HUMAN REACTIONS IN A MAZE 113 



trial, i.e., the distance values have been decreased while the 

 error values have not. The fact that all groups eliminate sur- 

 plus distance values faster than errors thus indicates that at 

 first they tend on the average to explore every runway through- 

 out its length, while later they can identify a wrong runway 

 by a partial entrance. This interpretation brings the compara- 

 tive facts into some causal relation to intelligent ability, because 

 the animals are not on the average able to perform this feat 

 successfully until the latter part of the learning process, while 

 the adults achieve the result mainly during the first few trials. 

 Again, the adults are more successful than the children during 

 this initial period. 



2. Time and Distance (Fig. 6). In comparing time and 

 distance, we are dealing with the factor of the speed of running 

 for the various trials, i.e., the distance traveled per unit of 

 time, (a) The average rates of speed of the adults, children, 

 and animals, for the total learning process are 59, 79, and $2 

 feet per minute, respectively. The rats thus travel on the 

 average almost as rapidly as do the adults. In fact they are 

 much speedier in the final trials, (b) As to increase of speed, 

 the human groups are approximately similar, while the rats 

 stand in a distinctive class by themselves. They increase their 

 speed seven fold. Some increase in speed is characteristic of 

 all groups. The order of the three groups is not the same as 

 that of their relative intelligence. 



Obviously the facts are not explicable in terms of intelligence. 

 The differences can better be explained in terms of peculiar- 

 ities of the initial trials. The behavior of the rats is dominated 

 at first by motives of caution and curiosity. A specific food 

 motive is necessarily lacking. Slow, cautious, and random 

 activity characterizes the first trials, and the speed of running 

 is immediately increased with the introduction of the proper 

 incentive. The incentive for rapid movements exists for the 

 humans at the beginning. The children start out with a high 

 degree of confidence and assurance, and run rapidly. In suc- 

 ceeding trials, they are forced by their blunders to run more 

 slowly and cautiously (witness the initial drop of the curve), 

 while the speed is again increased as mastery of the maze brings 

 confidence and assurance. The adults proceed at the start with 

 some dignity and circumspection and, as a consequence, their 



