HUMAN REACTIONS IN A MAZE 



VINNIE C. HICKS AND H. A. CARR ' 

 From the Psychological Laboratory of the University of Chicago 



Seven figures 



The purpose of this experiment is to compare the ability 

 of human adults and children to learn a maze with that of white 

 rats under approximately comparable conditions. We shall 

 attempt to correlate the differences in the objective records 

 with the differences between the three groups in intelligent 

 ability with the hope that such a study will throw light upon 

 the general problem of the interpretation of a learning curve 

 in terms of intelligence. 



The serious difficulty involved in the experiment is the attain- 

 ment of conditions which may be regarded as in any degree 

 comparable. The human maze was constructed out of doors 

 in a small lot surrounded by a high board fence. This fence 

 eliminated extraneous sources of disturbance and secured a 

 privacy essential to good work. The plan of the maze is repre- 

 sented by Fig. i. Its dimensions are 14 x 20 feet, with alleys 

 of 2 feet in width. The true path is 78 feet in length, complicated 

 by nine cut de sacs. The runways were constructed by stringing 

 on posts strands of wire 2\ feet from the ground. The ground 

 was leveled and covered with gravel so as to render the paths 

 as homogeneous as possible. The subject is compelled to run 

 the maze blindfolded and he is guided by contact of the arms 

 or hips upon the wire strands constituting the sides of the run- 

 ways. The construction of a maze of this size with high wooden 

 sides was deemed impracticable. It is doubtful if the sides of 

 the alleys of such a maze could be made as homogeneous to the 

 human eye as they are to the rat. However, the desideratum 

 in the experiment is the attainment of comparable subjective 

 conditions rather than comparable objective conditions. Pre- 

 vious work has indicated that our mazes are so homogeneous 

 that visual distinctions play an insignificant role in the rat's 

 behavior. The rat learns the maze apparently in kinaesthetic 



1 With the exception of one group of rats, the experiments were conducted by 

 Mrs. Hicks. The paper has been written by Prof. Carr, who is entirely responsible 

 for the method of treatment and the hypotheses and conclusions advanced. 



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