628 VITALITY AND EFFICIENCY WITH EESTRICTED DIET. 



(16) EFFICIENCY IN TRAVERSING A RIGHT-ANGLE MAZE. 



Two groups of individuals may conceivably show the same initial 

 results in a test or measurement and later, upon repetition of the same 

 task, may demonstrate different degrees of learning ability and rate of 

 improvement. The ability to learn and the conditions which favor 

 or oppose it are of great significance. The maze test was used in this 

 study of the effect of food reduction on men to throw light on this 

 question. It is evident that in repeatedly solving this problem accord- 

 ing to directions (see p. 189) the subjects would naturally require 

 shorter and shorter time intervals. 



This test, with the same directions and conditions, was used in the 

 normal series of 1917. A group of 67 normal college men, most of them 

 upper classmen or recent college graduates, performed the task three 

 times in succession. The men were carefully observed, and the time 

 from beginning to successful completion of each trial accurately 

 recorded. The classified results for the first two trials are given in 

 table 186. At the initial trial one man did the task in 58 seconds; 

 23 of the group, that is 34 per cent, completed it in from 101 to 200 

 seconds; 5 required 600 seconds or more; 2 men failed entirely, giving 

 it up after 18 and 33 minutes, respectively. In the second trial, which 

 was begun about 15 seconds after the first trial was completed, 8 of 

 the men did it in 50 seconds or less, and only one of the 65^ who com- 

 pleted it required more than 600 seconds. The range in the first trial 

 was from 58 to 1,150 seconds; for the second trial, it was from 35 to 637 

 seconds; the latter value is from the same individual whose first trial 



Table 186. — Distribution of men in normal series of 1917 according to number of seconds 



required to complete the maze test. 



required the 1,150 seconds. The man who did best in the first trial 

 had values for the three tests as follows: 58, 42, and 76 seconds. 

 In the third trial he became careless and overconfident and lost speed. 

 The individual who showed the best record in the second trial had 

 values for the three trials as follows: 87, 35 and 19 seconds. Some 

 of the other subjects showed very rapid performance with consistent 

 improvement; for example, No. 1, with records of 76, 50, and 45 



^There was no second trial for the men who are noted as failing in the first. Of course literally 

 these men tried many times, i. e., they made many fresh starts, but always got hopelessly lost 

 through their failure to follow the directions carefully. The third trial followed the second trial 

 after a short intermission, but for one reason or another six of the aviation candidates did not do 

 the task a third time and these data have not been tabulated in table 186. The men in the low- 

 diet research made only one trial to completion on each evening. 



