JULY-AUGUST, 1913 No. 4. 



BEHAVIOR OF RACCOONS TO A TEMPORAL 

 SERIES OF STIMULI 



F. M. GREGG AND G. A. McPHEETERS 



From the Psychological Laboratory of the University of Chicago 



Four figures 



This problem was suggested by, and the experiments were 

 conducted under, the supervision of, Dr. W. S. Hunter. In 

 his thesis on Delayed Reaction, Dr. Hunter found it necessary 

 to criticise all extant arguments and experiments designed to 

 prove the existence of images in animals. One of the most 

 striking of these experiments is that of Cole, 1 in which raccoons 

 were taught to discriminate between two temporal series of 

 stimuli. It was proposed that we repeat this particular experi- 

 ment and test some of its conclusions and assumptions in the 

 light of additional control tests. 



Cole's apparatus was termed a "card displayer" and his 

 diagram is duplicated in figure i. It consists of three levers, 

 with cards attached, mounted on a common axis inserted in 

 the rear of a 12 -inch board which serves as a screen. By the 

 operation of the lever mechanism, these cards can be raised 

 above the board and displayed as stimuli to the animal. The 

 cards used were white, blue and red. In what may be termed 

 the positive group or series, white, blue and red were displayed 

 in succession, and the animals were taught to react to this 

 temporal series during the presentation of the red card by 

 mounting the steps shown in the diagram. Food was the re- 

 ward of a successful response. In the negative series, the red 



1 Cole, L. W. Concerning the Intelligence of Raccoons. Jour, of Comp. Neur. 

 and Psych., 1907, vol. 17. 



