PERSEVERANCE REACTIONS IN PRIMATES AND RODENTS 13 



3. When No. 4 is the right alley an effort to escape by trying 

 alleys No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 once each, in the order given; or the reverse 

 of this when No. 1 is the right alley. 



This reaction-type, which is recorded as Type C, is an ex- 

 pression of an interesting tendency to stereotype a systematic 

 mode of searching for a varying place of escape. Some subjects 

 have a marked tendency to try first the alley at the extreme 

 right or extreme left of the row, and to follow this by trying 

 the other alleys in the order of their occurrence along the row 

 until the right one is found. Individual monkeys and a type 

 of feeble-minded child will be found to manifest this type of 

 reaction with especial frequency. It will be discussed at greater 

 length in subsequent pages. 



It is obvious that if a subject were invariably to initiate his 

 reaction by trying alley No. 1 and to follow this by tr>dng the 

 other alleys in order until the right one were found he would 

 manifest 25 Type C reactions per 100 trials, and would try the 

 various alleys 250 times. The same holds true in cases where 

 alley No. 4 is the first choice for each trial and the reverse order 

 is followed. 



4. More than one separate effort to escape by a given alley during 

 the same trial, but with an interruption of such efforts by an inter- 

 val of effort to escape by one or more of the other alleys. 



This is the Type D reaction of the tables. In most cases it 

 probably involves the operation of two different general ten- 

 dencies, viz., (a) a tendency to vary searching activities until 

 adjustment is effected and (b) a tendency to repeat an activity 

 that has once been manifested. Examples of this reaction during 

 the sixteenth trial are as follows: 4, 1, 2, 4, 3. 2,1,2,3. 4, 1, 4, 3. 



5. During a given trial the subject enters an alley which does 

 not afford escape, leaves it and reenters it one or more times without 

 having tried any other alley; or, having tried a group of two or three 

 alleys in a certain order he reenters all alleys of the group in the 

 same order one or more times. 



Examples of the Type E reactions during the sixteenth trial 

 are as follows: 4, 4, 4, 3. 1, 2, 4, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 3. 2, 1, 

 4, 2, 1, 4, 2, 1, 4, 3. 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 4, 1, 2, 3. 



6. During a given trial the subject persistently avoids the right 

 alley until he has tried the other alleys at least six times. 



