36 RUTLEDGE T. WILTBANK 



it is the tendencies driving the animals into these bHnd 

 alleys which are to be looked upon as the chief factor 

 accounting for negative transfer. Conversely, the kinaes- 

 thetic habits acquired while traversing the true pathway 

 under the influence of the exploring instinct of curiosity 

 constitute one of the factors making for positive transfer. 



The association which is formed between the animal's 

 running through the maze to the end of the true pathway 

 and its gaining access to the food-box is also a factor making 

 for positive transfer. The only purpose for which the 

 animals are taken from the cage before they begin their 

 trials in the maze is to feed them, and before their first 

 trial they have been taken out daily for a week and fed 

 in the food-box of the maze. When they are placed in 

 the maze for the first time, their behavior denotes the 

 frustration of their food-securing movements and help- 

 lessness to deal with the new situation; but they need 

 to pass through the maze only a few time and to gain 

 ingress to the food-box every time before they will eagerly 

 attack the problem presented to them by the maze, which 

 is that of reaching its end and the food there as rapidly 

 and easily as possible. What at first was a mere m- 

 pediment to the'r obtaining food becomes consequently 

 a part of the process of obtaining food, which begins 

 with their being taken from the cage and ends with their 

 entering the food-box. This association is no doubt formed 

 by the end of the first maze-learning, and must affect 

 favorably the promptness and persistence with which 

 they attack the next maze, irrespective of the elements 

 which affect unfavorably the learning of the second maze. 



The practise in error-elimination which an animal has 

 had while learning one maze would seem to exert a beneficial 

 influence upon the learning of another. The blind-alley 

 situation is one that is repeated in maze after maze, and 

 calls for the same reaction in every instance, which is an 

 about-face and retreat. This situation is the one unam- 

 biguous situation between the entrance and the exit of 

 the maze, and the uniformity and repetition of response 

 would seem to constitute what may properly be called 

 practise in error-elimination; and we have encountered 



