DELAYED REACTION 75 



was constant from tr al to trial, whereas a selective response 

 must needs have an alternating cue. 



In the light of the evidence in the present monograph, let 

 us grant the presence, in certain reagents, of a process represen- 

 tative of objects. The question now arises, Must this process 

 be imaginal or may it be sensory? We may treat the latter 

 possibility in two ways: (i) There may be a sensation arising 

 from the reagents body — kinaesthetic, e.g., — that stands for a 

 certain reaction. Or (2), the substitute may simply consist of 

 a differential meaning attached to the perception of the par- 

 ticular light box. In this case, when the reagent apprehended 

 the box, he would simply recognize it as the one in which the 

 light had been most recently. This would be perceptual recog- 

 nition as the term is understood in human psychology. 



With either of the above explanations, it must be remem- 

 bered, the question that we are now raising is one concerning 

 the content of the representative factor. There is no doubt in 

 my mind that the function is an ideational one. Even should' 

 some critic claim that all of the present behavior is but per- 

 ceptual recognition, the fundamental difference between the 

 behavior of the class containing the rats and dogs and that 

 of the class containing the raccoons and children will still chal- 

 lenge explanation. If the behavior of both the above classes 

 of reagents is to be termed perceptual recognition, then two 

 orders of this must be admitted — one on a level with habit, 

 the other on a level with ideas. 



One class of facts suffices to disprove the possibility of ac- 

 counting for the behavior of the raccoons and children on the 

 basis of perceptual recognition. These reagents did not stop 

 and search for the proper box. They started their reactions 

 immediately upon being released. The raccoons Jack and Bob, 

 e.g., might be headed away from the proper box at the moment 

 of release and yet whirl around in the proper direction and 

 react immediately. Bob, in particular, might go half way to 

 the wrong box and then turn suddenly and react successfully. 

 When the reagent does not follow his orientation, one would 

 expect him usually to look toward at least two boxes before 

 reacting, if the behavior were on the basis of perceptual recog- 

 nition. It is these reactions of children and raccoons that were 

 not in accordance with orientation and yet that were "head- 



