28G . ARTHUR C. WALTON 



did not, it is evident that reason was not the cause of the for- 

 mations of the associations. That habit is the cause of associ- 

 ation being formed is shown by the fact that after being taught 

 to go to the extra compartment by special training, and the 

 habit of going there firmly fixed, a series of trials including the 

 four compartments showed that the association of stimulus and 

 response is just as perfect for the fourth, or new one, as for any 

 of the former three. An argument that would seem to point 

 in just the opposite direction, tending to support the idea of 

 the functioning of reason, is given in the actions of the dog in 

 cases of wavering. In some cases it was noticed that the dog 

 would start for one compartment, and then swerve, often very 

 sharply to another, sometimes wrong and more often right. 

 Was it reason that made the dog believe that he had made a 

 wrong choice and caused him to change his selection, or was it 

 the motor energy in his muscles that forced him out in which- 

 ever direction he happened to be facing when released ? Was he 

 unable to set up the motor reaction connected with going to the 

 compartment for which he had made the association between the 

 movement to get the food and the light stimulus until the first 

 momentum was over ? To the experimenters it seemed that 

 the use of reason is the most feasible solution, but the psychology 

 of such a question is left to men more trained in that line than 

 the writer. A still more striking and less easily explained 

 action, was manifested when on getting almost to some compart- 

 ment, the dog would stop, hesitate and then go ahead or choose 

 another compartment, sometimes wrong, sometimes right. A 

 few times the dog gave up entirety and, returned to the release 

 box without even trying. Did the dog 'forget his cues, and 

 realizing it, attempt to reason out the correct association, and 

 on failing to do so, would return to the release box; or did he 

 fail to get the cue and form the association, and, from habit 

 rushed out when the release box was opened ? That is anothei 

 question for the trained psychologist to answer. 



In condition "Al, Three Lights" it was seen that No. 2 com- 

 partment was discriminated only SS% as well as No. 1 and 

 No. 3. Thus it shows that while it was easy to discriminate 

 two widely separated compartments, the addition of the one in 

 the middle made it much more difficult to keep its cues separate 

 from those of the other two. 



