te STELLA BURNHAM VINCENT 



threshold they tend to produce a change of excessive amount 

 and duration, and this it is the business of the cortical mechanism 

 to control. The low intensity of the stimuli that can arouse the 

 sensory cortex and its quick reaction period, enable it to control 

 the activity of the cumbersome mechanism of the thalamic 

 center." " 



In the case of the blind animals where the cortical control 

 through the visual centers was lacking the intrinsic thalamic 

 response was the one observed and the emotional elements 

 which had no time to develop were lacking. 



Whether this explanation prove the true one or not, we know 

 that the motor connections are close and the cutaneous reactions 

 are immediate while the distance senses permit exactly this 

 preparatory inter\'al during which the conflicting impulses can 

 be adjusted, the sensory experiences of the past brought to the 

 aid of the present, new lines of conduct struck out, danger 

 avoided and success won. The emotional condition which was 

 the reflection of this conduct was stronger, naturally, in the 

 normal animals where the distance sense involved w^as function- 

 ing than in the blind animals. 



D. Association and Discrimination 



A common tendency in discussions of association, especially 

 in connection with animal behavior, is to try to establish evi- 

 dence of a certain serial order — stimulus A, act B, act C, etc. 

 If this problem showed any one thing more clearly than another 

 it was the fact that at first there was a general intensive type 

 of activity, that every possible sense was actively at work on 

 the situation, that out of this general behavior was differentiated 

 specific acts and out of general sensory stimuli definite sense 

 experiences. Of course this is inference but so far as could be 

 seen the activity, sensory stimulation, and discrimination were 

 mutually dependent. The bodily activity about the box 

 was gradually eliminated from the entrances, carried down nto 

 the runways, to the doors, then to the plate, and finally back to 

 the entrance of the ninways. The sensory activity followed 

 the same course. The point to be made is this, acts A, B, and 

 C are all bound up in the activity as a whole and even here in 

 fragmentary undeveloped form and grow out of this general 



" Op. cit. p. 191. 



