TACTUAL SENSATION IN THE RAT 135 



portion up to the critical position without error or hesitation. 

 Evidently their previous learning of this path is of service in 

 the altered maze. As a rule the animals did not make an imme- 

 diate adjustment at the critical position but ran on over the 

 old path until they found the pathway blocked. This blocked 

 pathway forced a readjustment of the trial and error sort. In 

 this process the rats tended to confine their explorations to the 

 old pathway, running back and forth between the inserted door 

 and the entrance of the maze. The old habits thus tended to 

 confine and limit the exploring activity within certain channels. 

 This limitation of a free and wide excursion of adjustive trials 

 operated to postpone the successful chance adaptation at the 

 critical turn. 



On emerging upon the true path after making the successful 

 adjustment, the rats never picked up the cue immediately. The 

 old habit was never reinstated until several alleys were traversed. 

 In the majority of cases the rats left the true path at the first 

 opportunity. The significant feature of their behavior at this 

 point consists in the fact that this deviating turn is generally 

 in the same direction (relative to the rat) as that of the turn 

 which the animals would have made in the previous maze after 

 passing the critical point. A detailed description of their behav- 

 ior will illustrate this proposition. In maze II, the animals are 

 forced by door 6 into alley 5. Instead of turning to the right 

 immediately, they ran on to corner h and turned to the left. 

 This leftward turn is the normal behavior at corner 5 in the 

 previous maze. In maze III, the critical position is at door 2. 

 Formerly the animals made a turn to the left at this point. 

 After passing through door 2 the rats often attempted to turn 

 to the left and were forced up alley j. This type of behavior 

 did not obtain in the majority of cases. In maze IV, the previous 

 path through 2 and down alley d was closed by the door at 5. 

 The animals had learned to turn immediately to the right after 

 traversing this alley. After emerging through door 4, this per- 

 sisting tendency to turn immediately to the right led the animals 

 into one of the blind alleys rather than into alley h. In maze 

 V, the rats were forced to substitute the alley leading to door 

 I for alley k. Almost invariably the animals turned to the 

 left after emerging through door i just as they had habitually 

 done at the corner k. The old habits acquired in the first part 



