VALUES OF CURVES OF LEARNING 149 



noticeable characteristics of a stage in the development. The 

 animal is progressively freed from this necessary dependence 

 upon objective conditions, and learns to run free. In sensory 

 terms, we might describe this as a change from contact to kin- 

 aesthetic means of control. The progressive freedom from 

 objective limitations results in a decrease of time per unit of dis- 

 tance. The process is both logically and factually independent 

 of that of distance elimination, and it accounts to a large extent 

 for the fall of the time curve relative to that of distance. The 

 importance of this factor becomes evident by stating the situ- 

 ation in anthropomorphic terms. After the formation of the 

 association, the prime object of the rat is to obtain food, and to 

 obtain it as quickly as possible. During the first stage of the 

 learning, his attention is preoccupied with speed exclusively and 

 his best efforts are devoted to polishing off this aspect of his 

 behavior. Elimination of errors occurs but only incidentally. 

 This feature of the problem is subsidiary to the main purpose, 

 and consequently it could emerge into the focus of attention 

 only in the later stages of the learning process. The prevalent 

 insistence upon the prime importance of errors is due to the 

 fact that the problem is envisaged from the point of view of the 

 experimenter rather than from that of the rat. In human 

 psychology, increasing speed is regarded as essential a charac- 

 teristic of progress towards automaticity as is increasing accu- 

 racy and there is no valid reason for not so regarding it in animal 

 behavior. In so far as speed varies independently of accuracy, 

 it should be reflected in any curve that purports to represent 

 adequately the steady progression of any act towards auto- 

 maticity. 



Timidity and curiosity are natural tendencies of a rat in new sur- 

 roundings, and these tendencies must be overcome, or inhibited, 

 before their trials become automatic. Timidity finds expression 

 in slow, cautious behavior; it also probably accounts for many 

 of the partial and total returns, a fact which supports our prop- 

 osition that these returns should be included in the error records. 

 Curiosity attracts rats into the blinds and leads them to explore 

 carefully every crook and corner of the true path. These ten- 

 dencies are overcome largely by the progressive establishment 

 of the association between the maze and the satisfaction of food. 

 To this extent they represent the obverse side of the factor of 



