14 STELLA B. VLNCENT 



blind alleys. The average speed for the entire distance was a 

 little over 15 ft. per minute. The total distance for the second 

 trial was 184 ft. of which 106 ft. was in the true path and 78 

 ft. in the cut de sacs. The speed then was 27 ft. per minute. 

 Notice the distribution of the activity in this maze and com- 

 pare it with that of the black-white maze above. 



This slowness might be made more evident by another illus- 

 tration. The average time of the first trial made without error 

 for the rats on the normal maze was 45 sec. The average time 

 of the 20 rats on the black-white maze for the same errorless 

 trip was 122 sec. It took the latter group over four times as 



Fig. 4. Time curves for black-white and normal mazes, last 10 trials 

 Normal, Black-white 



Fig. 5. Error curve for black-white and normal mazes, last 10 trials 

 Normal, Black-white 



long. Returns were not counted in either case but so far as I 

 can tell they were very few and fairly comparable. 



But besides these individual records there are the combined 

 group averages. The numerical data for the first ten trials has 

 already been referred to (Table 1). The curves plotted reveal 

 the same characteristics (Fig. 3). The time curve begins much 

 lower in the black-white maze but that is because of the fewer 

 number of errors which decreases the total distance of the run. 

 These curves do not show the actual number of trials nor the 

 exact average time for any particular trial. The first two-thirds 

 of the distance shows the learning process, the last third an 

 automatism. The ordinary curve where one trial is the unit 



