THE WHITE RAT AND THE MAZE PROBLEM 177 



Miss Richardson makes some definite statements though not 

 in connection with labyrinth problems: " Slight contact (with 

 plane) seemed to give her immediate orientation." 8 " The 

 basis seemed to be that afforded by touch. Contact with the 

 plane was doubtless evidence of its presence." . . . " It was 

 only when they came in contact with the plane that some sen- 

 sory impulse connected with its fall set off the old association 

 and they would dash to the door of the box." 9 " There was no 

 indication that any of the rats located the door by means of 

 vision for each rat passed the door while 'searching' for it with- 

 out reaching to it. Yet when the door was touched there fol- 

 lowed the examination of the latch and the requisite movements 

 to open the door." . . . Locating the door as before prob- 

 ably with the snout." 10 " The normal rats like the blind rats 

 seemed to discover the latch by contact." 11 



A layman would scarcely question the importance of the 

 tactual experience in the life of animals, yet in experimental 

 work its function had been called in question even in such prob- 

 lems as Miss Richardson mentions and kinaesthesis had barred 

 all rival contestants in labyrinth learning. It was in order to 

 test the control in the maze that this work was undertaken. 



DESCRIPTION OF MAZE 



The method used in testing this tactual control was not quite 

 the same as that employed in the work with vision and olfac- 

 tion. In those experiments the stimulating values of the true 

 path and the blind alleys were made to differ in as pronounced 

 a manner as possible. In this case there was no attempt made 

 either to accentuate the contact values of the floor or walls 

 of the maze or to offer contrasting standards in the true path 

 and the false. Another maze was built on a new plan where 

 the conditions, it was hoped, were such that not only could the 

 tactual functioning of feet and vibrissae be seen but also that 

 such functioning would be a necessary part of the learning 

 process. (Figure 1.) 



8 Richardson, Florence. A Study of Sensory Control in the Rat. Psy. Rev. 

 Mon. Sup., vol. 12, no. 1, p. 39. 



9 Ibid, p. 40. 



10 Ibid, p. 55. 



11 Ibid, p. 56. 



