TRANSFER OF RESPONSE IN THE WHITE RAT 45 



Another noticeable feature in these cases is the smooth- 

 ness of the rising curve. It seems that when once the pro- 

 cess is started there is practically no loss, but what is 

 gained in one day's work is retained in the next in practi- 

 cally all cases. This last feature does not stand out so 

 strikingly in the curves for learning the negative response 

 to the light stimulus, and still less in the curves for learn- 

 ing the sound stimulus. 



Another interesting feature closely related to the one 

 just mentioned is the almost complete absence of marked 

 plateaus. The curves for pain are the freest, those for light 

 next, and those for sound least free. 



This feature would indicate that for white rats working 

 under the conditions of these experiments with negative 

 response, the electric shock is the most uniformly effective 

 stimulus of the three sorts of stimuli used. The light ranks 

 second, and sound ranks third. We have every reason to 

 believe from their general behavior in the presence of the 

 electric shock that white rats are naturally negative to 

 such a shock. We do not have definite proof that white 

 rats are negative to the light and sound used. From gen- 

 eral observation of their behavior in the presence of the 

 light and sound stimuli used the writer is inclined to believe 

 that they are more likely to prove to be negative to the 

 sound than to the light. The electric shock uniformly 

 produced the greatest emotional disturbance in the ani- 

 mals, calling for the greatest exercise of patience on the part 

 of the experimenter. The electric shock most uniformly 

 compelled the attention of the animal. The first few series 

 of non-learning with the electric shock were not due to 

 lack of attention to the stimulus as was quite evidently 

 the case, in part at least, with the sound and light. Rather 

 they were due to emotional disturbance produced by the 

 strangeness of the stimulus. So these non-learning series 

 might after all be counted as series indicating the acquire- 

 ment of emotional adjustment to the stimulus rather than 

 the specific response adjustment which the rise in the curve 

 is supposed to indicate. Thus it might be claimed that, 

 if an ideal learning process is one in which there is progress 

 practically from the beginning and one which shows no 



