EFFECT OF LENGTH OF BLIND ALLEYS ON MAZE LEARNING 27 



contact one way or another with the end; but with succeeding 

 trials the entrance is less and less complete, until finally the 

 impulse to enter is wholly inhibited. Thus in the records of 

 responses of two groups each of eight untrained rats to the first 

 blind alley in the B-mazes (table I) the large numbers in the 

 E-columns shift gradually from, the " Complete " through the 

 " Half " to the " Start " column. This shift is graphically 

 shown in figure IV and figure V for first blind alley of mazes 

 IB and IIB, respectively. C and C are the curves representing 

 the rate of elimination of complete entrances, H and H' of half 

 entrances, and S and S' of beginning entrances. Note that 

 while the C-curves fall rapidly from the first, especially the 

 one (C) from the shortened cul de sac, there is a decided rise 

 in the H- and the S-curves. Specifically, in the case of Maze 

 IB (the cul de sac long), C falls gradually, with two minor excep- 

 tions, all the way at a nearly uniform rate; H rises almost 

 uniformly to the 35th trial, then it keeps almost a uniform 

 height to the 65th trial, and finally gradually declines; and S, 

 after a rapid initial decline, gradually rises again until the 65th 

 trial is reached, when it gradually declines and reaches zero 

 before the other two curves. In the case of Maze IIB {cul de 

 sac shortened) the same relationship between these respective 

 curves is shown, though all these curves drop earlier in the 

 process than with the longer blind alley, except that in this 

 case the S' curve holds out longer than either of the other curves. 

 A cursory examination of the data for other blind alley records 

 shows that this type of transition from complete to only partial 

 entrance and then to final elimination is a general feature of the 

 results for the different groups of animals in the various mazes. 

 A few exceptions only, in cases of very short cul de sacs, are 

 noticeable. This is a phenomenon of learning in the maze to 

 which little attention has previously been given, and which 

 seems to the writer to be inexplicable on the basis of mere fre- 

 quency and recenc}^ laws. Several impulses working together, 

 some facilitating others inhibiting one another, gradually result 

 in the survival of the most consistent, or complete acts. No 

 hesitancies in the rats' behavior in these cases were present, 

 such as might be secured from persons in similar circumstances. 

 The rats evidently did not have time, nor adequate sense organs 

 and conscious memories as a person would have, to recognize 



